“Jeeves! Could you please get me a good pound of Afghan hash?” could well have been a common saying of a rich Victorian Englishman, for until the 1920s, you could buy hashish in most good British shops, including Harrods.
A century later, it is estimated some five million people use cannabis in the United Kingdom, almost the same number who attend football matches. Nowadays, despite the fact Mr Al Fayed would probably have no problems with it, you can’t buy Afghan marijuana in the famous London store.
In May 2008, the British Labour government announced it was changing the legal classification of cannabis from Class C (which effectively de-criminalised it) to Class B, which is the classification for much more dangerous drugs, such as amphetamines.
The government’s argument for this change in the law is that many teenagers are suffering mental health problems, largely as a result, they say, of the widespread availability of “skunk” – which is a very powerful type of cannabis which has been genetically manipulated (in a very basic way) to produce more hydro-cannibols (the active chemical drug in cannabis).
It is a fair point, only last year I met a British General Practitioner who uttered much the same sentiments. He talked of a young lad who came to his surgery in something of a poor state mentally and this, he said, was due to the lad smoking powerful skunk weed.
The government’s policy and indeed, the GP’s argument, simply do not stand up though.
For starters, the de-criminalisation of cannabis in the UK was largely formalising what had been unofficial policy by many local police forces for years.
Skunk weed was not the main type of cannabis smoked in those days (around five years ago), it was more natural and less powerful. These cases of young men in particular, loosing their minds, is a new development of recent years with regard to cannabis.
So instead of trimming the stalk, so to speak, the British government has decided to chop down the whole bush, with this new legislation which treats all marijuana as skunk.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth, skunk weed, which is grown all over the world using soil and often hydroponic methods to give it far more strength than natural “organic” cannabis. The less-powerful, more natural forms of cannabis are much less likely to lead to mental health problems, just as a few pints of beer is quite different to a bottle of whisky in it’s narcotic effect.
Scientific evidence has shown that the high levels of cabbinols do cause mental health problems for some. This only comes from excessive consumption of the substance or by loading to much skunk into a marijuana cigarette.
Hence, the government’s decision is a bit like banning alchohol – actually far more of a serious problem among Britain’s boozy youth – because someone drank a few pints of vodka and had some mental health problems.
Surprising still, that cannabis and even stronger drugs are still illegal, as many law enforcement people believe that it is better under quasi-state control. This is true from soft drugs like alcohol and cannabis to strong ones like heroin and cocaine.
Perhaps more surprising is that Gordon Brown, supposedly a man of figures, has not seen the tax potential in formalising the trade in cannabis. If five million people spend £5 per week in marijuana taxes, this would net the Treasury £25 million (US$50 million) a week, which is £1.3 trillion pounds a year (US$2.6 trillion).
In addition to this, a formalisation of the drug trade in general, across the board, may help considerably to end two long-running civil wars, Afghanistan and Colombia, both of which are largely fueled by illicit drug sales. Many governments, particularly those in Europe and the USA, would benefit greatly from the extra tax revenue and police resources could be put to better use elsewhere.
This would allow plenty of money for better education of youngsters in particular about the health issues surrounding all drugs.
Many experts and law enforcement officials agree that prevention by education is much more effective than draconian legislation, which often helps glamorize a drug to youths.
The Netherlands, for example, has one of the lowest teenage uptakes of marijuana and harder drugs. Part of the Dutch policy is to educate their children as to pros and cons and leave it to them to make up there minds. Many kids opt that drugs are not so good for them and many don’t even smoke cigarettes, never mind cannabis.
Some political observers suspect that it may be a ruse to blow political smoke over the growing lawlessness in many parts of the UK, especially among gangs, some of which are led by young women.
Though whatever the reason for this high folly, one thing is for sure…It looks like Gordon Brown’s government are the ones who have been smoking something funny.
Leave Your Comments