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Brown determined to reintroduce stiffer penalties for cannabis use



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Published Date: 04 April 2008
By Gerri Peev
GORDON Brown is determined to press ahead with tougher laws for cannabis users, as he set himself up for a clash with a panel of drug policy experts.
The Prime Minister had made it clear he wanted to upgrade the classification and penalties for use of the drug, but his intentions came under strain after the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) reportedly decided to recommend against re
-classification.

At a private meeting of the ACMD on Wednesday, 20 out of 23 of the experts voted not to upgrade cannabis from a Class C to a Class B drug, which would stiffen the penalties for possession from two years in prison to five years.

Such a decision presents Mr Brown with a dilemma: whether to defy the panel of experts or backtrack on the strong signals he has sent.

On Tuesday, Mr Brown said at his monthly press conference: "Given the changing nature of the stock of cannabis that is coming into the country and greater damage that that appears to be doing to people who use it, there is a stronger case for sending out a signal that cannabis is not only illegal but it is unacceptable."

About half the cannabis in the UK is the stronger "skunk" variety. A decision is not due to be made public for a month, but it is believed the panel was swayed by research from Keele University.

Researchers concluded that there was not enough evidence to suggest strong links between mental health problems and drug use in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Such conclusions would fail to convince politicians and drugs charities, however, who have pointed out that more recent strains of cannabis are much stronger.

Anne Moffat, Labour MP for East Lothian, said she had seen the ravages of cannabis abuse as a former psychiatric nurse. She urged Mr Brown to overrule the council if it refused to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug.

"I think it is right that elected members of parliament make decisions about what affects the nation," she said.

The Prime Minister's spokesman sought to play down the clash with the panel. He said that the committee had yet to reach any final conclusions.

Mr Brown stood by his comments at his Downing Street press conference on Tuesday, when he said that the government needed to send out a signal that cannabis use was not just illegal but also unacceptable.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the government's policy was in "chaos" and urged Mr Brown to press ahead with reclassification, regardless of the committee's advice.





The full article contains 442 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 03 April 2008 10:04 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Drugs policy
 
1

MGJ,

Edinburgh 04/04/2008 00:15:50
Aye, the policy has worked. Declassifying cannabis has reduced it's use, and that can't be allowed, surely? If we really are focussing on harm rather than hysteria, then we'll have prohibition on booze, but the reality is that we have a government on the run from the Daily Hell and other right-wing commentators, so instead they'll crack down on a bit of puff, rather than putting cannabis in the mostly harmless for most people category where it belongs.
2

Conan the Librarian™,

04/04/2008 00:19:54
Oh.

That will work.

Hmm.Shall he turn in all his(obviously, "ex" mates from Teviot Row).Perhaps he did not inhale either.
3

The Pianist,

G P , fornt bottom 04/04/2008 00:44:39
Funny how everyone else wants to adopt the status quo.

I dearly want to meet Gerri Peev "off the record!"
4

The Pianist,

04/04/2008 00:45:37
Stop the jets, people!
5

clochoderic,

the twilight zone 04/04/2008 01:09:35
Teviot Row and Chambers Street - they were all at it, even a certain famous advocate.
6

Richardinho,

04/04/2008 02:24:07
Gordon is a moron!
7

AJ Fife,

04/04/2008 02:27:36
I bet Broon was a clipe at school and a serial self abuser too!
8

R.I.P. HONEST BALANCED JOURNALISM,

04/04/2008 04:16:57
it busting some snotty student because he has 2 plants in a cupboard. And is smoking it himself and sharing with a couple of friends on the grow? He is probably doing a publice health service.


I agree they should be targetting the big grows 15-40+ plants. It is mainly NASTY PEOPLE POISONING LOTS OF KIDS AND ADULTS.

A bit of tolerance on the home user would be good and certainly lessen the que at the door of the morgue. Lung disease is VERY NASTY.

It has , as a subject. Become the elephant in the room. Pragmatic approaches are needed. This drug is common in Scottish society and no amount of legislation is going to erradicate it's usage. We can however lessen the damage sand the consequent damage to society by health issues.

