Hysteria Over Cannabis is Getting in the Way of Truth

[Herb Fellow]

Any scientist concerned about the relevance of what they do in the lab to the nitty-gritty of everyday life will have one memory that rivals in vividness John Kennedy's assassination or the death of Diana. It is the image of John Gummer, then Minister of Agriculture, in May 1990, attempting to force-feed a hamburger to his daughter Cordelia. He was, of course, making a statement about the safety of British beef.

Labour came in with a promise to develop policy on the basis of evidence rather than ministerial whim or political expediency. I was in the audience at the Royal Society on 10 April 2002 when Tony Blair gave his now-famous 'science matters' speech. The scientific establishment was there in force. The portraits of Newton and Hooke looked down at the throng - more like a children's Christmas party than a gathering of the white-coated great and good. And we were rewarded with a treat as jolly as any panto. Tony was Aladdin, rubbing his lamp over GM food, nuclear power, embryonic stem cells, nanotechnology and the use of animals in research. His vision was of science at the heart of the future of this country, not just a driver of the economy, but a source of rational decision-making.

But if Tony Blair was Aladdin, Gordon Brown was the Genie. Mr Brown, the paymaster, transformed ideology into action. From the first comprehensive spending review in 1999 to his last Budget in 2007, Gordon Brown has consistently championed science. Now Brown as Prime Minister faces what could be a pivotal test of his personal commitment to evidence-based government - the question of whether the classification of cannabis should be shifted back from C to B.

Let me be clear about where I stand on the issue of drugs of potential abuse: I have been deeply embarrassed by accusations that I favour the legalisation of all drugs. In fact, I believe that the rise of illicit drug use is one of the most corrosive changes in our society during my lifetime. Cannabis has led the rise of drug culture. Nearly one-third of Britons between 16 and 59 admit that they have smoked it. It should be a source of national shame that Britain is a world leader in its drug problem. In 2003/4 (the last year analysed), Britons spent £5.3bn on illicit drugs and the annual socioeconomic cost of drug-related crime was estimated to be more than £13bn.

The 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act established the ABC system for classifying illegal drugs. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was set up to provide the Home Secretary with the best possible expert evidence of potential harm. But what we now see is a system distorted by history and hysteria. Drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy were classified A at an early stage in their impact on the street, as much to try to stop the expansion of their use as to signal genuine evidence of their harm. They still sit in A, alongside heroin and crack cocaine, despite the fact that they are indubitably less dangerous to the user or to society. Cannabis has become the football in a contest between evidence and passion.

In 2000, the recommendation from a committee of the Police Federation, chaired by Ruth Runciman, that the whole system of classification should be overhauled was rejected. But David Blunkett, as Home Secretary in 2001, asked the ACMD for fresh advice about cannabis, then a class B drug. The classification was changed in 2004. Ever since, the government has seemed uncomfortable. Successive Home Secretaries - Charles Clarke in 2005 and Jacqui Smith last year - have gone through the ritual of asking the ACMD if they are really sure.

What, then, are the concerns? First, cannabis remains the most commonly used illegal drug. But its use has been falling steadily since 2000, with no hint that this decline was affected by reclassification. Home Office statistics show that cannabis use by 16- to 24-year-olds has fallen by about 20 per cent since 2004. So, if we naively argue from correlations (the basis of so much of the evidence about harm), returning cannabis to B would be expected to increase its use.

Second, there is concern about the message that reclassification has sent. But there is no evidence that classification influences the attitude of young people to drugs. Amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy are all runners-up to cannabis in the league table of popularity in this country - and they are all class A. Usage of cocaine has grown over the past eight years, as that of cannabis has declined. Third, there is, quite rightly, a particular worry about young people. Yet the the government's own figures show that only one 11-year-old in 150 has tried cannabis in the last year, while 4 per cent have sniffed glue and fully 21 per cent have drunk alcohol.

Indeed, glue-sniffing and drinking (neither of which is regulated under the Misuse of Drugs Act) are the dominant drug problems among school children. About 5 per cent of 11- and 12-year-olds admit to having been drunk at least once in the past month. And among all boys under the age of 16 who said that they had drunk alcohol in the past month, 11 per cent reported being involved in a fight and 2 per cent had ended up in hospital!

Finally, there is the issue of a possible link between cannabis use, especially the stronger varieties now on the street, and mental health problems. Parents are now more worried that their children will become schizophrenic than they were five years ago, that they would get a criminal record.

We should take very seriously the growing evidence of a link between cannabis smoking and psychosis. But this is still in the realm of correlation rather than causation. Cigarette-smoking and drinking are also very high among young people heading for schizophrenia, but no one has suggested that they cause psychosis. And what of the alarming stories of horrifyingly powerful 'skunk'? Some newspapers have told us that the level of THC, the active ingredient, in street cannabis today is 20 or 30 times higher than 10 years ago. That would be rather surprising, given that THC content was 7 per cent on average in 1995.

In reality, two studies, due to be published later this year, concluded that the average THC content has doubled. This might be a cause for some concern, but what we don't know is whether this has affected the amount of cannabis that users smoke. Whitehall 'sources', preparing us for the expected rejection of the ACMD recommendation that cannabis should remain a class C drug, tell us that the government is determined to 'send a message' about its concerns. The strongest message that it could send is to agree to undertake the comprehensive review of drug classification that Charles Clarke hinted at three years ago.

When it comes to drugs, we, as a nation, need to agree on our goals. We should aspire to a society in which people understand the real dangers of drugs of all kinds (including alcohol and tobacco, which account for 95 per cent of drug-related deaths). We need to focus on protection and education of young people. And we need to support the government in its commitment to policies based on reduction of harm rather than slogans and macho gestures.

Science has benefited hugely from the period of Labour government, not only in the steady rise in public funding but in the affirmation of faith in evidence as the foundation of policy. The decision on cannabis will be seen by many scientists as an indication of the reality of this government's commitment to reason and expertise. I hope that it won't be Gordon Brown's hamburger moment.

Source: The Guardian
Copyright: 2008, The Guardian
Contact: Colin Blakemore is professor of neuroscience at the Universities of Oxford and Warwick and is a member of the independent UK Drug Policy Commission (ukdpc.org.uk), but the views expressed here are his own.
Website: Colin Blakemore: Hysteria over cannabis is getting in the way of truth | Comment is free | The Observer

[Boss]

Good read :-) Thank you!

[Herb Fellow]

It is truly a shame that when science Vs. hysteria, hysteria usually wins.

[Jimbo]

Non users are so scared of what they don't know. When you have been brain washed by the very people that you should be able to trust for so many years then it just becomes second nature to fear it. What needs to happen is just what these people are trying to do and that is get NEW scientific proof to share with the people as to make them aware of the real truth. When that happens then we may just have a better leg to stand on. Now where do I sign up to be a test subject. After 25+ years of smoking I think I qualify, lol

JE