One of Gordon Brown's first acts as Prime Minister - signalling that he would reverse the Blair Government's decision to downgrade cannabis - is not looking too clever today. It has emerged that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which is reviewing the decision, will recommend against reclassifying the drug to Class B and say that it should remain as Class C.
This lands Brown with a dilemma: whether to take the advice of his independent experts on drugs (as the Government has done since the seventies) or to override them.
It's already pretty clear which way the PM is going to jump. Backing down would make him look weak - a charge now being made by his own MPs, as well as his enemies. It would also alienate the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph, an audience he was trying to please when he made his "not Blair" announcement last summer.
I expect Brown to make the argument that, whatever the scientific evidence now says, downgrading cannabis sent a dangerous signal to young people which must be reversed. It's a funny way to do business. And another example of the difference between being Chancellor and PM. While he was at the Treasury, the "independent reviews" set up by Brown had a habit of coming up with the recommendations he wanted.
Government = waste of valuable resources
Posted by: Max Stirner | Thursday, 03 April 2008 at 06:13 PM
The issue over any drug is a potential minefield. Again I ask will common sense be in any decision. Gordon Brown has come under attack from me as did Blair and will continue to do so. However I do not envy the task at hand. Gordon will have a tough time with this one. If proper consideration is to be given then the best people to speak to are the NHS Doctors who think cannabis may be a beneficial drug in some cases. Again difficult when some will label it as the embodiment of evil while others hail it as an alternative medicine. Please Gordon, use common sense here and I may even praise you. Verbal attacks will continue in other posts though! sorry
Posted by: John Finningham | Thursday, 03 April 2008 at 07:00 PM
I am a medicinal user suffering with MS and I am now on my knees begging Gordon Brown to show compassion and wisdom. It is not only teenagers at risk. Please don't play with the lives of the vulnerable in your pursuit of votes.
Posted by: Sarah Martin | Thursday, 03 April 2008 at 07:25 PM
Playing the benevolent despot will not endear Brown to voters - if he doesn't take the advice of experts, he's going to look pretty silly. Who cares about the Telegraph, Mail, etc vote - the man should be thinking about principles, not purely about re-election.
Posted by: Jakers | Thursday, 03 April 2008 at 07:45 PM
I have absolutely no idea why the subject gains so much coverage and controversy anyway. Exponentially more people contract terrible illnesses and die as a result of tobacco and alcohol abuse. The taxpayer and health systems seem all too happy to prop these people up, penalising them only by high rates of duty, written warnings on the packaging and seemingly aimless rhetoric about how we really must do something about it sometime.
However, after you have had your fill of the likes of The Daily Mail brainwashing you into the belief that hordes of people are suddenly becoming rampant paranoid schizophrenics, because they smoked a joint or two, while ignoring the considerable medical benefits of the drug, then I suppose you might just go back to your bottle of whisky, your packet of cigaretts, and think "oh well, might as well just stick to these. After all, the worst I can do is die from them. Rather that than get stoned. Heaven forbid!"
Posted by: Picko | Thursday, 03 April 2008 at 09:12 PM
Gordon Brown cannot ignore the fact that more and more people young and old are choosing to use cannabis. The government should also take note that 11 million tobacco users in this country are waiting to respond in kind at the next general election. The winning of voters is a pathetic self-centred activity when the country is virtually invaded by foriegn job hunters and the mainly unemployed native people who use cannabis have nothing better to do than get high.
Give them prospects for a better future and the drug use may subside.
Posted by: Steve Brown | Tuesday, 29 April 2008 at 08:41 AM
The aim of reclassifying cannabis to a Class B drug would be with a veiw to protecting people, as that is one of the principal aims, or at least should be, of the government. However, this reclassification is not going to change anything. Those who already smoke marijuana aren't going to suddenly stop, and those people who are curious enough to know what 'being high' feels like probably aren't going to be put off by the new law since obtaining and smoking marijuana privately and responsibily is extremely easy.
If however, cannabis were to be decriminalised, dare I say liscensed, everything from the potency of the drug to who can purchase how much would be controlled. As a young teenager I found it much easier to purchase cannabis than alcohol simply because in general, drug dealers don't ask for your ID, simply your money.
Posted by: Tom Smith | Tuesday, 29 April 2008 at 09:10 AM
cannabis has been proven time and again to be less harmful than alcohol and tabacco, until these two other demons have been addressed, it all seems pretty pointless. which leads me to belive that my goverment yet again are not doing what is true and right for the people. also in the work i do, i see first hand the damage herion and crack cocain has on a human being while being fully aware what it does to our community. cannabis is the latest scape goat for the G.Brown Clan.
Posted by: nicholas white | Thursday, 01 May 2008 at 01:48 PM
I think cannabis should be viewed in the way that it is done in holland. Then atleast youre getting some safe stuff. The main risk is the stuff that the dealers put in and how they grow it.
To be honest they need to revamp the whole drug law.
Posted by: justin hart | Thursday, 01 May 2008 at 04:56 PM