Advice

ANALYSIS

20 reasons why the Government is wrong on cannabis

RUSS BRAVO reports on a campaign led by Christians in Parliament to oppose the Government's plans to reclassify cannabis - and gives the evidence every parent needs to know about a drug that is far from 'harmless'

A high-powered consultation in the House of Lords last week, chaired by Lord Alton and organised by the Maranatha Community, has vowed to fight the Government’s plans to change the law on cannabis.

A succession of specialists from medical experts to educationalists, legal practitioners to drugs rehabilitation workers, plus police representatives, sociologists, parents of those who have died through drug use, and former drug users, spoke to the invited audience, underlining their opposition to the Government’s intention to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug.

Announced in July, the proposal came at a time when the police adopted a ‘soft’ approach to cannabis as part of the 'Lambeth Experiment'. Hailed officially as a success, the residents of the London borough tell a different story: increases in open daytime drug-dealing and drug use, including not only cannabis but cocaine, heroin and synthetic drugs.

And Lambeth GP Dr Clare Gerada spoke passionately to the consultation, telling them: “Health issues are being hidden behind a smokescreen”.
She said that in speaking out on the health risks of the drug and the prevailing ignorance about it: “I have been accused of exaggerating, lying and being reactionary. I do not want to go headlong into another public health epidemic – have we not learnt from 60 years of tobacco?”

New studies have given stark warnings of the health risks of the so-called ‘harmless’ drug: the British Lung Foundation has called for a national health campaign to warn of the dangers of serious chronic lung disease and cancers through cannabis smoking, and studies published by the British Medical Journal from Australia, New Zealand and Sweden have pointed to clear links between cannabis use and mental disorders including schizophrenia, psychosis, depression and anxiety.

The consultation heard movingly from Geoffrey Davies, whose son Philip died of a drugs overdose two months before his finals at Birmingham University. He had moved on from cannabis to cocaine: “I think that Philip would be alive now if he had never started smoking cannabis”.

Mum of two Tara O’Brien gave her testimony that finding God filled the hole in her life and helped her kick her addictions: “It is now 12 years since I have used any drugs and I am still waiting for withdrawal. I am in a happy state of sobriety, but I believe that if I had not started using cannabis I would never have used any other drug.”

And grandmother Margaret Martin spoke about her grandson Ian, for whom smoking cannabis led to spending his 18th birthday locked in the secure ward of a mental hospital. Doctors say it has triggered psychotic tendencies “from which he may never recover”.

Bishop of Wakefield Nigel McCulloch highlighted the Church’s strong tradition in battling against
drugs, commented on “the volatility and political toing and froing” on the issue, and called for “strong communication in the public arena” to get the evidence more widely known.

Christian Herald is determined to back this campaign in calling for the Government to reconsider unwise plans to reclassify the drug, and instead to launch a genuine public health campaign that will give clear evidence of the dangers of cannabis, and to stem the serious effects of drug use that are crippling individuals, families, communities and wider society.

Here are 20 reasons why the Government is wrong on this issue:

1 Cannabis is not harmless – it carries proven risks to physical health: cancers of lungs, head and neck; respiratory diseases (more smoke is inhaled and held in the lungs for longer than tobacco smoke) and effects on the immune system.

2 Cannabis is not harmless – it carries proven risks to mental health: it affects memory, concentration and rational thought; it can cause psychosis, panic and paranoia in previously normal individuals. It is increasingly linked to schizophrenia and depression.

3 It can be addictive – and both documented and anecdotal evidence shows it is a ‘gateway drug’ that leads users on to other drugs. Regular users find their tolerance increases, and so they need more powerful drugs to get the same ‘high’.

4 Drug use isn’t simply a matter of personal choice. “Those who believe this ... need to take into consideration the cost to society of those who need substantial funds to feed their drug habit: £200 per week is not unusual, which leads to shoplifting and burglaries by those who are usually dependent on state benefits” (Hamish Turner, HM Coroner).

5 Reclassification sends the wrong message, particularly to the young. Recent research by Exeter University found a 50% increase in cannabis use by school pupils over the past two years. As one drugs campaigner put it: "Too much drugs education in schools is little more than drugs promotion" – ignorance among teachers, doctors, and even some drugs workers is failing to spell out the dangers.

6 Support for helping those on drugs is not developed and thought through. As Police Federation chairman Jan Berry told the consultation: “Poor law and education is confusing the public. And poor funding for drug rehabilitation units is not helping those trying to come off drugs.” Those referred to units are often having to wait months before getting a place.

7 Crime and drug-use are connected so closely they need policies that tackle both together. Some 70% of crime is drug-related, and 70-80% of those in prison have a drug problem, yet they get no treatment while inside.

8 The ‘Lambeth Experiment’ was actually illegal. Barrister Paul Diamond from the Lawyers Christian Fellowship explained that the UK is obliged by international law to consider the use of cannabis a criminal offence, and it has no power to tell the police to exercise a 'discretionary' application of the law.

