Cannabis will not be legalised, Home Office minister says

Cannabis is more harmful than ever and will not be legalised, a Home Office minister said
Photo: ALAMY
By Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent.

Jeremy Browne, a Home Office minister, said the Government has no plans to legalise any drug, including cannabis, which is six to seven times stronger than it was a few years ago.
His comments came after a new report from the Home Affairs Committee found current policies have failed to tackle dangerous dealers and help addicts.
Mr Browne said the argument for decriminalising drugs does not make sense when usage of illegal substances from heroin to cannabis has fallen under current tough policies, while the number of people seeking dangerous “legal highs” has risen.

"It is not true to say we are making no progress on drugs," he told BBC Radio Four's Today programme. "There’s been dramatic falls in the amount of drugs consumption happening and the harm caused by drugs.
“That includes very serious drugs so heroin for example, crack cocaine, there have been dramatic falls in recent years. The average age of heroin addicts is going up as fewer younger people are coming on stream as heroin addicts. There’s been significant progress on treatment.”
He said the MPs’ report on tackling drug usage was “thought-provoking” but there are no plans to change any laws.

“Although overall cannabis consumption is down, the strength of cannabis has gone up dramatically, about six or seven times stronger than it was a generation ago, it is the equivalent of people going from drinking a pint of beer to drinking a pint of neat vodka," he said.
"What they are consuming is much much stronger and more potentially harmful to them so the point I’d make is that we acknowledge that there is a constantly changed situation with drugs."
The Home Affairs Committee’s year-long inquiry found legalising possession of small amounts of drugs “merits significantly closer consideration”.

Keith Vaz, the committee’s chairman, said it was a “critical, now or never moment for serious reform” and urged politicians to stop being “hysterical” about drugs policy.
He also called for a Royal Commission to consider decriminalisation but the Government says this is “simply not necessary".
The committee's report said Portugal’s system in which possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use is not a criminal offence, designed in part to treat drug addiction as a health issue, “merits significantly closer attention”.
The Home Office and Department of Health should take joint responsibility for drugs policy and the coalition should fund detailed studies of new systems in Washington and Colorado in the United States, where cannabis is being legalised, it added.

The government should also look at Uruguay where a state monopoly of cannabis production and sale is being proposed.
The MPs also called for users caught in possession of drugs to have the charge wiped from their criminal record within three years to help them overcome problems with finding jobs.
Giving evidence to the committee, comedian Russell Brand, a former heroin addict who has been arrested more than a dozen times over his drug use, said Britain should stop wasting money on policing minor drugs offences and decriminalise the possession of drugs.

The report comes 10 years after the committee’s last inquiry into drugs, when David Cameron was among its members, also called for the government to look at the legalisation of some banned substances.
The Prime Minister told MPs in September the coalition was not convinced that an alternative approach would reduce the use and harms of drugs.
But Mr Vaz warned: “There is no doubt that we have failed to deal with the dealers and we have not focused on the users.”
Vital areas of drugs policy, including so-called legal highs, money laundering by drugs gangs and the growing problem of prescription drugs, have been “dangerously neglected”, the Labour MP warned.

New laws should be brought in to prosecute both retailers who sell untested legal highs which go on to cause harm or death and senior officials in banks responsible for laundering the profits of drugs gangs.
Mandatory drug testing for all prisoners as they enter and leave jail should also be introduced.
Maryon Stewart, who founded the Angelus Foundation after her medical student daughter Hester died aged 21 in 2009 after taking the then legal GBL, said the report showed drugs education “has fallen off a cliff”.
She said: “We cannot just sit by and allow young people to get into trouble with this wave of new drugs and potentially play Russian Roulette with their wellbeing and even their lives.
”
The UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), which carried out a six–year study and called for a "wholesale review'' of drugs laws, said the report was a “clear call for action”.
Roger Howard, the UKDPC’s chief executive, said: “The only thing we’re lacking now is political will.”
The charity DrugScope also backed the call for a Royal Commission, but mental health campaigners warned it was vital not to ignore the links between cannabis use and psychotic illness.

