Taking cannabis more seriously
Why we posted this: Politicians and drugs don’t mix very well. Here’s a way of untangling some of the muddle.
The original story:
It wasn’t like this in my day
The government stiffens the law on dope—against official advice
The Economist
8 May, 2008
Summary of the story:
The UK government has reclassified cannabis. After a 2003 reduction in status from “B” to “C”, it has been returned to “B”.
Extracts:
When the government last tinkered with the law in 2003, downgrading dope’s seriousness, many feared an increase in consumption. Instead, the prevalence of occasional smoking among young people has since fallen, from 25% to 21%.
The big worry is that pot-smokers are more likely to develop schizophrenia — hard to prove either way, since it tends to kick in during the late teens and early twenties, when cannabis is also most popular. It is also hard to pin down the direction of causation: if pot smokers are more likely than others to go off the rails, it may indicate that their vulnerability is what makes them more likely to take up the habit.
Customs have become rather good at intercepting shipments of gentle, herbal cannabis from north Africa, so dealers have started their own growing operations in Britain, where they cultivate the strong variety.
livingissues comment:
Cannabis is deceptive stuff. You can’t tell whether it’s weak or strong when you buy it. And its reputation as a “soft” drug makes people think it’s safe – which it isn’t if it’s strong, used too much, or the user is susceptible.
The curiosity is that reclassifying the drug doesn’t seem very likely to make much difference to the amount of suffering (or pleasure) it brings. For a start, it’s unlikely to reduce cannabis use.
If the Economist is right, there are economic and policing pressures which encourage UK criminals to grow and sell strong cannabis. Pragmatically, one might argue that sound policy would rather encourage (or discourage less) the use of weak cannabis grown abroad.
Indeed, the whole situation rather argues for legalising cannabis, the better to be able to control its production and to ensure that people know what they’re buying. Taxation could be used to send price signals to users and to fund clear information as to use.
But this is an issue which people have strong prejudices about. That makes it an ideal political issue: an unpopular government can always get at least a few votes by promising to stand up for good old-fashioned Britain in the face of trendy people with their free and easy ways.
