CANNABIS MOVE IS WELCOME BY MS SUFFERERS

MOVES to "downgrade" cannabis have been welcomed by York MS sufferers, but
attacked for "fudging the issue" by a legalisation campaigner.

Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that cannabis will from next year
be a class C rather than a class B drug, meaning possession of small
amounts will no longer be an arrestable offence.

The move has been welcomed by the York branch of the Multiple Sclerosis
Society, which said it opened the door for sufferers who want to use the
drug to alleviate their symptoms without fear of prosecution.

The society is awaiting the results of two national clinical trials to see
if drugs based on derivatives of cannabis are both effective and safe in
the treatment of this long-term condition.

A spokesman for the York branch said: "At the moment some people are using
cannabis and a lot have found it helpful. A lot of people have also found
that it does not help them.

"We don't think it's right that people should get a criminal record for
using something which may be the only thing that helps their symptoms. And
these changes mean that people won't be arrested.

"There may be people who have not used cannabis in the past who may now use
it without fear of prosecution.

"But the society's principal concern with any potential treatment is that
it is both effective and safe in the long term."

Campaigner Carl Wagner, who is looking at the possibility of opening a
cannabis cafe in York, said Mr Blunkett had fudged the issue, adding the
reclassification of cannabis was "a progression in attitudes" but did not
go far enough.

Mr Wagner, who runs a market stall in Hull, said the problems of people
being exposed to hard drugs when buying cannabis had not been dealt with.

And he said the decision to increase the penalty for dealing class C drugs
from five to 14 years shows he "hasn't thought out the policy at all"
because the current 14-year maximum for dealing class B drugs had deterred
nobody.

He said: "The only way to reduce harm from bad cannabis and hard drugs is
to bring cannabis within the law, allow quality controls and taxation of
profits of suppliers, and to allow people to grow a few plants in their own
homes."

A spokesman for the National Association of Headteachers said the
downgrading should not make "a blind bit of difference" to school drugs
policies.