ROAD TO VIENNA:

British Government Chides International Narcotics Control Board on
Cannabis Rescheduling Critique

In a letter sent to the International Narcotics Control Board
(http://www.incb.org) on behalf of the British government,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Member of Parliament Bob
Ainsworth slammed the international narcobureaucrats for criticizing
British moves to reschedule cannabis and vowed to rectify the problem
at the United Nations drug summit in Vienna next month.

In its annual report, released late last month, the INCB worried that
downgrading cannabis offenses in England would "confuse" other
countries and lead to increased cannabis cultivation.

"The reclassification of cannabis by the Government of the United
Kingdom would undermine the efforts of the Governments of African
countries to counter illicit cannabis cultivation, trafficking, and
abuse," the INCB warned. "That action, it was held, sent the wrong
message and could lead to increased cultivation of cannabis destined
for the United Kingdom and other European countries."

The INCB report also decried the "worldwide repercussions" of
Britain's decision to reschedule cannabis, "including confusion and
widespread misunderstanding."

But Ainsworth, writing for the Blair administration, was having none
of it. Britain's government, wrote Ainsworth, was "dismayed" at the
report, and "in particular, the alarmist language used, the absence of
any reference to the scientific evidence on which that decision was
based, and the misleading way the decision was presented to the media
by the INCB."

While Ainsworth was careful to restate the British government's
commitment to "tackling the scourge of drugs," he strongly defended
the move to reschedule cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug. "The
decision to reclassify cannabis was based on scientific advice from
the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, following their detailed
scrutiny of all the available scientific and research material," wrote
Ainsworth. "The Council's report is available on the website at
http://www.drugs.gov.uk/ReportsandPublications/DrugSpecific/ and I
urge the Board to study it very carefully.

As you will see the Advisory Council concluded that cannabis is
unquestionably harmful, but that its current classification is
disproportionate both in relation to its inherent toxicity, and to
that of other substances (such as the amphetamines) that are currently
within Class B of the Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971. It therefore
recommended that it be reclassified to Class C under the Act."

Ainsworth pronounced his government amazed that the INCB would
mischaracterize its decision-making and vowed to take the organization
to task at the upcoming Vienna meeting. "I would find it extraordinary
if the Board thought that the UK Government should have ignored the
science and based our decision on what people in some quarters might
think," he wrote. "My officials who will be attending the UN
Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna in April will be taking the
opportunity, when the INCB report is discussed, to intervene to
correct the extremely misleading picture which your report, and its
presentation to the media, have painted."

Ainsworth and the British government were particularly perturbed by
comments made by INCB representatives at a press conference announcing
the issuance of the report. "The comments made in your report, your
selective and inaccurate use of statistics, and failure to refer to
the scientific basis on which the UK Government's decision was based
all add up to an ill-informed and potentially damaging message,"
Ainsworth wrote. "This was compounded by the way in which the Board
presented the cannabis reclassification decision to the media at the
launch of its annual report on 26 February. For example, the Board
representative is quoted as having said that we might end up in the
next 10 or 20 years with our psychiatric hospitals filled with people
who have problems with cannabis, and that a recent study by the
British Lung Foundation found smoking three cannabis joints caused the
same damage to the linings of the airways as 20 cigarettes. These are
totally misleading statements. In its report on cannabis, the Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs concluded on the basis of all the
available evidence that, although cannabis use can unquestionably
worsen existing mental illness, no clear causal link has been
demonstrated between cannabis and the onset of mental illness.

As to the health risks arising from smoking, the Advisory Council
report made clear that while smoking cannabis may be more dangerous
than tobacco, it needs to be set within the context that in general
cannabis users smoke fewer cigarettes per day than tobacco smokers and
most give up in their 30s, so limiting long-term exposure."

Besides, Ainsworth added, the INCB's inability to distinguish between
cannabis and other, more dangerous, drugs undermines responsible drug
education. "It does great damage to the credibility of the messages we
give to young people about the dangers of drug misuse if we try to
pretend that cannabis is as harmful as drugs such as heroin and crack
cocaine.

It quite clearly is not, and if we do not acknowledge that by ensuring
our drugs law accurately reflect the relative harms of drugs, young
people will not listen to our messages about the drugs which do the
greatest harm. It is the misuse of Class A drugs which leads to a
cycle of crime, social exclusion and misery.

The reclassification of cannabis will therefore enhance the
effectiveness and credibility of our drugs laws as a whole, and
thereby facilitate delivery of the Government's key messages on drugs
education to young people.

It will also help the law enforcement and treatment agencies to focus
their efforts on the most harmful drugs and on problematic drug misusers."

The battle is joined.

For the first time, the global drug control regime and its bureaucracy
will face a serious challenge to its prohibitionist consensus -- not
only from the British, but from a growing number of countries and
elected officials from around the world who have asked for a
reconsideration of global prohibition policies.