CONFUSION OVER CANNABIS

THE announcement by the First Minister, that Scotland will definitely not
follow England and Wales in effectively decriminalising the personal use of
small amounts of cannabis in the home (or at least ignoring such a
misdemeanour) came on the same day that a large quantity of cannabis resin
was seized in a raid on a Highland school.

Many will applaud Mr McConnell for his toughness and his resolution to send
out the message that dealing in harmful drugs will not be tolerated.

Allied to the decision not to end the prohibition on 24-hour pub-opening
and moves in the Scottish Parliament to ban smoking in public, this can be
viewed as a determined effort to improve health and brand the culture of
drug abuse - regardless of drug - as unacceptable.

However, others will see Mr McConnell's stance on cannabis as adding one
more anomaly to the numerous anomalies and contradictions surrounding
official drug policy. Not least the fact that Scots wishing for a discreet
joint need only cross the Border to (metaphorically) thumb their noses at
the police - hardly the sort of message Mr McConnell was hoping to send. If
anything, having the police treat cannabis use differently on either side
of the Border is exactly the sort of official confusion and hypocrisy that
young people will smell a mile off. Add that to the fact that tobacco and
alcohol - despite being killers - are still legally acceptable, largely for
the pragmatic reasons, and Mr McConnell's tough stance will strike some as
being close to posturing.

In fact, the First Minister personally is deadly serious about the dangers
from drug abuse, and is not being cynical in any way. However, he has to
face the fact that the war against drugs is - at best - only containing the
scourge, and certainly not convincing society that moderate recreational
drug-taking (of all kinds) is wrong.

That suggests that at some point we all need to confront our hypocrisies.
It also suggests that serious anomalies in drug policy between Scotland and
the rest of the UK over a sustained period of time will cause more problems
than they solve.