Cannabis is as bad as heroin says group of conservative police commissioners
- Em
- Oct 3, 2022
- 2 min read
During the autumn conservatives conference held in Birmingham on the 3rd of October 2022, a group of conservative police commissioners (PCC's) called for cannabis to be reclassified from a Class A to a Class B.
Cannabis has been a Class B in the UK since it was reclassified back in 2009 to allow police more time to focus on more serious drugs like heroin and cocaine. Results from studies since this change show that this decision was effect and over 190,000 police hours have been saved.
Ramping up cannabis to a Class A will put the plant in the same category as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Possession of a Class A can land you up to seven years in prison compared to possession of a Class B which is only five.
What was said during the conference?
David Sidwick, the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset and a lead spokesman for PCCs nationally on substance misuse, said there was growing evidence linking psychosis, mental ill health, cancer and birth defects to cannabis use, particularly with the development of more potent strains. Sidwick also claims that cannabis is a 'gateway' drug and that 'country lines' are a serious problem in the south west of the country.
"It's time we realised that is is not just a little bit of weed, this does the same harm as crack and heroin" says David Sidwick, the police and crime commissioner for Dorset. Cannabis is "driving harm" in communities and "no child ever went to a drug dealer for heroin for their first deal - they would all have started with a bit of weed".
Cannabis campaigners have classed these claims as "crazy" and "de-ranged"
PCC's views conflict with scientific evidence and worldwide ideology
It's interesting to see this group of conservatives, that include members David Sidwick (Dorset), Alison Hernandez (Devon and Cornwall) and Mark Shelford (Avon and Somerset) hold these strong views against cannabis in 2022.
Criminalisation has proven time and time again not be an effective solution in the war on drugs. Decriminalisation and a regulated legal market is the best approach.
Having PCC's who believe that cannabis is harmful and criminalisation is the way forward really highlights the work that Cancard do. Potentially these three PCC's could benefit from some training from Cancard.
Research has shown that cannabis has been found to worsen symptoms in psychosis patients and bipolar patients. However it does also shows that cannabis doesn't cause mental health it just makes a persons existing symptoms worse or makes new symptoms appear.
Regardless, we still need to carry out plenty more research into cannabis to completely understand its potential but evidence strongly points that cannabis is not harmful. Over 40 countries have turned to legalisation with more to follow shortly.
The home office have no plans to reclassify cannabis at this time.
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