Mixed messages on drug dangers

Oct 15 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

THE comments by Assistant Chief Constable Simon Byrne, that parents are naive to the dangers of cannabis, will strike a chord with many.

But if there are parents out there who do turn a blind eye to their children smoking cannabis, then the Government must take its share of the blame.

After all, reclassifying cannabis as a Class C drug served to suggest to many that it wasn’t that bad after off.

Of course, the medical profession has been very vocal in presenting the opposite view, and rightly so, but if ministers send out the signal that cannabis is, in their eyes at least, not as serious as it used to be, should we be surprised by the result which ACC Byrne now sees?

He is quite right to raise this point, and it is only right that the Government – made up of many ministers who seem to find it a rite of passage to admit to the odd spliff in their university years – actually listens to him.

Cannabis may not be an automatic slippery slope to a life of crime, but it certainly makes the chance of that happening all the more likely.

The Government needs to seriously consider its position, and decide once and for all what the policy should be. Cannabis is not good for you. Medics believe it can lead to the taking of stronger drugs. Those two points alone should be enough for ministers to realise the earlier errors of their ways.

Need for a rethink

IT IS heartening to see today that the Conservatives are demanding a review of the drugs postcode lottery exposed by the Daily Post last week.

Sadly, the Government continues to have faith in a system which results in people in some areas being denied drugs which are available in other areas.

After a week when Labour was accused of repeatedly “stealing” Tory policies, is it too much to hope they might now look more closely at their opposition’s stance on this issue, too?