REGRADING CANNABIS 'WILL HELP CUT CRIME'

HOME Office consideration of the reclassification of cannabis will
help fight organised crime, according to one of Scotland's leading
police officers.

Graeme Pearson believes the downgrading of the drug was the catalyst
for organised crime to move into mass production of cannabis across
Scotland.

The Home Office announcement came after Scotland on Sunday revealed
that more than one industrial-sized cannabis production factory is
being discovered each week in the country.

Pearson, director-general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement
Agency (SCDEA) is a long-term critic of the decision in 2004 to change
cannabis from a Class B drug to Class C.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week agreed to re-examine the
decision to alter the drug's status just days before a damning medical
report into the effects of cannabis was published.

According to the document's findings, anyone who smokes the drug has a
40% higher chance of suffering psychotic illnesses such as
schizophrenia.

Yesterday, an SCDEA spokesman said: "We are delighted the Home Office
has announced this move and we will be putting our opinions forward.
Mr Pearson will be giving them the agency's views on the problems we
see with cannabis."

Last year, around 380 kilograms of cannabis was seized by the agency
with a street value of around UKP1.2m.

But it is the surge in industrial-sized cannabis producing factories,
which, it is estimated have a possible UKP7m annual turnover, that has
alarmed the authorities.