BROWN ANNOUNCES FRESH REVIEW INTO CANNABIS CLASSIFICATION

Gordon Brown today announced the second review in two years into
whether cannabis should be reclassified, in response to concerns that
its current status does not reflect the drug's dangers.

Mr Brown announced the review, which will look at whether cannabis
should be reclassified as class B again - rather than its present
class C - at prime minister's questions.

It was his second major policy announcement at PMQs in seven days,
after last week announcing a U-turn on supercasinos.

While the Guardian revealed yesterday that a statement on crime
reduction would be among a flurry of policy statements before
parliament goes into recess next week, the announcement of another
look at marijuana came as a surprise.

Mr Brown said that the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, would publish a
consultation document next week to review drugs strategy.

"She will be asking the public to comment on new ways in which we can
improve drugs education in the country, give support to people
undergoing treatment ... and give support for communities who want to
chase out drug dealers from their communities.

"As part of the consultation - and the cabinet discussed this
yesterday - the home secretary will also consult on whether it is now
right that cannabis should be moved from class C to class B."

Mr Brown was responding to Labour's Martin Salter, who wanted to see
more prescriptions of cannabis-extract Savitex to people with
multiple scelorsis.

Cannabis was class B before being downgraded to class C after a
change in the law in 2004 under the then-home secretary, David Blunkett.

As a class B drug it would carry much more severe penalties for
possession and imprisonment.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, called for cannabis to be
reclassified in his Breakthrough Britain report published last week.

There have been particular concerns about skunk, a very potent form
of cannabis which has been linked to mental health disorders.

In 2005, 10,000 11- to 17-year-olds were treated for cannabis use -
10 times the number a decade ago.

Plants are increasingly cultivated to include high levels of the
active ingredient of cannabis, THC, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol,
which encourages addiction and can cause a range of symptoms, from
short-term memory loss, anxiety and panic attacks to triggering schizophrenia.

Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, launched a review last
year but concluded that there was no need to change the
classification despite the changing medical advice.

Danny Kushlik, director of drug policy foundation Transform, said
cannabis would be better controlled and moderated if its use was not
prohibited, and accused Gordon Brown of playing to the gallery.

"It's got nothing to do with science and everything to do with a
Dutch auction over who can be the toughest on drugs, sadly," he said.

"There's no new evidence. As Gordon Brown's first Commons statement
on drug policy, it's shameful."

Paul Corry, director of public affairs at mental health charity
Rethink, which has warned of the dangers of cannabis, said the
government was exerting its energies in the wrong place.

"Any movement to reclassify cannabis would be a waste of time and
resource," he said.

"All the evidence shows the risk of mental illness and that the
criminal justice system is not able to deal with that. A long-term
and sustained public health campaign is needed.

"What's not good is criminalising a group of people at risk of
developing mental illness."