It is impossible to know how many people have been deterred from using cannabis out of deference to the law. Decades of prohibition have not prevented the drug from establishing itself as a part of the repertoire of psychoactive substances that British people use for leisure and, for a few, non-recreational medication. Despite the theoretical threat of prosecution, cannabis use has become sufficiently uncontroversial for stories about David Cameron dabbling in his youth to have surfaced without measurable impact on his standing as prime minister. [continues 458 words]
LEGALISING THE sale of cannabis could raise UKP1bn a year in tax and help minimise health risks, according to a report. The study, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats and conducted by a panel of scientists, academics and police chiefs, suggests that the drug should be available in specialist shops to over-18s. The party is expected to debate the issue at its spring conference in York this weekend. Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "Every year billions of pounds are put into the pockets of organised criminals selling cannabis and vast amounts of police time and resources are wasted going after those using the drug." [continues 163 words]
Legalising the sale of cannabis in specialist shops would generate UKP1bn a year in tax revenue and reduce the harm done to users and society, according to the most detailed plans ever drawn up for the liberalisation of UK drug laws. The study, which was carried out by a panel of experts including scientists, academics and police chiefs, calls for the UK to follow the lead of some US states and allow the sale of cannabis to over-18s in licensed retail stores. [continues 802 words]
Cannabis should be sold over the counter in plain packaging in specialist, licensed shops to over-18s only, according to an expert panel set up by the Liberal Democrats to examine what a regulated cannabis market in Britain should look like. They suggest cannabis should be sold in three strengths - lower, medium and higher - in prescription medicine-style resealable childproof containers with a health warning. The panel also recommends that smallscale licensed "cannabis social clubs" should be set up, and that home-grown cultivation of up to four plants for personal use should be allowed. [continues 346 words]
PEOPLE caught with drugs for personal use would be referred for health treatment rather than sent to jail under proposals unveiled by the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Leader Willie Rennie said Scotland's current drugs policy "is costly and fails to work for everyone". Drugs misuse costs society UKP3.5 billion a year amounting to around UKP900 for every adult in Scotland, he said. The LibDems will call for drug users to be "referred for treatment, education or civil penalties, ending the use of i mpr i s on ment " , in a ma n i fe sto p ol ic y put forward for discussion at its Scottish spring conference this week. [continues 174 words]
Under Scottish LibDem proposals, possession of small amounts of heroin for personal use would mean a police warning rather than a court appearance HEROIN, cocaine and ecstasy users should face police warnings instead of prison if found with small amounts of drugs for personal use, the Scottish LibDems will argue this week. The party will use its spring conference to advocate decriminalising drug use - as opposed to drug dealing in a fundamental reform of how addiction is dealt with by the authorities. [continues 403 words]
IT'S time for Scotland to change its approach to drug abuse. The current policy towards it is costly and fails to work for everyone. Drugs misuse costs society UKP3.5 billion a year. That's around UKP900 for every adult in Scotland. We're not winning the so-called war on drugs and we have to consider the alternatives. This week, at the Scottish Liberal Democrats' Spring Conference, our manifesto commitment to promote a change in drug policy will be set out. We are proposing a fundamental reform of the way drug users are prosecuted and sentenced. Not drug dealers. We think it is right that they can face up to life in prison. But we do not believe vulnerable people struggling with addiction should be imprisoned simply for possessing drugs for personal use. [continues 568 words]
Parliament Should Allow Doctors to Prescribe Cannabis Those responsible for the Government's drug policies could not be accused of any exaggerated deference to the world of scientific papers, double-blind trials and laboratory-bound research. The Psychoactive Substances Bill - which outlaws anything likely to alter a user's mindset - was described in the New Scientist as one of the "stupidest, most dangerous and unscientific pieces of legislation ever conceived". It demonstrates Parliament moving in the opposite direction to the tonnage of evidence showing that draconian approaches to recreational drug use have failed. [continues 220 words]
A campaign to legalise the medical use of cannabis is launched today amid warnings that up to 1.1 million people across Britain are currently breaking the law by taking the drug to combat the pain of chronic conditions. The drive, which coincides with a Coronation Street storyline focusing on the issue, is being supported by the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and senior politicians from all parties. Campaigners hope to attract hundreds of thousands of signatures for a petition backing the move, with the aim of forcing a Commons debate on legalising medicinal cannabis. They are pressing for ministers to follow the lead of several Western European countries and US states in allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to alleviate the painful symptoms of disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. [continues 435 words]
Billionaire warlords, who started as small-time weed smugglers, have swathes of Latin America under their bloody rule, and the chaos is creeping north. But, says IOAN GRILLO, they owe their power to white-collar crooks from the States, who first set up their deadly networks A chain of crime wars is currently strangling Latin America and the Caribbean, drenching it in blood. And the first link in the chain is found in the US. Specifically, in a Barnes and Noble bookshop in a mall in El Paso, Texas. [continues 2430 words]
