'DRUGS DAMAGE POLITICAL HEALTH'

The Government Is Seen To Have Made A Hash Of The Change In Classification

Daily Mail Editorial, January 23

"A week before cannabis is downgraded to a class C drug, Michael Howard's
description of this unfolding muddle as 'absurd' seems the gentlest of
understatements. Is it now permissible to light up a spliff? Predictably,
millions are convinced that it is. So having muddied the waters in the
first place, the Home Office spends UKP1m telling users that they still
face arrest .. But at the same time, the Association of Chief Police
Officers says there will be a 'presumption against arrest'...

"So how did the government end up in a morass of contradictions?... The
home secretary, David Blunkett ... is right to argue it is more important
for police to concentrate on pushers of class A substances such as heroin
.. The trouble is, his scheme arguably makes policing harder. Until
recently, having class C substances was a non-arrestable offence, so
downgrading cannabis would have saved police time. But then he changed the
rules. Anyone with such drugs can now be arrested. We are left with a dog's
breakfast."

Daily Mirror Editorial, January 23

"On the day new figures showed shocking rises in gun crime and violence,
the Tories announced they thought it wrong to ease the law on cannabis ...
Mr Howard's announcement that a Tory government would make it a serious
offence to possess cannabis is out-of-touch and stupid ...

"But this government's reclassification of cannabis is not a substitute for
a real drugs policy ... The truth is that all drugs can have unpleasant and
sometimes dangerous side effects - and that includes cannabis ... [But] the
country needs bold, brave and far-sighted leadership to deal with drugs and
crime. And it isn't getting it."

Simon Jenkins Times, January 23

"Warning. Drugs can seriously damage your political health ... Nothing
better illustrates this syndrome than [the] row over the reclassification
of cannabis ... Mr Blunkett ... has finally decided to reclassify cannabis,
yet has achieved almost nothing ... [He] has the worst of both worlds.
People think he has gone soft on cannabis when he has not ... The drugs
economy is the single biggest handicap to social cohesion in Britain ...

"Most European states have more successful drug policies than Britain . All
are experimenting with solutions that wholly elude Britain ... Tony Blair's
radicalism is a sham ... All drugs ... must be removed from criminal
distribution and their sale controlled and taxed like nicotine and alcohol.
Such a proposal is not ideal, merely vital ... Until then this hugely
profitable market will continue to boom. No amount of posturing, law-making
or reclassification will make the slightest difference."

Sun Editorial, January 23

"With the best of intentions and for the best of reasons, the government
has got itself - and the country - into a right mess ... [The home
secretary] has put over the wrong message to the public ... Mr Blunkett
admits that downgrading cannabis is an experiment that might not work ...
We hope he'll be big enough to do an about-turn if it all goes to pot."

Johann Hari Independent, January 23

"Sadly, the government ... [has] chosen a mushy third way between
legalisation and prohibition ... Yet, the thrust of the criticisms [has
been] that the new law is sending out a 'mixed message' to teenagers ...
Come on ... I have never met a teenager who looked to the government for
moral guidance ... And anyway, the premise behind the 'messages' argument
is flawed. Drinking vodka is legal. Is the government sending out a message
that teenagers should swig a bottle or two on their way to school? ...

"The idea that the day after legalisation, Britain would collectively drop
out and disappear in a haze of skunk smoke is [also] absurd ... There might
be a small increase in use ... But it has to be weighed against the major
downsides of prohibition: the criminal gangs, the mockery of the law, the
vast waste of police resources... and the devastation of the countries that
supply our drugs but cannot tax their major export. Wouldn't admitting this
be better than retreating into stale propaganda about how cannabis will
turn Britain into a vast lunatic asylum?"

Alice Thomson Daily Telegraph, January 23

"Why not legalise cannabis?... One in four 15 to 24-year-olds smoked it in
2002, according to the British Crime Survey. You don't see thousands of
zombified teenagers on the streets. But the evidence on health risks is
mounting ... Yale Medical School, after an extensive study, showed that
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis, can produce
a psychotic reaction ... Professor Robin Murray, head of psychiatry at the
Institute of Psychiatry, has said that cannabis users are seven times more
likely to develop mental illness ...

"In Sweden, where the government toughened its line towards cannabis -
after deciding that it carried more mental health risks than heroin abuse -
drug deaths have dropped for the first time since 1990. Cannabis has
muddled minds at Westminster ... Meanwhile the people who suffer most - the
addicts and their families - are paying for this government's delusions."