Drug Classifications Overhaul

Further to yesterdays No Cannabis Law Change post.

In The Guardian today there's a report stating that Charles Clarke has ordered a complete overhaul of the 30-year-old system for classifying illegal drugs.

The debate over cannabis classification continues to rage with Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, warning that the lives of thousands of young people will be damaged by the Government's failure to reclassify cannabis to a "B" class drug.

In a Commons statement, Mr Clarke confirmed that cannabis would continue with the "B" classification, but promised a new public information campaign, plus a new review of the whole drug classification system.

But speaking from the Opposition benches, Mr Davis said the Government's refusal to reclassify cannabis was a "tragic missed opportunity", especially as many experts and all the evidence indicated that the downgrading of cannabis to class "C" had been a mistake.

"We know that the use of cannabis is a gateway to hard drugs…that it can cause psychosis, and that it does huge psychiatric damage. Modern cannabis does more harm than older varieties," he added.

To read the full article, please click Clarke fails to grasp the cannabis nettle.