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The medicinal benefits of cannabis

Separating the good side of cannabis 

By Angela Saini

A discovery by scientists in east London may help isolate the therapeutic benefits of cannabis from its negative mood-altering side-effects

Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London, in Mile End may have discovered a new way to separate the therapeutic benefits of cannabis from its mood-altering side-effects.
Some sufferers of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's have claimed that cannabis helps to alleviate their painful symptoms and help weight gain. It is also an anti-emetic, which means that it relieves nausea.
'Karen', a London resident who suffers from a condition similar to Multiple Sclerosis and regularly takes cannabis to alleviate muscle spasms and nerve pain, told BBC London that she hopes scientific research into cannabis will change the way it is viewed by society as a therapeutic drug.

Dulling the bad effect

Psychiatrists have shown that cannabis can cause feelings of euphoria and relaxation, but also negative psychological effects, including panic attacks and depression. In the long-term, regular use can also lead to severe psychosis and schizophrenia.
Both the therapeutic pain-relief and these negative side-effects are caused by an ingredient in the cannabis plant called THC, which activates pain-relief receptors in the brain.

Professor Maurice Elphick

Professor Maurice Elphick and Dr Michaela Egertová at Queen Mary, working in collaboration with scientists in the United States, have identified a protein that binds to the pain-relief receptors in the brain and suppresses their activity so that THC does not produce the same behavioural effect.

In theory, by getting the right balance of suppression of the receptor, the protein could be used to allow the THC to relieve pain while not creating mood changes.
Their findings are described in the December issue of the journal, Molecular Pharmacology.

Cannabis-based medicines

Prof Elphick told BBC London: "It was established a long time ago that cannabis has therapeutic effects. This one is new, but it is one of a number of discoveries taking advantage of the therapeutic effects."
Expert in the field, Oxford University Professor Leslie Iversen, said this find could offer a new approach to the discovery of cannabis-based medicines in the future."
Although cannabis-based treatments do already exist, the discovery could lead to the development of new medicines to treat conditions such as epilepsy, obesity and chronic pain.

How could cannabis alter the teenage brain?

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter

When a teenager smokes cannabis are they permanently damaging their brain and dulling their intellect for a lifetime?

The dangers of smoking cannabis, and the potential health benefits, have been a source of controversy for many years.
The latest study on the drug suggested heavy and prolonged cannabis smoking as a teenager resulted in a permanently lower IQ. You can read Dominic Hughes's report on the findings here.

But how could cannabis have this effect on the brain and why might teenagers be particularly susceptible?
The drug is made from the cannabis plant and contains more than 400 different chemicals, which could have a range of effects on the mind and body.
It includes psychoactive chemicals, which act on the brain. The main element is a chemical called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This provides the "chilled out" sensation associated with smoking cannabis, but has also been linked to memory impairment.

Brain chemistry Some of these chemicals are already in all our brains, cannabis smokers or not, as the brain has its own endocannabinoid system.
Prof Val Curran, from the British Association for Psychopharmacology and University College London, said: "Any drug will affect the brain's natural chemistry.
"We believe cannabis use can affect the natural cannabinoid system."
But how could persistent use have a heightened impact on the teenage brain? The study noticed a difference between drug use before and after the 18th birthday.

The first thing to note is the brain is constantly changing. Even reading this article or learning the face of someone new at work will leave an impression on your brain. However, the teenage brain changes on a dramatic scale, even IQ does not seem to be stable.
In terms of size, the brain is pretty much done by the age of seven. But during adolescence the brain then ruthlessly prunes connections between brain cells, synapses, in the grey matter.

Dr Anne-Lisa Goddings, who researchers the teenage brain at University College London, said: "The brain produces loads of synapses, probably more than it needs, then it starts cutting down, making them more efficient."

She said it was difficult to tell exactly how cannabis could alter the brain's development. However, she said during this period when the structure and function of the brain is changing, the organ might be more susceptible than an adult brain, which is relatively fixed.

'Too laid back'
A consultant psychiatrist at Kings College London, Dr Zerrin Atakan, believes cannabis may be bit of a double-whammy for the brain.
She said using the drug could directly affect the brain and was "bound to leave its imprint".