Every society will have people who take drugs, people who take drugs and grow out of them and people who dont abuse drugs or take them. Since the dawn of time that has been the case with alchohol for example. Now there is a damaging drug!How many pot heads have you ever seen abusing staff in an E&R at 3 am? Their probably at the 24 hour filling station buying lots of food and being polite and relaxed with with the assistant!

I am not saying it is a cure to all our ills however something has to be done by the Scottish Goverment.

I an ideal world we would all be perfect and not abuse drugs or alchohol. Unfortunately it isnt an ideal world and we arent all perfect.
9

R.I.P. HONEST BALANCED JOURNALISM,

04/04/2008 04:17:48
drats. my copy and paste didnt work!

This article is more full of holes than a soap bar smokers lungs.

1. Why would you grow in a country that employs so much resources, has heavy sea and border patrols and heavy policing. and a lot of this on this particular subject and then want to export it? easier in eastern europe or romania.

2. Why are criminals making so much money out of it? Because it IS ilegal. Prohibition did not work in the USA for alchohol. The policy only made dodgey people (mafia: alchohol and gambling)more powerful.

3. Why are lung departments in the UK filling up with 20 year olds? Because the dope is cut with plastic for the resin based varieties and SILICA(!) for the herbal to make it retain water. So as they can make more!

4. the article says 1 plant capable of 4 harvests? NONSENSE! only by debudding the plant very carefully and causing a lot of hassle will allow you a second shot. And you would probably be better smoking rope!

5. Canada has a 2 plant rule. This stops gangsters and terrorists making gains and diverting the money. A lot of canadians grow. The domestic weed market is nil on a sales value.A lot of MS sufferers are grateful.

6. Holland has decrimanalised it. They have not seen any increase in heroin usage. Infact the one country out of the 2 which has saw an increase is the UK, dramaticaly.

7. We need politicians too look at this seriously. Not using it as a moral trump card to pull out and play with every once in a while.

8. Smoking dope is harmful. Smoking any substance is harmful. However smoking ILLEGAL STREET WEED IS EXTREMELY HARMFUL.Mainly to your lungs. Psychotic illness is rare and down to the users make up and amount they smoke. But in all, less damaging than lung disease.

9. It is believed in Edinburgh the police have a 2 plant rule where they wont bother you if you only have a couple and strictly for your own usage. If busted you apparently get the plants taken and a very stern warning. S
10

R.I.P. HONEST BALANCED JOURNALISM,

04/04/2008 04:18:55
cont.
Sensible proactive policing. What use is it busting some snotty student because he has 2 plants in a cupboard. And is smoking it himself and sharing with a couple of friends on the grow? He is probably doing a publice health service.


I agree they should be targetting the big grows 15-40+ plants. It is mainly NASTY PEOPLE POISONING LOTS OF KIDS AND ADULTS.

A bit of tolerance on the home user would be good and certainly lessen the que at the door of the morgue. Lung disease is VERY NASTY.

It has , as a subject. Become the elephant in the room. Pragmatic approaches are needed. This drug is common in Scottish society and no amount of legislation is going to erradicate it's usage. We can however lessen the damage sand the consequent damage to society by health issues.

Every society will have people who take drugs, people who take drugs and grow out of them and people who dont abuse drugs or take them. Since the dawn of time that has been the case with alchohol for example. Now there is a damaging drug!How many pot heads have you ever seen abusing staff in an E&R at 3 am? Their probably at the 24 hour filling station buying lots of food and being polite and relaxed with with the assistant!

I am not saying it is a cure to all our ills however something has to be done by the Scottish Goverment.

