When the UK Government reclassified Cannabis from Class C to Class B in January the arguments were entirely ridiculous. “Skunk now dominates in the UK”, the Home Office stated. Maybe the policy advisors were test-smoking at the time? That might explain where the ludicrous legislation came from at least.
Those grey-haired ignoramuses in Westminster fundamentally fail to understand drug use and its appeal. Why is it that our dear Jacqui Smith and her straight laced posse seriously think they know better than pharmaceutical experts? Clearly, they don’t.
So why is skunk now dominating the market? The obvious answer is that when people are already stigmatised as criminals and outlaws when buying half a gram of ‘hash’ (to distinguish it from the whole Cannabis class), they might as well go all in and buy a few grams of skunk instead. The risk of being caught and punished is exactly the same and the predicted pleasure from smoking skunk rather than hash is higher in terms of THC content (for Jacqui Smith and those in the back row: the key psychoactive substance in Cannabis). Skunk is more harmful to the body than regular hash. No discussion. Surely, not one level-headed proponent of drug legalisation would explicitly want people to do more, or stronger, drugs. In fact, the reclassification of Cannabis could have adverse effects: given that ‘Cannabis’ encompasses both skunk and hash, the issue of increased consumption of skunk is not addressed at all. It is a down-right farce: Drug users will move from hash to skunk, but we would rather have people smoke hash than skunk. So we reclassify both? Cracking.
The alternative for people smoking skunk is not suddenly eating Cadbury chocolate bars or buying Subway sandwiches. The alternative is obviously other drugs, and if people want to do drugs, they’re going to go ahead and get high. The American Journal of Public Health published a report in 2004 stating that regular Cannabis users largely disregard legislation, and toughening drug laws has minimal impact. This is why figures of addicts seeking help doubled in Portugal after they loosened legislation in 2001, but the number of Cannabis users didn’t increase. The same happened in the Netherlands. Simple: when skunk possession holds higher penalties, users will simply migrate to other substances, or not care at all and still smoke skunk. In other words a ‘drug-vacuum’ appears which granny’s chocolate chip cookies can’t fill, because they taste like hell and don’t get me stoned.
The UK is not the only country holding soft drugs hostage. George W. Bush said in 2001 that “If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America.” In what way does that make sense? This typical Conservative approach to drug use is really rather pathetic. And nowadays there doesn’t seem to be any room for change, President Obama refuses to do anything to reinstate just drug policies. What a surprise. So, back to Jacqui Smith. I can’t keep my thoughts off her, that mynx. She wrote in the Drug Strategy last year that “we want a society free of the problems caused by drugs.” Wise. Lets go ahead and give her a Nobel Peace Prize! The Drug Strategy was from last year, you say? No problem. She can still have this year’s prize. Or next year’s. They’re doling them out like candy, apparently.
I cannot understand why politicans today are too short sighted to appreciate that when drugs are legal you can impose a quality-control and tax them. This means making sure that youngsters don’t get their hands on obscure derivatives and dangerous forgings, which in fact goes for all drugs. The judicial system exists to protect its citizens but in the current landscape, everyone is worse off except murky drug dealers. Why not let the money flow between law-abiding citizens, certified farmers, and the government instead? In July the Home Office released a report stating that drug use is skyrocketing. Not in line with the cerebral haemorrhage of a decision Jacqui Smith made when she went against the experts. Her strategy failed, Alan Johnson will commit political suicide if he goes against it, and the Conservatives won’t improve the situation. The anti-legalisation propaganda machine is oiled as always and irrationality prevails once again. This is why I hate populism.
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