Is Suella set to make cannabis a class A drug?
Home Secretary urged to get tough
SUELLA Braverman is considering demands by Tory crime tsars to make cannabis a class A drug like heroin and cocaine.
The Home Secretary has reportedly said she is on ‘the same side’ as the group of Conservative police and crime commissioners (PCCs) who have called for a major crackdown on the drug.
She is said to be alarmed by the evidence linking cannabis use to mental health problems such as psychosis, as well as to illnesses such as cancer, and believes tougher penalties could deter teenagers from getting hooked.
There are also concerns that cannabis has become a gateway drug for other harmful substances. ‘We’ve got to scare people,’ an ally of Mrs Braverman told The Sunday Times.
Cannabis is currently a class B drug in the UK, with the maximum penalty for possession up to five years’ imprison said: ment. The Home Office has proposed a ‘three strikes’ approach that could also see repeat offenders have their driving licences confiscated.
If cannabis was reclassified as a class A drug, alongside heroin and cocaine, the maximum sentence for possession would rise to seven years.
The Home Secretary plans to look at evidence on the harm caused by cannabis before making a decision on reclassification.
Kent PCC Matthew Scott said: ‘ Good to see Suella Braverman is looking at the evidence provided by colleagues about the harm cannabis is causing.’
But others questioned if the police and courts would have the resources to enforce the tougher law. Some forces already turn a blind eye to cannabis smokers in order to focus on gangs dealing hard drugs.
Sussex PCC Katy Bourne ‘The evidence coming from countries that have previously legalised cannabis is concerning, especially regarding the detrimental impact on health. I’m pleased that the Home Secretary is considering the evidence and taking it seriously.’
David Raynes, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said the Home Secretary should focus on the growing evidence linking cannabis use to birth defects and cancer.
He said: ‘What she should do is refer the science to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and ask them to take a view on it. Somebody really needs to get a grip on this.’
Mr Raynes disputed claims that police officers would oppose tougher sanctions for cannabis use.
‘There is a big concern in policing about the mental health effects of all drugs, not just cannabis, and I think they would welcome the re-emphasis that drugs are harmful.’
A leading British psychiatrist warned earlier this year that about a third of the psychosis cases he saw in London were caused by heavy use of ultra-strong ‘skunk’ cannabis, triggering paranoia and hallucinations in young people.
Sir Robin Murray said: ‘I think we’re now 100 per cent sure that cannabis is one of the causes of a schizophrenia like psychosis.’
Doctors in US states where the recreational use of cannabis has been legalised have also seen increasing numbers of users suffering from addiction and depression as well as psychosis.
Yet London Mayor Sadiq Khan visited a cannabis farm in California earlier this year and called for a commission
‘We’ve got to scare people’
‘Ridiculous and regressive’
into decriminalisation of the drug, sparking outrage.
Labour MP Charlotte Nichols said of calls to make cannabis a class A drug: ‘The war on drugs has failed, and this is a ridiculous and regressive stance in and of itself but especially so at a time when other governments are pursuing liberalisation and harm reduction approaches to drugs policy.’
Citing US President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of all those with federal convictions for possessing small amounts of marijuana, she added: ‘This is the sort of approach we need, not more of the same failed model.’
FoR years, this paper has railed against the police’s increasingly relaxed stance towards cannabis. So news that home Secretary Suella Braverman is considering upgrading it from a class B drug to a class A one marks an encouraging change of tone in this debate.
Contrast Miss Braverman’s tough stance with that of Labour, whose publicity-prone mayor Sadiq Khan only recently set up a commission to examine the laws governing cannabis use while wasting £34,000 of taxpayers’ money travelling to Los Angeles to visit a marijuana farm.
Be in no doubt: There is nothing harmless about cannabis, whatever those such as Mr Khan might think. Countless studies have linked it to mental illness and violent psychosis. It’s time to end the softly-softly approach to this pernicious drug.