[jambutty]

The current national debate is once again about how to classify cannabis.

Brown has announced that a second review is to take place to look at if cannabis should be re-classified from the current class “C” drug to a class “B” drug.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/jul/18/immigrationpolicy.drugsandalcohol

Some sufferers of multiple scelorsis claim that cannabis alleviates their pain. So does heroin in the guise of morphine.

However it is daft to allow alcohol to be legally sold and all the problems that it causes, yet criminalize the use of cannabis.

The real problem with cannabis is that it is cultivated and sold by criminals because it is illegal to grow, posses, sell and use.

We can legally make our own beer and wine and even spirits for OUR OWN CONSUMPTION so why not cannabis. Alcohol not only kills and maims the user but others as well. Cannabis rarely if ever does the same.

Take the criminality out of cannabis by controlling its production and distribution and make it cheaper to buy from a licensed source, like a chemist, than buying it on the ‘street’. Undercut the criminals and they will go out of business. Once out of the cannabis business criminals would not be able to dupe their regular cannabis customers into trying other drugs, which would be a bonus. No doubt the criminal element will fight back but the government has to be strong and resolute even if it means that cannabis will be given away practically free. No business can run at a loss, especially a criminal business.

Then if the illegal cannabis trade can be wrested from the criminal the government should look at the possibility of doing the same with other so called ‘recreational’ drugs.

Finally, I have never knowingly used any illegal drug so from a purely personal view I don’t care what happens to cannabis. I prefer to keep my brain clear and active, which is why I do not use alcohol and haven’t done for more than 15 years.