A YOUNG man with an inoperable form of bone cancer, who was told he only had a year left to live, claims cannabis oil has given him new hope. Last August, 23-year-old George Blakemore from Torfaen was diagnosed with Stage 2 Chondrosarcoma a rare form of bone cancer arising from the left pubic ramus bone. By October it had spread to his lungs and after undergoing one of the strongest forms of chemotherapy, George was told surgery was no longer an option and he may only have around a year left to live. [continues 757 words]
Nick Clegg and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka Set Out Their Vision Before a Forthcoming UN Summit Standing on the podium at the United Nations in New York in June 1998, Kofi Annan declared: "It is time for all nations to say 'yes' to the challenge of working towards a drug-free world!" The leaders assembled at that meeting agreed: illegal drugs were to be eradicated from the face of the planet. They even set a deadline: 10 years to rid the globe of this scourge. A drug-free world by 2008. [continues 979 words]
Rethink MacAskill Wants Change FORMER justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has called on the SNP Government to stop treating drug users as criminals. MacAskill, who served for seven years under Alex Salmond, claimed the war on drugs had failed across the world and said that police would be better targeting criminal gangs instead of low-level users. The Scottish Government rejected the call and Labour branded his proposals "potentially dangerous". MacAskill, justice secretary from 2007 to 2014, said the "winds of change are blowing" across the world. [continues 320 words]
Change in Approach to Petty Offending to Ensure Major Crimes Are the Priority PEOPLE caught with small quantities of cannabis will face on-the-spot warnings from police rather than prosecution. The change in enforcing drug laws is part of a major overhaul of how officers handle petty offending to free up the time of police and prosecutors. Scottish officers will next month start issuing new "Recorded Police Warnings" to many of the tens of thousands of people a year found committing minor offences, such as carrying cannabis, urinating in the street or petty shoplifting. [continues 579 words]
AS officers know well, it is not for the police to shape laws on drugs. There might be a ready audience for another debate over the decriminalisation of cannabis, but that is not, strictly speaking, the business of Police Scotland. Instead, the force is preparing to ask important questions of its own. Where petty offences are concerned, those could be summarised as what, how and why? If the offence involves an individual caught in possession of a small amount of cannabis for personal consumption, what should an officer do? As things stand, the issue of "how" follows, given the high chance of a report to the Crown Office leading to no action. [continues 398 words]
REGARDING the commentary by Howard Wooldridge, there is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalisation (The lives and trillions of dollars sacrificed on the altar of futile modern prohibition, Comment, November 15). Switzerland's heroin maintenance programme has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime by providing addicts with standardised doses in a clinical setting. Its success has inspired heroin maintenance pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. Expanding prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organised crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. Cannabis should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the advertising. As long as criminals control cannabis distribution, consumers will come into contact with sellers of hard drugs. Cannabis prohibition is a gateway drug policy. Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC [end]
SINCE the official beginning of the drug war in 1971, the law-enforcement community in the United States has spent just over $1 trillion. Tens of thousands of citizens have died, sacrificed on the altar of this modern prohibition. Millions have suffered from a drug arrest, which haunts them forever - and the difference on the streets? Federal research shows drugs are cheaper, stronger and more "readily available" to America's youth. As a street cop and detective in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, I had a ringside seat to this unfolding social disaster. [continues 639 words]
Amid a fragrant haze of hypocrisy, the line is that there will be no change, funding cuts aside, in UK drugs strategy. Meanwhile, police forces the length of these islands are improvising policies of their own IT could be a pub quiz question. What do Armenia and Argentina have in common? The Czech Republic and Chile? Paraguay and Poland? The answer isn't football. Each has decided, in some fashion, that if you just say no to drugs, you say nothing useful at all. Depending on the definitions used, there are between 25 and 30 such countries. Their laws, methods, aims and ambitions vary. Some have legalised drugs. Some have "re-legalised". A few never got around to prohibition to begin with. Most have experimented - for personal use, you understand - - with a gateway policy, decriminalisation. [continues 1117 words]
There can be no doubt that the daft war on drugs is devastating many of the world's poorest countries, from Africa to Latin America. But this has been ignored by major charities that claim to campaign for international development, presumably for fear of upsetting their donors. Now one has broken ranks, with the release of an important report from Christian Aid condemning what it calls "a blind spot in development thinking". Christian Aid deserves credit for taking a stand, one which has caused internal palpitations. The report itself highlights the hypocrisy of successive British governments that have poured money into aid yet supported the prohibition ripping apart poor communities. One day they will see that sanctimonious talk of saving the world is not a solution to complex problems. [continues 474 words]
ALL debate is good. So, we welcome calls today for an informed discussion in this country around drugs. We know the absurdly titled 'war on drugs' has failed miserably - criminalising ordinary men, women and children for recreational use of drugs such as cannabis. We also know that Scotland sees itself as a progressive, intelligent country. Progressive, intelligent countries are not afraid to debate difficult issues. This is not about campaigning for decriminalisation. This is about Scotland debating how best to deal with a very real drug problem and making an informed choice about how to proceed. [continues 83 words]
