The Independent pick up on research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (you can see my summary of the paper here). The paper says:
Reclassifying cannabis would be pointless and therefore unlikely to make any difference to young users of the drug, according to a new report by some of the country’s top criminal policy experts.
Cannabis has now become such an important part of youth culture that a new generation of users are supplying each other with the drug, buying and sharing it with friends and relatives. A team of researchers from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR) led by Professor Mike Hough, a senior adviser to the Home Office, has concluded that the “social supply” of cannabis has almost entirely cut out traditional drug dealers and therefore needs a new approach. Their findings reveal that 90 per cent of young users can get hold of cannabis in under a day – with the majority able to get it within an hour.
I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the figures that the paper and the ICPR report, but I think it’s pertinent to point to some research by the SHEU. In a paper that was sent to me this morning they make two points:
Experimentation has not grown in proportion with availability; therefore, young people are able to refuse unwelcome offers of cannabis.
Young people’s perceptions of the dangers of drugs have firmed up over recent years; until recently older pupils were inclined to be more sanguine about any risks, butnow there is an awareness of the dangers.
To back up their first point they provide the following graphs which look at those saying they have taken cannabis and, on the right, the percentage that say they have been offered cannabis:
The Drug Education Forum is currently putting together a submission to the ACMD for them to consider as part of their review of the classification of cannabis. Once that has been finalised we’ll publish it.
Filed under: ACMD, SHEU, cannabis , ACMD, cannabis, JRF, SHEU
I’m inclined to agree with the author, reclassification isn’t going to change the current pattern of use or the devastating outcomes of that use.
At the risk of repeating myself it was sheer political expediency which led to the downgrading of this insidous drug, the truth is that evdence of the horrors we are witnessing now was available then, nevertheless that evidence was either suppressed, ignored, or shouted down by pro drug legalisers.
The DoH are in denial about the escalating use, the so called evidence for their assertion being based on the flimsy British Crime Survey ‘evidence’, which apart from any other consideration re numbers and geographical areas ’selected’ for survey, simply do not reach those people who are the biggest users of cannabis. On the other hand the continued growth of cannabis farms in th Uk is evidence of an expanding market.
[...] SHEU The SHEU have published their thoughts on the classification of cannabis that I mentioned here: We have been collecting information from young people in school about their drug and other [...]
[...] Reclassifying cannabis ‘would make no difference to young’ [...]