ONE OPTION IS THE WORST

NOW that the Board of Health's report on proposals to reclassify
cannabis as a class C rather than class B drug has been published, it
is clear that the States will face all sorts of difficulties in coming
to a consensus on this issue. From the board's point of view, it is
inherently nothing to do with Guernsey's deputies. It is a matter of
following the UK government's scientific advisers on the appropriate
classification of all pharmaceutical products. And in the case of
cannabis, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is saying that
it is bad - but not that bad. To pretend otherwise is to negate the
credibility of warnings on worse drugs. This will be ignored by the
States and speakers will concentrate on the 'weaker' message sent by
reclassification, reinforced by Home Affairs' determination to keep
the streets clean of all substances.

Either view is persuasive but perhaps the real danger is what happens
after the House has reached a decision - irrespective of what it is.
Make it class C and the UK approach is that possession equals a police
caution and confiscation.

Yet there is nothing in the policy letter from the board that
addresses whether or how the island should change its approach to
using the drug. Given that marijuana is used by millions in the UK and
hundreds here, to be further out of step is increasingly to alienate
young people, their parents and, by now, some grandparents, too.

Yet leaving the classification unchanged is for the island to say that
it knows better with its limited resources than the Government and its
scientific advisers.

Ultimately, it ends up looking foolish and, as research for the Police
Federation highlighted, only 30 per cent of adults and 20 per cent of
young people said sentencing was a factor in their deciding whether to
take drugs or not. In a perverse way, not reclassifying and adjusting
policy to that is probably the worst decision the States could take.