9 Why are we happy to throw time and resources at prevention, when it comes to tobacco, yet not when it comes to cannabis? National Drug Prevention Alliance head Peter Stoker said that it was simply not true that "everyone is doing drugs", and that spending money on prevention brought a far better return than simply spending money on treatment. "Wouldn’t it be better if we tried to improve reality rather than escape it?"

10 The policy of 'harm reduction' the Government has committed itself to has no scientific basis – it is simply lobby-based. The evidence is clear that prevention is necessary, effective and urgently needed.

11 We have a responsibility to protect the young and the vulnerable from drug abuse. It is better to educate young people to ‘Say No!’ by giving them the full facts about cannabis, than allowing them to take the dead end route that drugs provide.

12 Dutch liberal drugs policy has not worked. ‘Tolerated’ coffee houses selling drugs have decreased since 1997, but illegal selling points have increased and organised crime has grown.

13 As Frans Koopmans, director of the De Hoop Foundation Psychiatric Hospital for Addiction in Holland, stresses: “Ethical guidelines should form the basis for every discussion about drug policies ... we have to choose what society we want to live in”.

14 Sweden’s hard-line policy on drugs has worked. It has the lowest drug abuse of any nation in Europe, and has a national action plan offering all drug abusers
adequate treatment through the Prison and Probation Service.

15 Cannabis now is not the same as the drug linked with the ‘flower power’ of the Sixties. It is up to 20 times more potent.

16 Medical research or medical use for pain relief should not be used as a pretext for legalising cannabis. "Medicine is not smoked. There are far less dangerous and far more effective drugs available for pain relief" (Dr Ian Oliver, Consultant to the UN Drug Control Programme).

17 We have no recognised qualification for drugs education in the UK – so the ‘education’ is not monitored or properly administered.

18 There is clear evidence that cannabis dealers are lacing the drug with other contents to create dependency. Dennis Wrigley of the Maranatha Community told of drug dealers he had spoken to who had admitted drug barons’ strategy from the Sixties onwards has been to push users from cannabis onto ‘harder’ drugs.

19 The strongest increase in drugs results from a low perception of risk (Dr Ian Oliver).

20 Drug use, particularly cannabis, has been a major factor in road and rail accidents.

ACTION

Please write to your MP expressing your concern.
Contact The Maranatha Community on 0161 748 4858 or write to them at 102 Irlam Road, Flixton, Manchester M41 6JT for literature and more information.
E-mail: office@maranathacommunity.freeserve.co.uk
Web: www.maranathacommunity.org.uk
Mail us with your views - or use the Bulletin Board

© Christian Family Network
is run by CPO, supported by
Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting,
Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.


