According to Gordon Brown he wants to 'send a message' to the British youth and I think the Prime Minister, aided loyally by his Home Secretary and his Drugs Minister Vernon Coaker, (Both of whome admit to experimenting with cannabis), have succeeded in sending a message which the nation has received loud & clear.

But the message GB PLC received, wasn't necessarily a good one. 

and yet the fact of the matter is, the Conservative party bring nothing "new" to the table no matter what they may say.

They believe blindly, that the answer to the ubiquitous drugs issue, is harsher sentences, higher fines and more arrests and you really need to think about this at the general election if drugs - any drugs, play a part in your life, or that of a loved one.

One thing is for sure, Paul Dacre played a huge part in reclassifying cannabis.

"Paul who"?

Paul Dacre is the editor of the Daily Mail. The UK's version of the American news giant "Fox", both of which take absolutely every opportunity to carry an anti-cannabis story on their front pages and there's no doubt the Daily Mail has played its part in changing the legal status of cannabis, but here's the bit that throws me;

Paul Dacre is a good journalist and a respected editor, so why-oh-why do the Daily Mail continue to portray such a singularly one-sided story on the cannabis issue heaven only knows?

Would they "OK" a surprise drug testing session on all of their staff as according to national statistics some 1 in 5 UK residents will have experimented with illegal drugs, which includes 1 in 5 journalists, 1 in 5 politicans and 1 in 5 police officers.

Drugs are a massively important issue within the British Isles and we could really do with some even-handed balanced reporting so as to better educate young people who are perhaps contemplating experimenting with drugs for the first time.

Perhaps a series of random drug tests is whats needed to expose the hypocrisy which surrounds the British drugs debate. Testing politicians, police officers and the journalists who are so dead set against cannabis?

There would be a lot of red faces thats for sure.

A group who had nothing at all to do with changing the law, was the very group who advised the government they ought not to?

The ACMD convened in London on February 5th, amid a public relations maelstrom of negative publicity, spun up by the likes of
the Daily Mail and tory politician David Davies.

After the "public" forum took place the advisory council spent 8 weeks mulling over their decision before making an official announcement, which was as expected, that cannabis is perfectly situated as a class C drug.

Professor Sir Michael Rawlins who is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology as well as chairman of the advisory council, said: “Changing the classification of cannabis is neither warranted nor will it achieve the desired effect.”

The report said that scientific evidence pointed to a “probable, but weak, causal link between psychotic illness, including schizophrenia, and cannabis use”. However, it added that in the population as a whole, the drug played only a “modest role” in the development of these conditions.

"The facts, from a scientific expert Mr Dacre!"

Tobacco and alcohol however continue to play a pivotal role in killing people every year, and according to governments own figures, alcohol will KILL 10,000 and hospitalise 750,000 in 2008 alone?

The government message on cannabis is clear. According to them it is "lethal" and unnacceptable.

The truth is not one single death has ever been attributed directly to cannabis use. But thats not to say they haven't tried.

Meanwhile in the United States, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, (D-Mich.), said in a letter to federal government, that he wants the Drug Enforcement Administration to explain its increased use of "paramilitary-style enforcement raids" and property forfeiture orders against medical marijuana patients and suppliers in California.

"With drug trafficking and violence from international cartels on the rise," said Mr Conyers, "Do you think the DEA's limited resources are best utilized conducting enforcement raids on individuals and their caregivers who are conducting themselves legally under California law?"

Thats right, in California, people who have a doctors note can buy, grow and/or consume marijuana legally under state law?

The American medical marijuana program which turned 30 years old in 2008, has any number of high ranking politicians supporting the rights of the medical community to use cannabis on a recommendation from a doctor, including presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul and Mike Gravel to name but four.

But here in the United Kingdom, the Labour Government, (and the Conservative government-in-waiting) will send those same sick people to prison for 5 years and thats the facts.

Back to the original question of who changed the law, and the message this action has sent?

Its clear Gordon Brown wanted to make a strong political point, and he decided to use a historically toothless old tiger, the GB cannabis debate, to do so.

Unfortunately in 2008 the global cannabis movement is better organised to deal with the propaganda governments pass as the party line and the word on the Internet, is that the government copped out on cannabis, are weak, influenced by the Conservatives and the conservative press and are as such, unfit to govern in their own right.

No matter what advice Tony Blair gives PM Gordon Brown, with an election looming, it would appear the Labour governments days are numbered unless they oust this Cabinet, and back-track on some unpopular policy decisions, not least of which this cannabis cop-out.

http://cannazine.co.uk