But she thought heavy use could make you "too laid back to want to do anything". From not participating fully in school or not reading a book, or not meeting new people, she argues the experiences that can shape the mind are lost, meaning the brain does not develop.
What we do not know is if cannabis is any worse than very heavy use of any other psychoactive drug in your teenage years?
Prof Curran argues: "You would probably find the same thing in heavy drinking. We should not put cannabis on a pedestal."

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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.'

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Cannabis and memory loss: dude, where's my CBD?

Legalisation presents an opportunity to promote cannabis rich in a chemical that protects against its negative effects

Dude, Where's My Car? CBD in cannabis is thought to protect against dependence, psychotic symptoms … and memory loss. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar/Cinetext

It isn't often that science and pop culture overlap, but the two fields are in agreement when it comes to the familiar trope of the forgetful stoner.
A recent study published in Schizophrenia Bulletin is the latest to reveal the detrimental effects that cannabis can have on memory. The authors report that people dependent on the drug – both healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia – show impairments in memory compared with healthy volunteers and non-smoking schizophrenia patients.
Even more striking, the cannabis-using groups had significant decreases in the volume of two brain areas that are important for processing rewards, learning and working memory – the thalamus and striatum – and these changes were linked to their memory problems.

There was no evidence to connect cannabis use and schizophrenia – the authors simply compare the two groups. However, previous studies have found a higher prevalence of psychosis among regular cannabis smokers.
Reports of memory loss with long-term cannabis use are nothing new, and an influential paper published last year provided evidence that smoking marijuana has a deleterious effect on intelligence. In the investigation, the cognitive abilities of participants were tested several times over the course of 25 years. The researchers found that heavy cannabis users had significant decreases in intelligence and memory ability as they aged, not only compared with non-smokers, but also compared with their younger selves. Additionally, the earlier they started smoking pot, the bigger the cognitive decline.

Obviously these findings are worrying, especially given the recent spate of cannabis legalisations in states across the US and in countries such as Uruguay. However, before we all start worrying about the good people of Colorado and Washington, it might be helpful to look closer at what's actually in the cannabis we're smoking nowadays, and what ingredients are contributing to these cognitive deficits.
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis and is what causes the subjective "high". This includes changes in perceptual sensations, a feeling of contentedness and increased appetite. However, THC is also linked to many of the potential negative consequences of cannabis use, such as dependence, psychotic symptoms, and impaired memory and cognition.

Another important component, CBD (cannabidiol, which works by increasing natural cannabinoid levels in the brain) is associated with the calming, anti-anxiety effects of the drug. In addition, CBD is thought to protect against many of the potential negative effects of marijuana, including dependence, psychotic symptoms and cognitive impairments.
The THC concentration in cannabis has increased by as much as 12% over the past 30 years, making the drug much stronger than it used to be. At the same time, there has been a significant depletion of CBD, sometimes to levels as low as 0.1%. "Skunk", as this new strain of high-THC/low-CBD marijuana is called, is flooding the illegal marijuana market, and it is this variety that is thought to be behind the rise in cannabis dependence diagnoses, links to schizophrenia, and cognitive deficits seen over the past decade.

The changing chemical make-up of cannabis appears to be partly accidental and partly deliberate. New strains are often bred to have higher levels of THC in them, increasing the drug's potency. However, modern growing techniques have also affected these chemical levels. For example, illegal growers have turned to indoor marijuana farms to avoid detection. Growing cannabis locally in such farms also circumvents the need to import the drug, and guarantees a more reliable harvest. However, the 24-hour lighting used in these farms inadvertently reduces CBD levels in the plant. Thus, these new strains are not only bred for higher potency, with elevated THC content, they are also lacking the protection provided by CBD against the drug's negative effects.

