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 11 October 2008 09:12 BST

Drugs advisors: Cannabis should remain class C

Thursday, 03 Apr 2008 16:58
The prime minister is concerned with the stronger forms of cannabis becoming available
The government's drugs advisors are set to recommend that cannabis should remain a class C drug, it has emerged today.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) will report to the government later this month on its decision.

The prime minister has expressed concern with the stronger forms of the drug becoming available and asked the council to review its classification.

"Given the changing nature of the stock of cannabis that is coming into the country and greater damage 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," Gordon Brown said earlier this week.

But the BBC claimed this morning that the council is set to favour keeping the classification the same.

A spokesperson for the ACMD would not confirm or deny the report but said the council is continuing its review and would present its advice to the home secretary on April 28th.

The Home Office added it has not formally received a report from the ACMD yet and will only comment on the issue once Jacqui Smith has received it.

Cannabis was downgraded from a class B drug in January 2004, reducing the maximum penalty for possession from five years to two years imprisonment.

The Home Office says it is unlikely that adults caught in possession of cannabis will be arrested, with most offences of possession resulting in a warning and confiscation of the drug.

Health campaigners have raised serious concerns with the health effects of the drug and the mental health charity Rethink says debate should no longer focus on classification but instead on raising awareness of the drug's impact.

In a letter to the prime minister yesterday Paul Corry, director of public affairs at Rethink, described reclassifying cannabis to class B as a "waste of resources".

"Information on health effects, both mental and physical, is far more likely to make people stop using cannabis and this is where scarce resources should be directed," he added.

Police chiefs have said however that cannabis should be reclassified to class B.

Both the Association of Chief Police Officers and Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales (PSA) support reclassification.

"The Superintendents' Association supports re-classification of cannabis to class B because it will send out a clear message – especially to the vulnerable and the young – that cannabis is illegal and can be dangerous," a PSA statement said.
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