		ANALYSIS 20 reasons why the Government is wrong on cannabis RUSS BRAVO reports on a campaign led by Christians in Parliament to oppose the Government's plans to reclassify cannabis - and gives the evidence every parent needs to know about a drug that is far from 'harmless' A high-powered consultation in the House of Lords last week, chaired by Lord Alton and organised by the Maranatha Community, has vowed to fight the Government’s plans to change the law on cannabis. A succession of specialists from medical experts to educationalists, legal practitioners to drugs rehabilitation workers, plus police representatives, sociologists, parents of those who have died through drug use, and former drug users, spoke to the invited audience, underlining their opposition to the Government’s intention to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug. Announced in July, the proposal came at a time when the police adopted a ‘soft’ approach to cannabis as part of the 'Lambeth Experiment'. Hailed officially as a success, the residents of the London borough tell a different story: increases in open daytime drug-dealing and drug use, including not only cannabis but cocaine, heroin and synthetic drugs. And Lambeth GP Dr Clare Gerada spoke passionately to the consultation, telling them: “Health issues are being hidden behind a smokescreen”. She said that in speaking out on the health risks of the drug and the prevailing ignorance about it: “I have been accused of exaggerating, lying and being reactionary. I do not want to go headlong into another public health epidemic – have we not learnt from 60 years of tobacco?” New studies have given stark warnings of the health risks of the so-called ‘harmless’ drug: the British Lung Foundation has called for a national health campaign to warn of the dangers of serious chronic lung disease and cancers through cannabis smoking, and studies published by the British Medical Journal from Australia, New Zealand and Sweden have pointed to clear links between cannabis use and mental disorders including schizophrenia, psychosis, depression and anxiety. The consultation heard movingly from Geoffrey Davies, whose son Philip died of a drugs overdose two months before his finals at Birmingham University. He had moved on from cannabis to cocaine: “I think that Philip would be alive now if he had never started smoking cannabis”. Mum of two Tara O’Brien gave her testimony that finding God filled the hole in her life and helped her kick her addictions: “It is now 12 years since I have used any drugs and I am still waiting for withdrawal. I am in a happy state of sobriety, but I believe that if I had not started using cannabis I would never have used any other drug.” And grandmother Margaret Martin spoke about her grandson Ian, for whom smoking cannabis led to spending his 18th birthday locked in the secure ward of a mental hospital. Doctors say it has triggered psychotic tendencies “from which he may never recover”. Bishop of Wakefield Nigel McCulloch highlighted the Church’s strong tradition in battling against drugs, commented on “the volatility and political toing and froing” on the issue, and called for “strong communication in the public arena” to get the evidence more widely known. Christian Herald is determined to back this campaign in calling for the Government to reconsider unwise plans to reclassify the drug, and instead to launch a genuine public health campaign that will give clear evidence of the dangers of cannabis, and to stem the serious effects of drug use that are crippling individuals, families, communities and wider society. Here are 20 reasons why the Government is wrong on this issue: 1 Cannabis is not harmless – it carries proven risks to physical health: cancers of lungs, head and neck; respiratory diseases (more smoke is inhaled and held in the lungs for longer than tobacco smoke) and effects on the immune system. 2 Cannabis is not harmless – it carries proven risks to mental health: it affects memory, concentration and rational thought; it can cause psychosis, panic and paranoia in previously normal individuals. It is increasingly linked to schizophrenia and depression. 3 It can be addictive – and both documented and anecdotal evidence shows it is a ‘gateway drug’ that leads users on to other drugs. Regular users find their tolerance increases, and so they need more powerful drugs to get the same ‘high’. 4 Drug use isn’t simply a matter of personal choice. “Those who believe this ... need to take into consideration the cost to society of those who need substantial funds to feed their drug habit: £200 per week is not unusual, which leads to shoplifting and burglaries by those who are usually dependent on state benefits” (Hamish Turner, HM Coroner). 5 Reclassification sends the wrong message, particularly to the young. Recent research by Exeter University found a 50% increase in cannabis use by school pupils over the past two years. As one drugs campaigner put it: "Too much drugs education in schools is little more than drugs promotion" – ignorance among teachers, doctors, and even some drugs workers is failing to spell out the dangers. 6 Support for helping those on drugs is not developed and thought through. As Police Federation chairman Jan Berry told the consultation: “Poor law and education is confusing the public. And poor funding for drug rehabilitation units is not helping those trying to come off drugs.” Those referred to units are often having to wait months before getting a place. 7 Crime and drug-use are connected so closely they need policies that tackle both together. Some 70% of crime is drug-related, and 70-80% of those in prison have a drug problem, yet they get no treatment while inside. 8 The ‘Lambeth Experiment’ was actually illegal. Barrister Paul Diamond from the Lawyers Christian Fellowship explained that the UK is obliged by international law to consider the use of cannabis a criminal offence, and it has no power to tell the police to exercise a 'discretionary' application of the law. 9 Why are we happy to throw time and resources at prevention, when it comes to tobacco, yet not when it comes to cannabis? National Drug Prevention Alliance head Peter Stoker said that it was simply not true that "everyone is doing drugs", and that spending money on prevention brought a far better return than simply spending money on treatment. "Wouldn’t it be better if we tried to improve reality rather than escape it?" 10 The policy of 'harm reduction' the Government has committed itself to has no scientific basis – it is simply lobby-based. The evidence is clear that prevention is necessary, effective and urgently needed. 11 We have a responsibility to protect the young and the vulnerable from drug abuse. It is better to educate young people to ‘Say No!’ by giving them the full facts about cannabis, than allowing them to take the dead end route that drugs provide. 12 Dutch liberal drugs policy has not worked. ‘Tolerated’ coffee houses selling drugs have decreased since 1997, but illegal selling points have increased and organised crime has grown. 13 As Frans Koopmans, director of the De Hoop Foundation Psychiatric Hospital for Addiction in Holland, stresses: “Ethical guidelines should form the basis for every discussion about drug policies ... we have to choose what society we want to live in”. 14 Sweden’s hard-line policy on drugs has worked. It has the lowest drug abuse of any nation in Europe, and has a national action plan offering all drug abusers adequate treatment through the Prison and Probation Service. 15 Cannabis now is not the same as the drug linked with the ‘flower power’ of the Sixties. It is up to 20 times more potent. 16 Medical research or medical use for pain relief should not be used as a pretext for legalising cannabis. "Medicine is not smoked. There are far less dangerous and far more effective drugs available for pain relief" (Dr Ian Oliver, Consultant to the UN Drug Control Programme). 17 We have no recognised qualification for drugs education in the UK – so the ‘education’ is not monitored or properly administered. 18 There is clear evidence that cannabis dealers are lacing the drug with other contents to create dependency. Dennis Wrigley of the Maranatha Community told of drug dealers he had spoken to who had admitted drug barons’ strategy from the Sixties onwards has been to push users from cannabis onto ‘harder’ drugs. 19 The strongest increase in drugs results from a low perception of risk (Dr Ian Oliver). 20 Drug use, particularly cannabis, has been a major factor in road and rail accidents. ACTION Please write to your MP expressing your concern. Contact The Maranatha Community on 0161 748 4858 or write to them at 102 Irlam Road, Flixton, Manchester M41 6JT for literature and more information. E-mail: office@maranathacommunity.freeserve.co.uk Web: www.maranathacommunity.org.uk Mail us with your views - or use the Bulletin Board © Christian Family Network is run by CPO, supported by Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting, Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.