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From The Times

May 8, 2008

Cannabis: a good (but wrong) move

Well done, the Cabinet: they've taken a decision that goes against the experts' advice

Matthew Parris

As expected, the Government announced yesterday that it will overrule its own advisers and reclassify cannabis as a Class B substance. This will “send out a message” that the drug can be dangerous. As I'm sure the criminal law is not the way to do this, why does something in me raise a quiet cheer? It's not as if the Government's right. This diary inveighs ceaselessly against the “sending out a message” school of lawmaking. The Government had asked its Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, experts in their field, a clear question; and they had given a clear answer.

Reclassification was unwise. Ministers are unwise now to propose it. But what I cheer is this: that the Cabinet has taken its own decision after hearing, but refusing to rubber-stamp, the recommendations of an unelected body.

Advisers advise. Ministers decide. This is how it should be. A tendency has grown (perhaps in line with our diminishing respect for politicians) for governments to farm out tough decisions to bodies of experts, lawyers or retired judges - abdicating to “the science”, the judges or the professionals, a politician's democratic responsibility to make the final choice.

When last year a committee of experts recommended Manchester rather than Blackpool for the (now abandoned) supercasino, I longed to see the Secretary of State, Tessa Jowell, stand up in the Commons and say she'd received the advice but chose Blackpool anyway, because she thought her experts were wrong.

So those like me who have no doubt that cannabis should stay in Class C can console ourselves at least with this: that the present Cabinet will never again be able to duck behind a panel of advisers when challenged on an unpopular decision. If they can overrule this most impressive of advisory councils, they can overrule any others.

The whole world appears to be telling Gordon Brown how to rescue his prime-ministership, and this columnist has tried his readers' patience already with the oft-repeated cry that Mr Brown is sunk.

Panic is rational. But on the basis that all is probably lost anyway, there's one panic measure Brown might try. He could reshuffle himself.

For all our doubts about this man, we do still suspect he has a grip on figures and relishes hard work. And we're worried about the economic future. So why not announce that the Prime Minister has decided to make his honorific and historic title, “First Lord of the Treasury”, a reality, and gather the Chancellor of the Exchequer's portfolio under his own wing, releasing Alistair Darling for other duties?

“While Britain faces the world economic slowdown,” Brown would say, “I shall take charge of the Treasury. I have a first-class Cabinet whom as Prime Minister I'll oversee. Meanwhile, in these exceptional circumstances, I shall focus on bringing Britain through the economic storm.”

It wouldn't make any difference, of course. But in presentational terms it might help.

How times change. Two weeks ago we heard that one of the Tories' leading donors had been flying to Monte Carlo for sex parties with four prostitutes, one gigolo and a trilingual bisexual. There had been something in the News of the World, and in other papers the story surfaced ten days ago, so I expected quite a fuss last week. But the story just fizzled out. We can't get excited about it.

My mind goes back only 12 years to when a little-known Conservative backbencher endured weeks of sensational coverage over the question of whether he and a male friend had known, when booking a room for two in France for a night, that it would have a double bed.

Then, of course, the Tories were deeply unpopular. So is that the difference today, or have sexual attitudes changed? And does a trilingual bisexual have three languages or (more usefully) three tongues?

Online (it's free, at earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages, in Nasa's Earth-from-space continually updated photo gallery), I've been watching the swollen Apodi and Piranhas rivers in northeastern Brazil dumping silt into the Atlantic, and vast tails of swirling sediment in the Gulf of Alaska. In the Amazon tributaries I've seen millions of tons of soil gouged from thousands of miles of riverbanks.

Soil erosion will be raising sea levels as surely as melting ice. Movements in the Earth's crust will raise (or lower) sea levels too. Are all these reliably calculable? How do they mesh with global warming to produce the overall picture?

I pester scientist friends to tell me, but they reply boredly that doubtless someone will have done the calculations, but they cannot say who.

"Let's hope the new law reduces CO2 emissions from cannabis farms!"

the problem with co2 is we dont have enough plants and trees left in the world to convert c02 into oxigen

so i blame this uneducated guess on your name :SMITH "dont listen to the experts"

regulat and educate

dr ashmid , london, uk

So true, Matthew. What a shame Flint, Harman & Co did not show similar scepticism over the "experts'" bogus claims about secondhand smoke and ventilation - then we might have some decent pubs left.

