HONESTY NEEDED IN CANNABIS DEBATE

Jackie Ashley claims cannabis "is bad for you", but the only health
problem that has been identified as likely is that, for people with a
predisposition to psychosis, heavy use of cannabis is likely to make
things worse (about 800 cases per annum, according to the same Ben
Goldacre article Ashley quotes). I think most people understand that
heavy use of any drug on a developing brain causes health problems
(and, in the case of alcohol, many social and economic problems, too,
regardless of age). She also claims that it cannot be banned. But it
already is! Thanks to the 1930s FBI agent Henry J Anslinger, it was
banned in most countries and remains so to this day. But it was
banned purely as a means of criminalising Mexican immigrants, without
any scientific evidence of any harmful effects.

Surely the only stance on cannabis that has a chance of acceptance is
the one already applied to alcohol: a) it should not be used by
people under 18 years old as it may have an effect on their
development, and b) it should not be used heavily. Society's
continuing search for a justification for its illegality and the
hypocrisy displayed by politicians who used it before they saw the
damage it might cause to their political careers must end.

Chris Hardman

Manchester