It should be noted that the majority of research into cognitive deficits and cannabis use has focused on heavy or dependent users, and there's little evidence that occasional smokers show any of the problems mentioned above. But with the recent changes in drug policy, the chances are that more people will be smoking cannabis than ever before, and the more potent and more popular high-THC/low-CBD marijuana that is available today will increase their risk of dependence.
The recent legalisation of recreational and medicinal marijuana in parts of the US has the potential to reduce significantly the harms caused through incarceration or criminal records for minor drug-related offences.

However, it also provides an opportunity to reduce the cognitive and psychiatric harms linked to cannabis use. With this shift in drug policy, it is now possible for states to monitor the commercial production of cannabis, regulating the levels of THC and CBD present in the drug. To facilitate this, they could force growers to use strains with higher levels of CBD, and revert to more old-fashioned farming methods that don't use round-the-clock lighting.
These changes could help protect individuals from the damaging effects of the drug, prevent the development of dependence in new users, and maybe even help our favorite Hollywood stoners remember where they left their car.

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Jamaica's ganja tours draw the tourists

Cannabis connoisseurs can enjoy trips to hidden plantations and sample strains of the drug that inspired Bob Marley

'Breezy' shows his illegal patch of budding marijuana plants during a tour of his land. Photograph: David Mcfadden/AP

California's Napa and Sonoma have their wine tours, and travellers flock to Scotland to sample the fine single malt whiskies. But in Jamaica, farmers are offering a different kind of trip for a different type of connoisseur.
Call them ganja tours: smoky, mystical – and technically illegal – journeys to some of the island's hidden cannabis plantations, where pot tourists can sample such strains as "purple kush" and "pineapple skunk".

The tours pass through places such as Nine Mile, the tiny hometown of reggae legend, and famous pot-lover, Bob Marley. Here, in Jamaica's verdant central mountains, dreadlocked men escort curious visitors to a farm where deep-green marijuana plants grow. Similar tours are offered just outside the western resort of Negril, where a marijuana mystique has drawn weed-smoking holidaymakers for decades.
"This one here is the original sinsemilla, Bob Marley's favourite. And this one here is the chocolate skunk. It's special for the ladies," a pot farmer nicknamed "Breezy" told a reporter as he showed off several varieties on his plot one recent morning.

While US legalisation drives have scored major victories in recent months in places like Colorado and Washington state, and the government of Uruguay is moving toward getting into the pot business itself, the plant is still illegal in Jamaica.

 

'Breezy' shows off the distinctive leaves of a marijuana plant. Photograph: David Mcfadden/AP Some would like to see that change, with advocates saying that marijuana could help Jamaica boost its struggling economy. Justice minister Mark Golding told the Associated Press the government was aware of legalisation efforts elsewhere, and called the issue "dynamic and evolving quickly".
"We will be reviewing the matter in light of the recent developments in this hemisphere," Golding said of decriminalisation in an email.

The Ganja Law Reform Coalition, an island group calling for the government to decriminalise and regulate pot, is preparing to host an international conference in the capital, Kingston, this month – where topics will include prospects for commercialising cannabis.
Despite its laid-back image, Jamaica is mainly a conservative, religious place and many people bristle at the country's Rasta reputation. Marijuana has been pervasive but prohibited on the island since 1913. The illicit marijuana crop has declined since the 1970s due to global competition and the US-led war on drugs.
Still, Jamaica is the Caribbean's leading supplier of pot to the US and tourists often don't need to look any farther than their hotel lobby for assistance buying weed.

"There's already a high degree of marijuana tourism in Jamaica; they just don't call it that," said Chris Simunek, editor-in-chief of the magazine High Times, based in New York.
In Nine Mile, Breezy says Americans, Germans and increasingly Russians have visited his small farm and sampled his crop. There were no takers for the $50 (£32) tour this morning among a couple of busloads of cruise-ship tourists arriving at Bob Marley's childhood home, though more than a dozen lined up enthusiastically to buy bags of weed from Breezy's friends, sold through a hole in the wall of the museum compound.

