Smokey
Signals From Home Secretary
 |
Press
Release from Legalise Cannabis Alliance
Tel:
Press Officer: Don Barnard 0798 4255015
|
The
Home Secretary, David Blunkett, announced on 10 July that he intended
to
reclassify cannabis as a class C drug whilst raising the maximum
sentence
on class C drugs from 5 to 14 years. This will mean that although
the
maximum sentence for possession of cannabis will be 2 years, instead of
5,
the maximum for supply of cannabis will no change. The Home Secretary
did
not refer to sentences for cultivation.
Cannabis
will join a list of pharmaceuticals such as valium and steroids,
as
a class C drug under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, despite the fact that
it
is a plant.
Many
cannabis campaigners and professionals are disappointed with the
announcement
and concerned that although there may appear to be some
progression
in thought, the results may be negative, for there will still
be
no legal supply routes and no safe place for users to interact socially
as
do people who choose to drink alcohol.
Alun
Buffry, National coordinator for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance,
apolitical
party since 1999, said:"I cannot see how these changes will help
anyone
except maybe the police who will save time through not having to
arrest
and process people caught with small amounts of cannabis.
"I
find the proposals very unclear in the message. On the one hand
Mr
Blunkett
is saying that although cannabis is a dangerous drug (offering no
evidence),
it is less dangerous than other class B drugs, so penalties for
possession
will be reduced; on the other hand he is saying that the penalty
for
suppling cannabis will become the same for class C as for class B.
"He
seems to have forgotten that supply is driven by demand and
uncontrollable
if left outside of the law. It is also highly profitable
and
untaxable. With a lesser penalty on possession it is likely that
more
people
will smoke cannabis more openly, thus introducing it to more others.
This
will lead to an increase in demand.
"If
users are not allowed to grow it then they can only buy it illegally.
The
question is: what sort of people are going to sell what sort of
cannabis?
If we are not careful the less discernable cannabis supplier
will
find a gateway to offer hard drugs.
"Only
legalisation - bringing it within the law - can separate cannabis
from
hard drugs. This sort of half-measure and political appeasement
will
achieve
little - especially little by delaying the change another 12
months.
People should be allowed to grow it.
"I
can only wonder what smoke signals are the Government sending us?"
NOTES
FOR EDITORS
Alun
Buffry tel: 01603 442215