CANNABIS LESS HARMFUL THAN DRINKING, SMOKING: REPORT

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a
report by a British research charity, which called for a "serious
rethink" of drug policy.

The Beckley Foundation, a charity which numbers senior British and
other academics among its advisers, said banning cannabis has no
impact on supply and turns users into criminals.

"Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including
mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less
harmful than alcohol or tobacco," says the report by the Foundation's
Global Cannabis Commission.

The British government is pressing for cannabis to be re-classified in
law as a Class B drug compared with its current, less serious, Class C
classification.

Authorities are concerned notably by the growing prevalence of the
potent "skunk" form of the drug. Around 80 per cent of cannabis
seizures are of this strain, said to be linked to mental health
problems, official figures show.

The Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust, claimed only two deaths
worldwide have been attributed to cannabis, while alcohol and tobacco
use together kill an estimated 150,000 people in Britain alone.

"Many of the harms associated with cannabis use are the result of
prohibition itself, particularly the social harms arising from arrest
and imprisonment," it said.

"It is only through a regulated market that we can better protect
young people from the ever more potent forms of dope," it added.

The decision to reclassify cannabis upwards into the more punitive
Class B category -- which includes amphetamines -- is a U-turn for
Britain's Labour government.

Cannabis was downgraded from Class B when Tony Blair was prime
minister, but Gordon Brown announced a review of its status soon after
taking over in June last year.

An earlier review of the cannabis classification, at the time of the
last 2005 general election, resulted in it remaining Class C.