SCIENTISTS ATTACK PLAN TO UPGRADE CANNABIS

Government plans to overrule its own drug advisers and reclassify
cannabis as a more dangerous substance are attacked by leading
scientists and MPs in a letter to the Guardian today.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, intends to move cannabis from class
C to class B, where it will sit alongside amphetamines, such as speed,
and barbiturates. The move comes despite repeated recommendations from
the government's drug advisers that its classification should not be
upgraded.

The proposal, which is due to be voted on by peers today, is described
as "extremely damaging" in the letter, whose signatories include two
former chief scientists, Sir David King and Lord May; Professor Colin
Blakemore, former head of the Medical Research Council; and Sir
Gabriel Horn, chair of the Academy of Medical Science's working group
on brain science, addiction and drugs.

The letter warns that changing the classification of cannabis risks
reversing a downwards trend in use of the drug since 2004 and
undermines public health messages about the more serious dangers of
class B drugs. It urges peers to block the change of classification by
voting to defer the move until 2010.

"In recommending this change to parliament the government has rejected
the explicit advice of its appointed experts, the advisory council on
the misuse of drugs, for the first time in its history," the experts
write.

The Lib Dem science spokesman Evan Harris said the letter demonstrated
the anger in the science community over the government's treatment of
expert scientific advice. "It may be that it will take resignations in
order for ministers to understand that they can't ignore the evidence
and keep scientists on board," he said.

The government's advisory council on misuse of drugs (ACMD) has
reviewed the classification of cannabis three times since 2002. Its
most recent report, which was commissioned last July amid concerns
that highly potent "skunk" was becoming widely available, found that
while stronger homegrown strains of the drug dominated the market
there was only weak evidence of a link with mental illnesses, such as
schizophrenia.

The report called for tougher action against cannabis farms, a
crackdown on shops selling cannabis paraphernalia and a renewed public
health campaign. Scientists on the council warned that reclassifying
cannabis was unlikely to curb usage, but risked increasing the chances
of vulnerable people getting a criminal record.

In a last-ditch attempt to block the Lords from approving the
government's plans, Baroness Meacher has tabled an amendment that
would postpone a decision on the drug for two years, pending another
review by the ACMD.

In May Smith told the Commons that she had to take public perceptions
and the pressures on policing into account when making a final
decision on cannabis.