- which concerns the government and the Tory front bench.
Chris Huhne describes drugs policy as a shambles. Commenting on the decision by the Association of Chief Police Officers to continue their current policy of ‘confiscate and warn’ on cannabis despite Jacqui Smith, prompted by Gordon Brown, deciding to reclassify it to a class B drug, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary said:
“The Government’s drugs policy is now in a shambles as senior police officers take scientific advice more seriously than ministers.
“Gordon Brown should have followed the recommendations of the advisory council on the misuse of drugs, as that was the only evidence-based course open to him.”
It is odd that the government should single out this one recommendation of the advisory council, the one that made the headlines, to reject, while accepting all the others.
Is it too much to ask for some consistency on drugs policy? Alcohol, which arguably does more harm than cannabis, is very widely available. There is little more control on alcopops, the skunk of the drinks trade, than on the rest of alcoholic drinks.
LibDem MP Tom Brake reported today (on Radio 4's "World at One") that a shop round the corner from a school in his constituency openly displayed hemp leaves in its window, without any action being taken against it.
1 comment:
The amount of money being spent on Drugs and Alcohol Treatment services is tiny compaired with the financial cost to society. I believe that Cannabis should be Class B, but then who is going to police this?
Alcohol is freely available and is dangerous, 40,000 deaths per annum can be linked with Alcohol, 70% of Arests. White cider is sold by the pallet in a local supermarket; at less than £2 for 3 litres (cheaper than petrol - or cooking oil) 3 litres of 8% Abv Cider contains 24 units of alcohol, or less than 10 pence per unit - cheap as chips.
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