It won't be long before this incompetent bunch of headline chasing meddlers are gone for good - I also predict that Gordon Brown will be remembered as the single most useless, inefficient and blundering Prime Minister ever to take charge of this country.

What have we done to deserve this?

NickDee, Birmingham, UK

This is a step in the wrong direction. In itself I guess it will have minimal impact as the police will presumably ignore it. Have Brown/Smith forgotten that our prisons are already 99.9% full and they are having to let real criminals out early?

Wade, Watamu, Kenya

What a watse of time and money and so much for Gordon listening and learning!!! How can he expect people to believe anything he say's. I've always voted Labour but I won't do it again while he's pime minister.

Gordon Brown you are a LIAR

Mark Sheppard, Retford, UK

In a nutshell the goverments gone mad !!!!
There are far greater issues to be dealt with than someone smoking a spliff in thier own homes, Chav culture and binge drinker being my 2 pet hates..............................

KEN S, SEDGEFIELD, DURHAM

For over 8 years now Sheffield Homes has put 7 known young druggies directly below me and my wife in our council flat. we have the stench of cannabis choking us as it drifts in to our home which is not good for our health for we are both pensioners, thus making our life’s an utter hell.

john beatson, sheffield, england

She admitted to smoking cannabis while reading PPE at Oxford and says it taught her to take her stance on drugs.

Perhaps she should take her PPE to a city centre on a Saturday night and try a few cans of cider.

Mike L, Chippenham, Wilts

There's a bigger picture here. If Gordy and Co can ignore the advice of the ACMD on this issue - how many other expert bodies (on various issues) are they going to ignore? We can't have a Government/PM that creates policies based on ignorance/personal opinion/own moral high ground etc. Dictatorship?

Jonny Mac, Newbury, UK

This will have no effect on the volume of cannabis used, but is likely to increase the price and put bigger profits in the hands of the dealers. I thought Brown understood market economics, I appear to be mistaken.

Rod Dalitz, Edinburgh, Scotland

Smith: "Where there is a clear and serious problem, but doubt about the harm that will be caused..." What's that supposed to mean? If there's doubt about the harm, there must be doubt about whether it's a problem! Or would it be a problem even if there was no harm??

Graham Rounce, London, United Kingdom

Bizarre. Many older people smoke and aren't mad. I see the point in deterring the youth, but is this the best way?

I'll still smoke, only now i will be more dangerous to society. Apparently. I guess i'll have to get blind drunk instead. Much safer?

ID cards will probably solve the problem...

RY, London,

Just whose vote is Brown going for? Mary Whitehouse?

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA

Didnt I read somewhere that this wouldnt be implemeneted until next year?

Is that because, unlike car and personal taxation, there is NO PROFIT in it?

I cant wait to get out of the country! 24 months and counting!!

Phil Austin, RAUNDS, England

Although i don't think the health affects from smoking weed are severe in the slightest, i do support this action. the youth in this country need a serious wake up call and I know ALOT of people who start out smoking just a few spliffs and end up trying much harder drugs...it is a slippery slope.

Alex, London, England

First the government increases the taxes of poor people, then they try to distract attention from it by criminalizing many otherwise law-abiding people. Pretty appalling.

May Anderson, London,

What a surprise! Once again, It seems that the only weapons available in the Brown government's arsenal are taxation and criminalization. God knows what they have up their sleeves for anyone who dares drink alcohol....

A truly hopeless government, bereft of ideas or imagination.

Simon W, Lancaster, UK

Tinkering. Contempt for expertise. Symbolism before real action. All the hallmarks of this dreadful government.

Nick, Rotherham, UK

This is a bad move for Labour. They are looking increasingly like a party on its last legs. Ignoring the professionals to score a cheap political point - why bother having a review if its to be ignored?

jason murphy, cork,

Just how much does the nation pay for all the dis-regarded advice we have to pay for? It seems that whenever politicos feel that the public are in doubt, [or in contention with their expressed ideas] they spend a fortune on advisory panels. Then ignore the advice received if it doesn't suit them!

S. Barraclough, Huddersfield, W. Yorkshire

I have never understood the police saying they will not deal with legislation passed by an elected government, I happen to believe this is probably the worst government in my lifetime. Is this yet again a wilful act of disobedience to orders, bad government or not !

Wills, Winchester, UK

Wow! It's really THAT bad, huh?

I shall stop smoking it immediately!

Anthony Price, Truro, UK

Another step backwards for Labour - and no, I dont use drugs or drink.
Look to the USA. The drug war is lost. Legalise and tax

Phill, The Wirral, England

So Brown ignores the considered opinion of his expert advisers.

Our new, humbled, listening Prime Minister didn't even make it to the end of the first week before putting his fingers in his ears and doing his own thing.

Sean, Surrey, UK

There is, obviously, no limit to this Government's arrogance. How much does it cost the British taxpayer to have the expert scientific opinion summarily dismissed?
Mind you, he only said they needed to listen, not act, so nothing new then. I despair !!

Robby, Mons, Belgium

Why does our out of touch government chastise the relatively "harmless to the society at large" pass time of smoking weed when they openly encourage the "incredibly dangerous to the society at large" pass time of drinking and getting totally wasted at weekends???

Jimi Preston, Leigh on sea, Essex

Prohibition obviously worked in the 1920's (not!) so it must work now (NOT!) You would think that someone would actually take the time to sit down and THINK about this instead of resorting to methods that were 'not fit for purpose' back in the day and 'not fit for purpose' now.

Jim, Wrexham, UK

I love this nonsense about skunk being the real issue. The government knows they can cut down on use of modified strains by legalising cannabis and keeping the modified strains illegal, but no.

This reclassification is a cynical attempt to pander to the people Brown's tax laws have alienated.

G Nullis, Swansea,

This helps nobody. There is so much contaminated Cannabis on the market since the police have cracked down on home growing that it is putting people health at risk. If they legalised it they would be able to regulate it more. But weed is same as smack in eyes of the gov and just another statistic...

dave zoot, staffordshire,

Blatant Headline grabbing and pandering to "Family" groups. The scientists continue to say there is no evidence to support such actions, the police are overstretched and don't want to deal with it and we all know the hypocrisies of it as alcohol does far more harm to the individual and society.

Fenris, Brighton, UK

Let the electioneering commence ...

Benzo , Nr Chelmsford,

why does the government never listen to the sensible voice of reason?
Legalise it, tax it and take the take it off the black market, that way the young will not be able to get it (a bit like alcohol) and the government can control the purity and effectively manage the harm it supposedly does.

marcus, horndon on the hill, uk

another fine example of this government not listening but luckily they will be out of power soon. Legalise, monitor and tax all drugs, not just tobacco and alcohol, its the only solution, a principle the Green Party seems to have a good grasp of.

phil mann, newcastle upon tyne,

I see Labour have stopped listening already.

This is an old political favourite: The hard stance on drugs is designed to win the family vote.

A Harris, Kettering, UK

The whole debate is an absolute joke. The police have already stated that this won't change their arrest policy, and the medical advisors have told government that the reclassification isn't needed. As for the 'message', does Jaqui Smith actually think anyone is listening to a word she says?

Owen, London, UK