DESPERATE PARENTS DEMAND TOUGHER DRUG LAWS

CANNABIS should urgently be re-instated to a class B drug, parents of
teenagers whose lives have been devastated by the 'gateway' drug
claimed tonight.

Members of parental action group Talking About Cannabis, who all have
experience of living with cannabis-addicted teenagers, warned Britain
is in the middle of a drug epidemic.

They claim not enough is being done by the Government to make the
public aware of "scientific and medical facts" about the drug that
can cause schizophrenia and "primes the brain" for stronger drugs later on.

TAC chairwoman Debra Bell described skunk-cannabis as "one of the
evils of our time" and recalled watching her eldest son "give up on
life" after he began using cannabis five years ago, aged just 14: "As
a family we felt very much alone.

"Our son was saying to us 'It's only cannabis, it's not a big deal.
Even the Government doesn't think it's a big deal,'" she recalled at
the House of Commons briefing earlier today.

"We are also asking the Government to fulfil its promise, made in
2004 at the time cannabis became a class C drug, that we would see a
'massive and consistent' public health education campaign. Where is
it? A few TV adverts are not enough."

What parents may not realise is that the cannabis smoked by
youngsters today is a very different substance to the weed smoked in
the swinging sixties.

"Skunk" contains high levels of the chemical THC that is known to
cause hallucinations, paranoid reactions and can lead to a higher
risk of psychosis and mental health problems.

It also has lower levels of CBD - the substance that relieves anxiety
and makes you feel chilled out. Professor Robin Murray, of the
Institute of Psychiatry, likened the difference in potency between
"traditional" cannabis and skunk, to the difference between drinking
a pint of beer and a bottle of vodka.

"Not even the more fervent cannabis legaliser would want vodka freely
available to 13-year-olds. However, skunk is widely available to
children aged 13 and less" he said.

Mounting pressure to re-classify the drug on the back of growing
evidence that it causes severe mental problems has been played down
by the Government in light of the recent British Crime Survey, which
showed the proportion of 16 to 59-year-olds who admitted using the
drug over the past 12 months fell for the fourth year running.

But Debra Bell said the "age of initiation" when youngsters first try
cannabis was falling: "A Home Office survey last year showed a rise
of one per cent of 11 to 12-year-old boys trying cannabis.

"This was played down by Frank (the Government's drugs awareness
scheme) but it still constitutes thousands of children...some as
young as eight."

Although many anti-drug campaigners think that classifying drugs is a
waste of time Professor Murray said: "By accident, the controversy
over the re-classification of cannabis provided an opportunity for
unofficial public education.

"What we need now is a proper education campaign aimed at children."

The USA's twelve year Just Say No anti-drugs campaign resulted in a
50% decrease in cocaine use and the daily use of cannabis fell by 75%.

Peter Walker, retired head teacher of Abbey School in Kent, was the
first person to introduce random drug testing in a UK school.
Speaking at today's conference, he claimed that it was the act of
testing, rather than the test results that had a positive effect on
the pupils at his school.

"The children were very happy to take part in the random drug
testing. In fact, morale in the school was lifted" he said.

"You show me a head teacher who says they don't have a drug problem
in their school -- you show me a liar."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith - who had admitted using cannabis in her
youth - will consider moving the drug from class C back to class B
after a new report from the Government's official drug advisers, the
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.