Parliament To Give Cannabis The Skunk-eye
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Fri May 09, 2008 at 06:42:49 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Britain's Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, announced the UK is reclassifying cannabis. It is currently a Class C drug and, in the future, it will be classified a Class B drug. The difference is that possession of a Class C drug tops out at two years behind bars, while getting caught with a Class B drug could cost you five years of your life. Smith said the government's decision, which still requires parliamentary approval, is part of a "relentless effort" to protect the nation's young people.
What informs Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government's decision to set back the clock four years, back when cannabis was previously considered a Class B drug? The main culprit is a particularly potent variety of weed known as "skunk." Its use has soared over the past six years to the point where it currently constitutes 60 to 70% of all pot seized by the police in the UK. Its use is also linked by the media to bizarre mood swings and lurid crimes.
The government is taking this step to increase penalties on pot possession against the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs which recently issued a report requested by the Home Office (pdf doc). In that report, cannabis was identified as a "significant public health issue" but should remain a Class C drug. The report reasoned that the risks associated with pot use were "not anywhere near as serious" as other Class B drugs such as amphetamines or barbituates. As far as pot's deleterious effect on mental health, the report would only note a "probable, but weak, causal link between psychotic illness, including schizophrenia, and cannabis use." Sir Michael Rawlings, the Advisory Council's chairman, said the media hype of skunk's strength might be a bit overdone:"The strength of things like skunk hasn't really changed very much over the last few years but it's now more widely used... The question of potency is a very complex area."
Although the change in classification seems to be driven by the government's fear and loathing of skunk, regular strains of pot will also be reclassified as Class B drugs. It might seem a bit ironic that the main mouthpiece for this harshening of pot laws in Britain is among a number of ministers who admitted to pot use in their youths. There are those with no particular sense of irony who are convinced that skunk is the "devil's weed" On the other hand, there are those deploring the government move as the British version of Reefer Madness.
