American College of Physicians
So penalising them twice could be seen as being grossly unfair, especially so in the same week as the American College of Physicians, a US doctors group with 124,000 practising members, has called for the Bush administration to change its stance on cannabis, its use, and its users.
"We felt the time had come to speak up about this," said Dr. David Dale, a University of Washington medical professor and the ACP's president. "We'd like to clear up the uncertainty and anxiety of patients and physicians over this drug."
Whilst the ACP are referring to cannabis used in the relief of medical conditions such as MS, cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS etc, surely the advice of America's second largest professional doctors group dismisses once and for all, the ubiquitous "mental-health" argument that anti-cannabis campaigners have long used as their reasoning for prohibiting recreational cannabis use?
Surely the use of a substance, which has an adverse effect on few of its 3-4 million regular UK users, should be a matter of personal choice? Especially so when the alternatives, tobacco and alcohol, cause (according to Home Office figures) 90% of ALL British drug related deaths every single year, and yet cannabis is still to be named in a credible medical report, as being responsible for a single death?
According to Ken Jones, president of ACPO, "Violence follows alcohol abuse sure as night follows day. And that is placing a massive burden on public services around the country every Friday and Saturday night. The tragedy of (Warrington father and husband) Garry Newlove's murder shows the consequences at their most extreme."
He continued by saying "Last year nearly one fifth of all violent incidents took place in or around pubs and clubs at a cost of £7.3billion to the UK and Alcohol Concern said nearly two thirds of men and a third of women admitted to hazardous drinking before being sent to jail."
With alcohol related deaths set to hit 10,000 in 2008, children as young as 13 being treated for heroin abuse, and 10% of all scottish teenagers between 16 and 19 years of age currently regular users of cocaine, surely the time has come to ask government and the police, are we concentrating on the right social issue here?
According to another senior police officer from the Association of Chief Police Officers, we are.
Simon Byrne, an assistant chief constable and the national lead on policing cannabis for ACPO, said sanctions against cannabis possession were not strong enough.
He said: "You can drive a car along the road with no seat belt and get a fixed penalty notice. Or you can use your phone and get points on your licence and an £80 fine.
"But you can walk the streets in possession of an illegal drug and technically you get your wrist slapped."
He added: "The sanction could simply be a financial one or it could be a financial one plus a criminal record which obviously then has an impact on your future life if you are trying to go for certain types of job."
Mr Byrne, who is Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, said the new notices would be disclosable to some employers when they were carrying out background checks on potential recruits.
A position which is likely to throw a spanner in the workings of any future "back to work" initiatives devised by government, and as such, any new calls which are guaranteed to create 10's of thousands of unemployable UK citizens every single year, is surely a wholly unworkable solution. - CLICK HERE to subscribe to the latest "live" RSS news feeds from the Canna Zine - daily zine for the cannabis scene - join us on the Canna Zine forums and have your say.
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