"I can get stronger stuff at home, but there's something really special about smoking marijuana in Jamaica. I mean, this is the marijuana that inspired Bob Marley," said a 26-year-old tourist from Minnesota who only identified herself as Angie, as she crumbled some weed into rolling papers.
An online holiday guide called Jamaicamax promises to organise ganja tours in the Negril area. But there's a caveat: first you have to smoke a spliff with your guide, presumably to show you are not law enforcement.
"After you smoke a spliff with us and we get to know you then we will take you on the best ganja tours in Jamaica and you'll smoke (and eat if you want) so much ganja you'll be talking to Bob Marley himself," the travel website says.

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Marijuana laws around the world: what you need to know

As Uruguay passes a landmark law allowing citizens to buy, grow and use cannabis, we take a look at drug laws in other countries around the world

 

Uruguay has become the first country in the world to make it legal to grow, sell and consume marijuana, but that doesn't mean there will be cannabis cafes popping up on the streets of the capital or in the popular holiday resorts on the Atlantic coast.
Confusion over the country's historic marijuana bill, which was passed on Tuesday, has already prompted a Montevideo-based comedy team pHumor.tv to set up a spoof pharmacy, which claimed to be the first officially licensed vendor.
"We want to be the pharmacy of choice for pot heads," the pharmacist says conspiratorially to unsuspecting customers, caught on hidden cameras. He then proceeds to push a tray of government-branded brownies, before a stooge cop comes in and tries to arrest a couple of highly confused students. The video has already gone viral in Uruguay and you can watch it above with English subtitles.

 

Cabo Polonio, a bohemian coastal village in Uruguay. Photograph: Alamy Only pharmacies will be allowed to sell the drug and certainly not as loosely as in the video. The rules state that consumers have to be over 18, on a government register and Uruguayan citizens. Sales are also to be limited to 40g (1.4oz) per month. Registered users will also be able to grow up to six plants at home, but for personal use only.
President Jose Mujica has made it clear drug tourism is not a road he is looking to go down. So think twice before booking that flight (unless you're going for its other assets – its chilled-out beach towns, chic resorts, and unspoilt interior.
Drug laws around the world can be complicated. Here is a look at four places around the world and where you stand if you plan to light up.

Colorado state

The law: It is legal to possess, use, distribute and cultivate cannabis.
The reality: Over 21s can legally possess up to an ounce of cannabis and once the pot shops begin to open for business on January 1 2014, locals and tourists will be able to by one quarter of an ounce in a single transaction. For those under 21, cannabis possession, use and sale is still illegal, although if caught only for possession, they are likely to be dealt with in the same way as underage drinkers. Under 21s can take advantage of cannabis' medical benefits, as long as they have parental consent as a patient.

Washington state

The law: It is legal to possess up to one ounce of cannabis, but it remains an offence to possess larger amounts, or to grow it.
The reality: Over 21s can legally possess up to one ounce of cannabis, but unlike in Colorado it won't be possible to grow your own without a licence. Under 21s will face penalties if caught in possession of the drug, however it is likely to be a misdemeanour charge. And smokers are expected to puff in private; it's still illegal to spark up in public. This January retail stores will open and are expected to attract tourists.

Netherlands

A coffee shop in Amsterdam. Photograph: Alamy The law: Cannabis is tolerated, though it is still illegal. Possession of small amounts has been decriminialised and the drug can be bought from licensed "coffee shops".
The reality: As the two million tourists who flock to Amsterdam each year for a smoke will tell you, cannabis is as good as legal in the Netherlands. You will need to be over 18 and required to show ID to buy it in one of the country's many coffee shops, and purchases should be limited to five grams a day. However, it is illegal to buy cannabis on the street. As for consumption, smoking cannabis is tolerated in most public places, as long as it's not near a school, or near children. Don't assume you can smoke it in a pub, however, and remember that the ban on smoking tobacco exists even for coffeeshops, so you either have to smoke your spliff pure, with a herbal mix, or make your way into a separate tobacco smoking room if you wish to get high on the premises.

Portugal

The law: All drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and heroin, have been decrimalised since 2001.
The reality: Although lots of countries in Europe have been experimenting with various degrees of decriminalisation, Portugal was the first country to go all the way. This does not mean drugs are legal, but personal use (under certain restrictions) will not lead to prosecution. There are no legal cannabis cafes in Portugal.