Home secretary Jacqui Smith has, in a widely anticipated move, confirmed that cannabis is to be reclassified as a class B drug.
The drug was downgraded to class C in January 2004 but Ms Smith claimed that a stronger form of cannabis called skunk is now far more widely available, making up around 80 per cent of street cannabis seized.
The government's decision goes against the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which was asked to review the drug's status in July 2007.
The council called for cannabis to remain a class C drug, but ministers insist the reclassification will go ahead later this year.
The Conservatives have said that cannabis should never have been downgraded in the first place and labelled the latest move a 'long-awaited U-turn'.
However, the charitable thinktank Transform Drug Policy Foundation accused the government of flying in the face of scientific advice.
'It's a way of showing how tough and hard they are and has been in no way about the developments that have affected public policy… Cameron and Brown have been spurring each other on to ever more facile prohibitionist nonsense and this is the result,' claimed spokesman Danny Kushlick.
The drug was downgraded to class C in January 2004 but Ms Smith claimed that a stronger form of cannabis called skunk is now far more widely available, making up around 80 per cent of street cannabis seized.
The government's decision goes against the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which was asked to review the drug's status in July 2007.
The council called for cannabis to remain a class C drug, but ministers insist the reclassification will go ahead later this year.
The Conservatives have said that cannabis should never have been downgraded in the first place and labelled the latest move a 'long-awaited U-turn'.
However, the charitable thinktank Transform Drug Policy Foundation accused the government of flying in the face of scientific advice.
'It's a way of showing how tough and hard they are and has been in no way about the developments that have affected public policy… Cameron and Brown have been spurring each other on to ever more facile prohibitionist nonsense and this is the result,' claimed spokesman Danny Kushlick.
0 comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)