PaulD, Essex, England

personally, I don’t care so much about drugs as the crime associated with drugs. whether a drug itself is dangerous or not seems rather beside the point. legalise drugs, but the punishment for any crime aggravated by or associated with drugs should be draconian. and that includes alcohol.

jem, london, uk

Why is Cannabis wrong, Ian Payne?

Because the law says so?

How can a naturally-growing herb be illegal?

J.Wilkes, Gloucester,

I fail to understand all this nonsense about the classification of drugs. Drugs are drugs, whether you assume cannabis or heroin or psychiatric ones you can be sure you are in for big trouble in your life and that of those around you.
The truth is many people really don't know what drugs are.

Giancarlo, London, England

Speaking as a geologist, I can reassure you that you have nothing to fear from soil erosion! Any mass lost on the land is continually replaced by crustal movements - but melting ice caps are causing measurable sea level rise, now. Let's hope the new law reduces CO2 emissions from cannabis farms!

Martin Smith, Cambridge, UK

The real victims of this whole cannabis debate are the kids and youth of today who seem to think cannabis is harmless.It is ruining young lives turning them into mindless zombies who cannot string two words together never mind function normally.I know kids as young as 11 who smoke it daily.

tan, runcorn, uk

We really should give up the use of the word democracy in a description of the government of this country. This case shows as clearly as could be possible that whatever it is, it isn t a democracy. It used to be possible to describe it as Parliamentary government but I don t think it is now even that.

Henry Percy, LONDON, UK

Good idea Brown... send out the message that all class B drugs are safe as Cannabis is one of them.

When I was at school I remember having that exact conservation "I'll do class B's cos weed is one so they can't be hard really"

Byron, Edinburgh, Scotland

Didn't Gordon Brown say he was listening yesterday? - not to his highly paid experts it would seem...

Bill Bird, Wallasey, UK

It's one thing to ignore the experts but Brown ignores the electorate at his peril. Most people think that the reclassification of cannabise is wrong and they all have the vote. The Labour party is starting to look as if it actually wants to lose the next election.

Alan Trent, London,

personally, I don't care so much about drugs as the crime associated with drugs. whether a drug itself is dangerous or not seems rather beside the point. legalise drugs, but the punishment for any crime aggravated by or associated with drugs should be draconian. and that includes alcohol.

jem, london, uk

What's this drug? Cannabis is a herb, and a rather pleasant one at that.

Personally, I think Parsley should be reclassified - makes about the same amount of sense.

Roger Angove, Penzance,

It is easy for the government to ignore scientific advice on a small and fairly insignificant issue like this. If advice was given that the only way to save the planet was to increase fuel duty 10x I doubt they would ignore that, because the advice is scientific.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Since reclassification to C cannabis use has fallen. The illegality of cannabis is what caused skunk to be developed; stronger equals more profit from the same energy input. So government action is likely to increase usage of skunk. Very intelligent. This attitude failed with prohibition of alcohol.

Pete, Leominster, UK

kieran, if you are going to say something like that then what about alchol, a drug which cause more damage every year, but is that to be reviewed,erm,NO, why because it makes the goverment to much money, at the end of the day cannabis wil not be made legal because, poltics is all about keeping face

sean, stafford,

The bottom line is that successive governments have been pursuing the 'just say no' approach for decades, and the result has been that the drug has got stronger and more people are using it. If the government are serious about reducing the strength of the drug then they need to regulate the market.

Owen, London, UK

Advisors advised the government that there were no WMD in Iraq and they ignored that advice too which has resulted in continuing mass loss of life. The decision to reclass cannabis is wrong it's just that nobody of any importance can speak out against it because they will be labelled a druggy.

John D, London, UK,

More Cannabis and Less Politics.

Politics are drugs Class Z (most dangerous), and their laws never think in anybody.

JuanCarlos, Caceres, Spain

“send out a message”

The only message it is sending out is that they made a mistake the first time in downgrading it and now they are going against there own advistors and the police in reclaffiying cannsbis to class B. They are going against public opinion.

