IT鈥橲 NOT often this magazine feels moved to heap praise on the British government or one of its panels of expert advisers. But last week鈥檚 report on cannabis from the government鈥檚 Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs really should be read by teenagers, parents and teachers across the world ().
While making it clear that cannabis is far from benign, the report sensibly rates the substance as 鈥渟ubstantially less harmful鈥� than amphetamines, and less likely than alcohol and tobacco to lead to health problems. The government is certain now to downgrade cannabis from its class B list, which includes amphetamines, to class C, which includes steroids. In practice, possession of small amounts of cannabis will cease to be an arrestable offence in Britain, a move unthinkable even a few years ago. What鈥檚 changed? Not scientific opinion. As long ago as 1968, Britain鈥檚 then Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence concluded that cannabis was safer than amphetamines and alcohol, and imprisoning people for possessing it was disproportionate to the harm it does. The new flexibility is born of pragmatism and demographics. Police chiefs and politicians are less likely to demonise a substance they or their friends smoked in their youth. And with nearly one in five Britons aged 20 to 24 now using cannabis regularly, it鈥檚 clear that the current law is useless as a deterrent and serves only to criminalise otherwise law-abiding people while eating up vast amounts of police time.
Reclassifying cannabis will not solve all the problems linked with the drug. Like many other countries, Britain needs better treatment facilities for the minority of dope smokers who do develop a problem habit. And it鈥檚 not yet clear what can or should be done about those who drive under its influence (see Dope at the wheel). But at last, Britain, for so long a supporter of US-style zero tolerance towards cannabis, seems to be catching up with its more progressive European neighbours. To encourage others to do the same, it鈥檚 important the World Health Organization now has the courage to follow the lead of the British experts, and provide explicit advice about the health risks of cannabis compared with alcohol and tobacco. The WHO opted to remove such a comparison from its last major report on cannabis. It will have little credibility if it leaves it out next time round.
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