An Internet cannabis community has challenged the British government to come up with a cannabis policy which is based around reducing harm, as opposed to using law enforcement as the primary strategy in the war against cannabis. And according to a spokesman for the Canna Zine cannabis news website , the governments reticence to take into account the fact close to 4 million people choose cannabis over other soft drugs such as tobacco and alcohol, is motivated not by any public health concern, but by money.
To illustrate this fact lets use tobacco as a comparison?
Tobacco kills tens of thousands of people every year around the world. If it were invented today tobacco would carry with it the harshest drug scheduling, as its more addictive statistically than heroin or cocaine. Yet cannabis, a substance which is yet to be accounted for a single credible cause of death, is the substance which is outlawed?
In alcohol we have a substance which is sold on every street corner, by convenience stores and petrol stations up and down the country.
In the wrong hands a single bottle of vodka is as dangerous as a loaded gun. It can kill if abused. Yet scientific data proves cannabis would need to be consumed at an impossible rate - thousands of joints an hour, to get anywhere near a truly "lethal" reaction?
The Vapor Snake - harm reduction in a box
All the while teenagers are able to easily source alcohol on the streets as a plethora of news reports have shown recently.
Alcohol has spawned another unhappy by-product of its existence, with the new breed of TV documentaries which trail the special police squads tasked with tackling inner-city street crime. The majority of which is fuelled by alcohol.
Its now nothing unusual to see a police car "lured" to a secluded area, only to be set upon by hood-wearing, petrol-bomb brandishing thugs drinking cheap strong cider, the whole event cleverly orchestrated to facilitate the all-important video footage which is uploaded to YouTube or BeBo within minutes of it happening.
Educate "The government have been caught up in the look-tough-on-drugs race with the Conservatives as each party jostles for position as the party likely to come down hardest against illicit drugs".
Meanwhile around Europe our neighbours and close trading allies are moving the other way, as they make allowances for a small percentage of their citizens who consume cannabis.
Spain and Portugal have essentially decriminalised possession of amounts of cannabis deemed "personal", and Belgium is in the middle of sorting out its position as Belgian group "Trekt Uw Plant" challenges the Belgian government over their right to grow a single cannabis plant per-citizen.
Whilst a Belgian citizen may grow a single plant for his or her own consumption, Trekt Uw Plant believe an association of growers should be able to plant collectively, in a field, allowing disabled citizens to take part alongside able-bodied.
In the meantime, the United Kingdom is threatening to imprison its citizens for upto 5 years for simple possession? It makes no sense.
In a bid to reduce harm, the Canna Zine cannabis forums are giving away a Vapor Snake vaporizer which is proved to reduce harmful emissions from cannabis by upto 95%.
Amsterdam coffe-shops have adopted the vaporizer wholesale, as the Dutch national smoking ban came into force on July 1st 2008. Since that date you may only consume cannabis in a public building as long as it (the joint, not the building) contains no tobacco.
Proof if it were ever needed, the British drug laws need over-hauling, and it needs to be done soon.
To reduce your own exposure to the possible harms associated with cannabis use, simply sign up to the cannabis forums and participate.
New members who join the Canna Zine forums between now and September 1st will automatically be included in a prize draw to win a new Vapor-Snake vaporizer, care of Vapor Enterprises in Germany.
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