All just politics, not health.

Andrew T, England, UK,

Does no one here realise the lifelong damage and implications to Cannibis addition, supply, and neuro/physiological onset from its use?

If ANY OF YOU did, or had the slighest concept that we are fast moving to a 'doped up society', I think you would change your tone. Dont be so thick, please!!!

Kieran Lee Marshall (An Actual Scientist!!!), London, United Kingdom

My mind went back to the Tories troubles years ago.Sexual attitudes have changed a little, but not that much.
Newspapers print "news"people want to read and after the initial frisson he does not fit the profile.He aint Labour and as a rich aristo is only playing his part. News follows fashion.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

Cannabis will be Class B, while Alcohol and Tobacco are neither Class A, B or C...

I know what message it sends to me!

Steve, London,

Ms Smith seems only to be joining the First Lord of the Treasury in not listening to her advisers (and costing us a fortune in the process). It's nothing new Matthew!

Mike L, Chippenham, Wilts

"Cannabis is wrong - PERIOD !!!!!". That's like saying alcohol is wrong. Or masturbating is wrong. Or gay sex is wrong. That's your opinion but as I understand it, we are supposed to be a tolerant society. If it weren't for it's prohibition it could be a legitimate industry like alcohol or tobacco.

John, London,

One expert stated that it was a bad move. Such decisions should be made on evidence. Granted but evidence is only as good as the REVEALED data. Unfortunately, bias forms a major aspect of selecting the data to REVEAL.
A case in point is VIOXX. How many people were killed by this drug? 100,000?

M. Cawdery, Portadown, Co. UK, EU.

Yeah, chill out and take a toke!

N C, Cheltenham, UK

We're going to need bigger Prisons!

Cannabis is as popular to some as a drink or cigarette is to others!

There are dangers to anything and everything we do!
Cannabis/Alcohol/Tobacco/Motoring/Sex/Dancing/War/Flying/Golf/... is wrong - PERIOD !!!!! - where will it all end!

GET A LIFE YOU SQUARES!

ChasNDave, Cumbria, UK

I agree with the Lib Dem MP who said;

As its advice had been disregarded, ministers should disband the Advisory Council of experts and replace it with an Advisory Council of Tabloid Journalists.

Classic. The sound of a political football hitting the back of the net.

andy, manchester,

It does not matter whether cannabis is class B or C. If you think it should remain class B then this still makes it illegal, punishable by up to 2 yeas prison or an unlimited fine. The real idiocy is that the government does not insist on enforcing the law as it stands.

Arthur, London,

Ian ... tell that to MS sufferers .

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

We talk about 'the science', 'the experts', but, like any other advisory committee, the ACMD is a panel of informed individuals. They have taken evidence, but have not looked at the practical issues of messages to the public, or policing. And so, I agree - why should their advice be sacrosanct?

Margaret d'Armenia, London ,

What about Miliband on Newsnight last night. What a mess that man is, he never gave a straight answer to a single question and what answers he did give were incoherent. Is that an example of Browns first-class cabinet Matthew? They want even make the opposition benches at the next election.

D Case, Newquay,

Quote: "Cannabis is wrong - PERIOD !!!!!"

Chill out man...

Ben , Leeds, UK

Cannabis is wrong - PERIOD !!!!!

Ian Payne, WALSALL,

Just why Mathew Parris should consider the ACMD a "most imprressive of advisory councils" is worrying. I did not see him at the ACMD public hearing on 5th February, if he had been there he would have heard the government's top official concerned with mental health call for reclassification. Spot on

David Raynes, Bath , UK

Its time that governments made a real decision: to legalise drugs. The policy of prohibition has never worked and never will. The drug situation will only start to get better when authorities can control it, and that will only happen when drugs are legalised.

Peter Gyles, Sidcup,

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Matthew Parris

Matthew Parris joined The Times as parliamentary sketchwriter in 1988, a role he held until 2001. He had formerly worked for the Foreign Office and been a Conservative MP from 1979-86. He has published many books on travel and politics and an autobiography, Chance Witness, for which he won the 2004 Orwell Prize. His diary appears in The Times on Thursdays, and his Opinion column on Saturdays