When this one works, it undoubtedly works well and sets new standards for summer blockbusters
Gordon Brown suffered a desperate blow as Labour crashed to defeat in "supersafe" Glasgow East
More...
Police chief says cannabis law legitimises drug use
By Ed Harris, Evening Standard Last updated at 10:34am on 21.03.07
One of the country's most senior police officers has broken ranks over the classification of cannabis following a series of high-profile drug-induced murders.
Merseyside's chief constable, Bernard Hogan-Howe, has slammed the Government's softly-softly approach and called for a U-turn on the Class C status of the drug.
The call comes a day after cannabis addict Thomas Palmer was jailed for life by Reading Crown Court for murdering two friends in a drug-induced state.
Palmer, 20, who will serve a minimum 20 years in jail for the killings near Wokingham in 2005, first tried cannabis at the age of 14 and was smoking the drug every day by the time he turned 15.
Mr Hogan-Howe said: "While tackling Class A drugs is a priority for forces across the country, this reclassification of cannabis has almost legitimised it in the public perception. But cannabis is not legitimate, it remains illegal and its cultivation is a serious criminal offence." Citing recent research, Mr Hogan-Howe said that the increasing strength of the drug was leading to "high incidence" of schizophrenia.
"Cannabis is not the harmless substance some people believe it to be. This new super-strength cannabis is creating problems now.
"The legacy of people taking this drug today could well be felt for generations to come," he said.
Reader views (12)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
The people who smoke the skunk of '07 may not necessarily choose to do so if given the choice between the happy clappy weed of the 60's. I am a modern day hippy and do hold down a 9-5. I have my place and I have plenty of intellectual friends, in fact it's almost a rule that I don't over-associate with anyone other than. Given the choice I would have the safe, mild weed of the 60's and not risk this newfound super plant but I have little choice in the matter. I think the government should realise how much it will save them to finally show the people that the old stuff is the safe stuff, make it clear that it's fully legal and sell the safe, non damaging stuff and have their own control over it. Alcohol is much more damaging and causes disruption, plus it isn't natural, it's put through a mass of processes before we have alcohol, weed on the other hand is natural and has no changes made to it and people don't go around commiting crimes on weed. This guy who killed people may have been a problem cannabis user but he was also a killer, the weed didn't make him kill anybody. I'm speaking from experience, I know how that stuff works. Anyway the only reason he got this public exposure focused on the weed and not him is because he would have had some solicitor using it in his defence, not because it actually made him do it, it's a murder trial for christ's sake, solicitors will say anything for their clients if the money's right.
- Adam, Kingswinford
I can't believe the government is only now taking the threat posed by cannabis use seriously. I remember about 20 years ago a GP friend of my parents - who was a bit of a hippy himself and generally had an 'anything goes' attitude - saying he hoped none of his kids, or any of us, smoked cannabis as in his experience it tipped people with a propensity for scizophrenia and other severe mental disorders 'over the edge'.
Three boys at my old school - all well known to be into smoking dope - are now severely mentally ill and have effectively ruined their lives.
And even if it doesn't make you ill, people who smoke dope tend the be the most boring, ineffectual people you could meet. It drains people of energy and turns them into zombified couch potatoes...
- Ben, London
Anyone who thinks Cannabis is safe needs to spend some time in an A&E department or mental health unit to see what this dangerous substance can do. The Skunk of 2007 is not the happy clappy Weed of 1967.
We need to get away from these romantic ideas and educate people in the real reasons behind the vast rise in the number of people suffering from serious mental illness caused by drug abuse.
- Emma, London
23°c
25°c
