UK Home Secretary backs stricter cannabis classification

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman is considering tightening the classification of cannabis under the country’s drug laws amid concerns that marijuana is a gateway drug and can lead to serious health problems. Braverman’s review follows recent calls from other law enforcement agencies to reclassify cannabis as a Class A drug, the same category assigned to substances such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.

According to a report by The Times, Braverman opposes cannabis decriminalization and says efforts to reform cannabis policy send a “cultural” symbol that marijuana use is acceptable. The Home Secretary is also concerned about evidence that cannabis use can lead to serious physical health problems, including cancer and birth defects, and mental health problems, including psychosis.

Currently, the UK government lists cannabis as a Class B drug, punishable by up to five years in prison for possession and up to 14 years in prison for manufacture or trafficking. The stricter Class A drug classification for cannabis would make penalties for marijuana offenses harsher, including prison terms of up to seven years for possession and penalties of up to life imprisonment for marijuana producers and suppliers. An unidentified source close to Braverman told The Times that the Home Secretary believes the tougher penalties are justified because they would serve as a deterrent to cannabis use and trafficking.

“We have to scare people,” she reportedly said.

The attempt to classify cannabis more strictly continues the Conservative government’s attempt to tackle illicit drug use. In July, the Home Office, the government ministry responsible for law and order, immigration and security, released a white paper unveiling a proposal to revoke the driver’s licenses and passports of people with multiple drug-related convictions.

Law enforcement officials are calling for tougher penalties for weed

The home secretary’s support for a tightening of the government’s classification of cannabis follows calls by law enforcement officials earlier this week to reclassify marijuana as a Class A drug. At the time, the Home Office said there were no plans to reclassify the drug, while cannabis policy reform activists called the idea “dangerous” and “insane.”

At a Conservative Party conference held in Birmingham last week, a group of police and crime commissioners called for stricter regulation of cannabis, claiming it’s time the government recognized marijuana is more than “just a little bit Grass. ”

Police and Crime Inspectors are elected officers with oversight of law enforcement in England and Wales, although they are not directly involved in making criminal laws or managing the police force.

At the Birmingham gathering, police and crime commissioners called for a change in cannabis policy, saying it’s “time we realized it’s not just a little bit of weed”. Dorset Police and Crime Inspector David Sidwick said cannabis was “doing harm” in communities.

“We see it because it’s a gateway drug,” he said. “If you look at young people in treatment, cannabis is the number one drug they are being treated for.”

Sidwick, who used to work in the pharmaceutical industry, claimed that a “wealth of new data” on the drug’s health effects has come to light, which merits a “reassessment” of penalties associated with cannabis-related offences. He added that law enforcement is needed in conjunction with drug education and rehabilitation, and said designating cannabis as a Class A drug would bring clarity to enforcement policy.

“There’s so much drug-related crime out there that if we deal with it and get that clarity, it makes it clearer for our police force to be able to do what they need to do,” he said.

But the research doesn’t support the theory that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads users to more harmful or addictive substances. In 2017, a Drug Policy Alliance report found that while marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in the world, it has never been proven to have an actual gateway effect.

“Research shows that marijuana could be more accurately described as a ‘end drug,’ because the vast majority of people who use marijuana do not use other illicit drugs,” the report said.

Pot activists characterize plan as ‘crazy’

Peter Reynolds, the president of CLEAR, a group campaigning against cannabis prohibition, said the proposal to reclassify the drug in the UK was “completely insane,” adding that the Conservative commissioners “promote ideas that prevent crime , violence and child exploitation will increase.”

“The idea of ​​doing more of the same thing that we’ve done over the last 50 years, which has obviously failed dramatically, is ridiculous,” Reynolds said. “The only people who want that are ignorant politicians and the people who sell illegal drugs, I’m very clear about that.”

After police and detectives unveiled the proposal to classify cannabis as a Class A drug, a Home Office spokesman said the potential dangers associated with cannabis did not warrant a reclassification of the drug.

“There are currently no plans to reclassify cannabis, which is controlled in the UK as a Class B drug on the basis of clear medical and scientific evidence of its harmfulness,” the spokesman said.

However, media reports indicate that Braverman is reviewing the evidence before making a final decision.

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