CANNABIS NATION

If Britain Can Wise Up, So Can The Rest Of The World

IT'S NOT often this magazine feels moved to heap praise on the
British government or one of its panels of expert advisers.

But last week's report on cannabis from the government's Advisory
Council on the Misuse of Drugs really should be read by teenagers,
parents and teachers across the world
(www.drugs.gov.uk/newsandevents/news/cannabis-acmd/view).

While making it clear that cannabis is far from benign, the report
sensibly rates the substance as "substantially less harmful" than
amphetamines, and less likely than alcohol and tobacco to lead to
health problems.

The government is certain now to downgrade cannabis from its class B
list, which includes amphetamines, to class C, which includes
steroids.

In practice, possession of small amounts of cannabis will cease to be
an arrestable offence in Britain, a move unthinkable even a few years
ago. What's changed?

Not scientific opinion.

As long ago as 1968, Britain's then Advisory Committee on Drug
Dependence concluded that cannabis was safer than amphetamines and
alcohol, and imprisoning people for possessing it was
disproportionate to the harm it does. The new flexibility is born of
pragmatism and demographics. Police chiefs and politicians are less
likely to demonise a substance they or their friends smoked in their
youth.

And with nearly one in five Britons aged 20 to 24 now using cannabis
regularly, it's clear that the current law is useless as a deterrent
and serves only to criminalise otherwise lawabiding people while
eating up vast amounts of police time.

Reclassifying cannabis will not solve all the problems linked with
the drug. Like many other countries, Britain needs better treatment
facilities for the minority of dope smokers who do develop a problem
habit.

And it's not yet clear what can or should be done about those who
drive under its influence (see p 4). But at last, Britain, for so
long a supporter of US-style zero tolerance towards cannabis, seems
to be catching up with its more progressive European neighbours. To
encourage others to do the same, it's important the World Health
Organization now has the courage to follow the lead of the British
experts, and provide explicit advice about the health risks of
cannabis compared with alcohol and tobacco.

The WHO opted to remove such a comparison from its last major report
on cannabis.

It will have little credibility if it leaves it out next time round.