Cannabis users SHOULDN'T be prosecuted says commission that likens taking illegal drugs to 'eating junk food or gambling'

• Government should focus on 'damage limitation' rather than wholesale banning of drugs, says UK Drug Policy Commission
• The independent advisory body says people should be allowed to grow cannabis for personal use at home
• It adds that 'taking drugs does not always cause problems'
• Findings condemned by campaign groups who said drugs 'are illegal because they are dangerous'

Smoking cannabis is just like eating junk food and shouldn't be a criminal offence, a controversial report claims today.
The UK Drug Policy Commission says drug-taking is simply another 'moderately selfish' or 'risky' behaviour, similar to gambling or a diet of burger and chips.
It also says it should not be a criminal offence to grow cannabis for personal use. And rather than trying to ban drugs completely, the Government should concentrate on ensuring that addicts take substances 'responsibly', the report's authors say.

Cannabis: A report by the UK Drug Policy Commission says drug-taking is simply another 'moderately selfish' or 'risky' behaviour

The commission's findings were condemned by campaign groups.
Mary Brett, of Cannabis, Skunk, Sense, which aims to prevent the use of drugs, said: 'They just haven't thought it out. Drugs are illegal because they are dangerous. Cannabis is getting stronger each year.
'People haven't grasped how cannabis affects the brain. It contains chemicals within the plant that stick in the brain cells. This impairs the transmission of all the other chemicals that carry out functions in the brain.'

According to the commission, a new approach is needed because the rapid creation of new drugs was changing the market too quickly for the traditional methods used to control it.
It said the Government's efforts to ban drugs have not reduced their availability – and may have even worsened the situation. So rather than trying to prevent their use 'entirely', ministers should focus on limiting the damage with an overhaul of current drug laws.

Professor Colin Blakemore, who helped write the report, said the Government needs to reform its drug policy

The report states: 'Just like with gambling or eating junk food, there are some moderately selfish or risky behaviours that free societies accept will occur and seek to limit to the least damaging manifestations, rather than to prevent entirely.
'Seeing all drug use as invariably problematic can reduce the cost-effectiveness of policy.
'Taking drugs does not always cause problems, but this is rarely acknowledged by policy makers.

'We do not believe that pursuing the goal of encouraging responsible behaviour requires the prevention of all drug use in every circumstance.'
Controversially, it also recommends changing the law to allow people to grow small amounts of cannabis in their homes. This would help 'undermine' the mass production of the drug illegally.
Professor Colin Blakemore, who helped write the report, said: 'The overwhelming consensus now is that it is unethical, inefficient and dangerous to use untested and unvalidated methods of treatment and prevention. It is time that policy on illicit drug use starts taking evidence seriously as well.'

Although the commission called for Parliament 'to revisit the level of penalties applied to all drug offences' it stopped short of calling for the decriminalisation of most drugs.
The commission is an independent charity set up in 2007 to analyse drug policy in the UK. It is not funded by the Government and claims not to have any particular 'standpoint'.
This is the final report from the charity, which will shut down in December.
Although drug use in Britain has fallen in recent years, it is still higher than most other countries. About one in ten adults has taken an illegal substance in the past year compared to a global average of one in 20, the report states.

Some 42,000 people in England and Wales are sentenced each year for the possession of drugs, with about 160,000 people given cannabis warnings, it added.

No harm done? The controversial study likens smoking cannabis to eating junk food

A Home Office spokesman 'welcomed' the UKDPC's contribution to the drugs debate.
However, they said: 'We remain confident that our ambitious approach to tackling drugs – outlined in our Drugs Strategy – is the right one.
'Drug usage is at its lowest level since records began.'

Dame Ruth Runciman, the UKDPC chairwoman, said UK governments have done much to reduce the damage caused by drug problems, including needle exchanges and investment in treatment for addicts.
But she added: 'Those programmes are supported by evidence, but much of the rest of drug policy does not have an adequate evidence base.
'We spend billions of pounds every year without being sure of what difference much of it makes.'

Studio33
http://www.amazon.com/shops/studio33

Virgin Atlantic Airways
http://tinyurl.com/pjbm6r6

Luxury French Lingerie
http://tinyurl.com/o7qcz7m

From chocolate eggs to chocolate coins, give your sweet tooth a treat with our delicious products.
http://tinyurl.com/nragc9j

Astore
http://astore.amazon.com/nevinghomebas-20