Hashishi

Most Britons want jail for marijuana possession
2-20-`07 | Angus Reid Global Monitor

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Roughly one-in-four of people in Britain think there should be no penalty attached to cannabis possession for personal use, according to a poll by Ipsos-MORI. 27 per cent of respondents share this opinion, while 41 per cent believe the action should carry a penalty of up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine, or both.

An additional 13 per cent of respondents think possessing marijuana for personal use should be punished with up to five years in prison, while 11 per cent believe a seven-year sentence is in order.

In Britain, drugs are placed into alphabetical categories, in accordance with the level of penalties that can be administered for possession and dealing. Heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and magic mushrooms are included in Class A, speed and barbiturates are part of Class B, and marijuana and some tranquilizers are featured in Class C.

In July 2007, British prime minister and Labour party leader Gordon Brown said he was considering a revision on the classification of cannabis as a soft drug. Changing the status of cannabis to a Class B drug would result in increased penalties for possession, supply and use of the drug. Marijuana had been classified as Class C three years ago, during the government of Tony Blair.

On Feb. 5, a group of chief police officers urged the government to increase penalties for the possession of cannabis, arguing that more people are cultivating the product in their homes. Simon Byrne, assistant chief constable of the Merseyside Police, declared: "We are worried about the rise in the number of cannabis farms we’re discovering, which is fuelling a home-grown market in the more potent strains of cannabis. There’s confusion on the streets about whether this drug is legal."

Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis sided with such calls, saying, "The government should stop dithering and take immediate action to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug."

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Buzzby

Most Britons have also bought into the lie that marijuana somehow causes insanity...

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Hashishi

Indeed that`s a lie. The extant science behind claims that marijuana exacerbates mental illness, however, isn`t. You can`t brush that off as simple 'reefer madness'. Disproportionate, knee-jerk and sensationalised- yes. But a lie in the conventional scheming of rabid prohibitionists it is not. It is the consensus of mental health professionals around Europe that cannabis exacerbates the conditions of the mentally ill. I`m not as ready as you to challenge that, though I do regret the populace`s inability to draw the line between causal and effectual relationships regarding the issue and abhor our government`s seizing of it for votes, their fawning to essentially clueless prohibitionists and their general ambiguity in dealing with the matter.

Buzzby

We're talking apples and oranges here.

You're talking about scientific research that says marijuana can exacerbate mental illness.

I'm talking about the assumptions that are constantly being made in the British and Australian press that marijuana causes mental illness. It doesn't seem to be questioned in 95% of the articles I read. It's taken as a fact and the article is concerned with how to protect the public from this menace.

Hashishi

Yeah, I can`t argue that one. I`ve seen some reasonable coverage too, though. The mental health issue has been bought hook, line and sinker by the majority of the press. I still don`t remember reading papers stating a direct, causal relationship, though. They`re usually a bit more careful in their wording- the Daily Mail and the Telegraph aside. ...And the Independent. OK, agreed: it`s pretty one-sided.

In either case, we`ve largely got an extensive campaign from the mental health charity RETHINK to thank for that. Go back and read any coverage of the cannabis / mental health issue and you`ll find one of their guys quoted.

reggie_the_dog

41%, in the original poll, supported the status quo. Technically the status quo is the 2 years in jail max, but the practice which has been widely talked about when the change to class C came into effect was a "presumption against arrest and a confiscation of the cannabis". 41% want that status quo to continue. 41% probably did not realize that you could still get 2 years in jail for something the cops were supposed to presume not to arrest you for.

Personally I know a cop from the UK that goes to Amsterdam on holiday with his cop buddies so that they can smoke in peace.