Government determined to make Cannabis class B

[Hekna]

BBC NEWS | UK | PM 'stands by stance on cannabis'

Downing Street has signalled Gordon Brown remains determined to tighten the law on cannabis - against the advice of an independent panel of experts.
BBC News has been told the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs believes that cannabis should remain in the lowest category, Class C.
Conservative Leader David Cameron called on Gordon Brown to tighten up the law on cannabis.
Mr Cameron said the prime minister must "stop dithering".
A Downing Street spokesman said reports that the Advisory Council were going to recommend keeping cannabis in Class C were premature.
He said Gordon Brown stood by earlier remarks about the need to signal that cannabis use was illegal and unacceptable....


What are your views on the classification of cannabis? Should they concentrate on changing the category or attitudes?

[Sweetpea]

Bloody ridiculous.

[poppy]

cant decide on this, is it any worse than alcohol, I am not being funny I know nothing of skunk, the grass in the 60s and 70s and the resins like Moroccan black and Lebanese gold, were mild soporifics that made everything mellow, not psychotic.
Booze has a very back effect on the brain and emotions of some folk. seen the battered wives and kids top rove it.
what makes is one legal and the other not? Apart from the tax the government gets from it.

[Hekna]

I watched a programme not so long ago that ranked the top ten drugs, both legal and illegal. I don't recall which had the top spot but I believe it was heroin, but alcohol and nicotine were several places above cannabis. Skunk is apparently much stronger and I think this is where the government keeps focusing its attention and lumping all types in together. I think perhaps they should look into classing skunk as B and other forms of cannabis as C. I personally believe this 'what shall we class it as now' attitude is a bit of a joke. If someone is going to use a drug they're not too fussed what class it is. They should be looking at changing attitudes and trying to prevent people from smoking ANYTHING. When I was at school we had these workshops run by ex-addicts of all sorts of drugs - the one thing they all said they couldn't give up was regular cigarettes.
A point that always interested me - previous studies on drug addiction in the Netherlands showed that the average age of drug addicts has increased every decade since cannabis was decriminalised. The main theory behind this is that fewer young smokers are coming into contact with drug dealers who then try to encourage them to try other drugs. Makes sense to me.

[Sweetpea]

A point that always interested me - previous studies on drug addiction in the Netherlands showed that the average age of drug addicts has increased every decade since cannabis was decriminalised. The main theory behind this is that fewer young smokers are coming into contact with drug dealers who then try to encourage them to try other drugs. Makes sense to me.

This is what I have always said, de-criminalise cannabis, then people do not ever have to meet drug dealers.

[poppy]

I have often wondered what would happen if they legalised and taxed all drugs.
No dealers no pushers, no romance of doing something illegal for the young. would most kids just lose interest. I personally think they might, and it would stop an awful lot of criminal gangs in heir tracks.

[Hekna]

If they did legalise and regulate them I dare say there would be less accidental overdoses. The government is missing out on making a pretty penny, which isn't like them at all...

[Hekna]

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