MPs: SCRAP USELESS DRUG CLASSIFICATION

The current harm-rating system for drugs, including ecstasy and
cannabis, is outdated, confused and should be scrapped, according to
an influential committee of MPs.

A hard-hitting report from the Science and Technology Committee,
published tomorrow, is expected to say that classifying drugs within
a hierarchy of harm, with A the most serious and C the least, has
done nothing to deter drug use or supply since being introduced more
than 30 years ago.

It is understood that MPs will highlight an alternative system
suggested by scientific experts based on a "harm spectrum", where
issues such as the age of the user, their medical history and how the
drug is consumed are all taken into account when assessing risk.

The committee's recommendations, which will be presented to the
Government, are based on evidence taken from police, scientists and
experts from drugs charities. This is the first review of the current
drugs classification system to be carried out since it was introduced in 1971.

Drugs are classified as A, B or C, with different penalties according
to the harm caused and whether the drug is likely to be misused. The
Home Secretary decides what harm rating individual drugs should be
given based on evidence provided by advisers, who assess the drugs
according to the problems they cause to society and users.

For example, class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine carry a maximum
sentence of seven years in prison for possession and a life sentence
for supply or intent to supply. Class B drugs carry a five-year
sentence for possession or 14 years for supply. Class C drugs, which
include anabolic steroids and cannabis, carry a two-year sentence
with 14 years for supply.

The classification of individual drugs can change over time if new
evidence shows that they pose a greater or lesser risk to society.
David Blunkett, the former home secretary, reclassified cannabis from
a class B to a class C drug in January 2004 in response to advice
from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

But his successor, Charles Clarke, came under huge pressure to move
the drug back to class B status earlier this year when he was Home
Secretary, following new medical evidence linking cannabis use to
mental health problems.

Experts have long argued that some drugs have been placed in
"arbitrary" categories that do not reflect the truth about their
harmful effects. For example, some anti-drug campaigners have said
that the club drug ecstasy and magic mushrooms should not be in
category A alongside heroin and crack cocaine because they are less addictive.

Mr Clarke commissioned a consultation paper earlier this year on
drugs classification, but this is understood to have been put on hold
since he resigned from the Cabinet.

The MPs' report, called Making a Hash of It?, is understood to
highlight concerns that the current system is irrelevant to modern
society, where recreational drug use is widespread; it warns that the
system may even be used as a quality guide by teenagers.

The drugs education charity Transform told MPs during an evidence
hearing that the grading system had "failed in quite spectacular
fashion", with drug use increasing over the past 45 years and illegal
substances becoming more widely available.

The committee was told the grading system influenced public opinion,
the media and politicians, so it was important to get it right, and
that drugs were too complex to be assessed under a rigid classification system.