I an ideal world we would all be perfect and not abuse drugs or alchohol. Unfortunately it isnt an ideal world and we arent all perfect.
11

An Beal Bacht,

04/04/2008 04:20:41

DRUG CONTROL

Documents & Texts from America.gov

21 September 2006
U.S., Europe Working Together To Combat Drug Trafficking

Washington -- Illicit drugs are a global menace, and the United States and Europe are working together to curb the increased flow of these drugs from South America to Europe, says Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Chief of Operations Michael Braun.
The text of Braun’s statement is available on the DEA Web site.
In September 21 testimony before two House subcommittees, Braun said that since the early 1990s, Europe has experienced a significant increase in the amount of cocaine trafficked from South America. DEA investigations have shown that the same Colombian organizations that are smuggling cocaine to Europe are also smuggling to the United States, so it is "vitally important" that the United States and Europe coordinate their counternarcotics efforts, he added.
To this end, Braun said, the DEA has forged a strong and cooperative relationship with its European counterparts, maintaining offices in 11 European countries with approximately 60 DEA employees. As an example of this cooperation, Braun pointed to Operation Twin Ocean, a three-year effort. And as part of this effort, he said, the DEA worked with law enforcement agencies in Colombia, Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Spain and Great Britain to arrest more than 100 individuals, and seize more than 47 tons of cocaine and nearly $70 million in assets in May.
Braun explained that the DEA has a particularly close relationship with the United Kingdom's Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), with numerous ongoing joint operations as well as the recent completion of Operation White Dollar. As part of this operation, the DEA and SOCA worked with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as well as Colombian and Canadian officials to dismantle an international money-laundering ring that laundered millions of Colombian drug dollars in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom
12

An Beal Bacht,

04/04/2008 04:21:24
DRUG CONTROL

Documents & Texts from America.gov

13 March 2007
U.S. Calls for Continued International Cooperation in Narcotics

By Lea Terhune
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington – While praising the results of past international cooperation, the United States has called for continued, careful balancing of the legal availability of drugs for medical use and the prevention of drug abuse and narcotics trafficking.
“This difficult challenge of meeting legitimate needs while eliminating synthetic drug production warrants a strong system of both international cooperation and national regulation for effective precursor chemical control,” U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Thomas Schweich said March 12 in Vienna, Austria, at the meeting of the 50th United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND).
He said the member states of the CND are obliged to “ensure that we maintain this balance.”
Schweich emphasized that legalizing illicit opium and coca crops would hamper enforcement of anti-narcotics laws. “[W]e believe that an effort to legalize the massive Afghan opium crop, or expand the already excessive areas of licit coca cultivation in South America, would result in unprecedented levels of diversion, with seriously negative consequences for all of us.” (See related article.)
He said progress in dismantling drug-trafficking networks and preventing illegal cultivation has shown positive results in the United States: “[W]e are ... pleased to report that drug consumption is considerably down amongst youth in our country -- by 23 percent.”
The control of precursor chemicals such as ephidrene and psudoephedrine is critical and challenging at a time when the abuse of synthetic drugs is spreading globally. These chemicals, which are used legitimately to bring relief for respiratory ailments, are also chief components of highly addictive and destructive illegal synthetic drugs such as methamphetami
13

An Beal Bacht,

04/04/2008 04:22:39
DRUG CONTROL

Documents & Texts from America.gov

01 March 2007
World Community Shares Vision on Threat Caused by Illegal Drugs

By Eric Green, USINFO Staff Writer
[The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report is available on the Department of State website.]
Washington -- International partners working with the United States to fight the illicit drug trade share a “clear vision” about the need to meet that challenge “head on,” says U.S. State Department official Anne Patterson.
Speaking at a March 1 briefing to release the State Department’s 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Patterson said U.S. partners in the anti-drug fight include countries “whose developing economies and democratic institutions are threatened” by illicit drugs, “which mortgage the future of their people and their environment.”
Patterson, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, pointed to several countries that are having success confronting the drug trade, particularly Colombia. That Andean nation, she said, is “starkly different from the mid-1990s, when the country was reeling from drug cartels and insurgent violence.”
Colombia continues to attack the drug trade and the terrorist organizations that profit from it, said Patterson, who served as U.S. ambassador to Colombia from 2000 to 2003.
Although coca cultivation persists in Colombia, she said, “aggressive eradication” resulted in the destruction of what could have become billions of dollars of cocaine on U.S. streets. The coca plant is used to make cocaine.
Patterson also singled out Mexico for praise, saying that the administrations of President Felipe Calderón and his predecessor, Vicente Fox, have “cracked down” on drug traffickers “more than any previous” Mexican governments. In cooperation with the United States, the Mexican government has seized drugs, eradicated illegal crops and extradited “some of Mexico’s most notorious traffickers,” sai
14

An Beal Bacht,

04/04/2008 04:24:02
DRUG CONTROL

Documents & Texts from America.gov

01 March 2007
World Community Shares Vision on Threat Caused by Illegal Drugs

By Eric Green, USINFO Staff Writer
[The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report is available on the Department of State website.]
Washington -- International partners working with the United States to fight the illicit drug trade share a “clear vision” about the need to meet that challenge “head on,” says U.S. State Department official Anne Patterson.
Speaking at a March 1 briefing to release the State Department’s 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Patterson said U.S. partners in the anti-drug fight include countries “whose developing economies and democratic institutions are threatened” by illicit drugs, “which mortgage the future of their people and their environment.”
Patterson, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, pointed to several countries that are having success confronting the drug trade, particularly Colombia. That Andean nation, she said, is “starkly different from the mid-1990s, when the country was reeling from drug cartels and insurgent violence.”
Colombia continues to attack the drug trade and the terrorist organizations that profit from it, said Patterson, who served as U.S. ambassador to Colombia from 2000 to 2003.
Although coca cultivation persists in Colombia, she said, “aggressive eradication” resulted in the destruction of what could have become billions of dollars of cocaine on U.S. streets. The coca plant is used to make cocaine.
Patterson also singled out Mexico for praise, saying that the administrations of President Felipe Calderón and his predecessor, Vicente Fox, have “cracked down” on drug traffickers “more than any previous” Mexican governments. In cooperation with the United States, the Mexican government has seized drugs, eradicated illegal crops and extradited “some of Mexico’s most notorious traffickers,” sai
15

R.I.P. HONEST BALANCED JOURNALISM,

04/04/2008 04:25:31
"Anne Moffat, Labour MP for East Lothian, said she had seen the ravages of cannabis abuse as a former psychiatric nurse. She urged Mr Brown to overrule the council if it refused to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug."

East lothians ANNE MOFFAT? THE HIGHEST EXPENSE GRABBING MUNCHiest in the parliament! LOL The person who called alex salmond a nazi and is despised by her constituency party for being foisted on them.

She has probably more likely seen the effects of cannabis on people who would develop mental illness anyway.

What a load of cack!

See why we never get anywhere with a sensible debate on this? Too many nebs soooking up the greasy pole and chirping to expectant tune. I bet she gets a lot of help in the next few days from a few drinks company lobyists.Just up her street. More money!

And your constituents canny stand you!
16

An Beal Bacht,

04/04/2008 04:25:55
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/drugs.html

Aye - there cut off. Go read the rest yourself if you care to.
17

An Beal Bacht,

04/04/2008 04:31:16
They just want to keep the price up.

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/09/crashed-drug-plane-o.html

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/2938.php

http://www.csun.edu/~hfspc002/news/cia.drug.html

They just want to keep the price up.
18

danielrober,

04/04/2008 08:54:25
I'd still push for the permitisation of home grown canabis. However it is nice to have a Prime Minister that knows what he wants to do about the Drug problem.

Would he also support regular testing for government employees, with the users been suitably punished. After all too many white collar drug users out there protecting dealers. Many small town adminisrations are very 'susceptable' to the financail pressure these dealers can bring about. As a younger man I talked to many people who, after the elected official had gone, hinted how the official got their money in the past.

Maybe a 'bounty' for the identification of dealers, spot a factory, that results in the same type of police action above and the government will give you £5000. Just for pointing the building out.
19

Steve,

Bo'ness 04/04/2008 10:30:09
Kirkcaldy picks fight with Westminster
20

Allan(handofgod137),

04/04/2008 11:52:38
#18 I'd rather see a bounty paid for the identification of corrupt, lying thieving politicians.
21

Horrible Cankers at the Cyber Shebeen,

04/04/2008 23:20:57
Eejit more like.

 

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