Another Small-minded Cannabis Debate....(sigh!)

House of Commons Agree to appoint Select Committees and the presentation of two new Bills to parliament in respect to: "Reclassification of Cannabis"and "Roadside Drug Testing"

Debate abstracts: Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Conservative)

"I beg to move,That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the reclassification of cannabis; to make provision for the roadside testing of illegal drugs;and for connected purposes.

The Bill is supported by parents, teachers, chief police officers, theMagistrates Association, road safety campaigners, academics, healthprofessionals, newspapers, journalists and the Conservative party.

All it needs is for the Government and the Liberal Democrats to come into line. The first aim of the Bill is to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug, as italways was before the Government's decision to downgrade the classificationin 2001. Who can be in any doubt that cannabis wrecks lives? ("...and alcohol doesn't?!?! - EyeCeyE)

After 10 yearsof Labour Government, more lives than ever, particularly those of children and young people, are being wrecked by cannabis. As The Independent onSunday said on 18 March:

"Teenage schizophrenia is the issue." [...]""One good way of deterring drug use and ensuring increased safety on ourroads would be to introduce "drugalyser" roadside testing.

It would work because, fortunately, surveys have been done showing that one in three people who currently drive after taking drugs say that they would be deterred from driving if the police did more checks. So we would immediately have fewer drivers on our roads with drugs in their systems if we hadroadside "drugalyser" tests.

The system is already in place in many countries in Europe and in Australia. The equipment necessary to carry out the tests is also available and has been used in other European countriesand in Australia.
That equipment is manufactured and produced in this country, but the Government are stalling on its introduction, therebydemonstrating once again that they are soft on cannabis. The link between cannabis use and bad driving is clear, as is the link between cannabis and mental illness. Why will the Government not do something about it? "This modest Bill should appeal to everyone who is ashamed of the way inwhich a generation of young people have been betrayed by a soft, ambiguouspublic policy on drugs. The Independent on Sunday has had the guts to admit that it was totally wrong in its assessment of this subject.It is now time for the Government to admit that they were totally wrong. I hope that we will be able to have a Division, because that will demonstrate which Members of the House believe that this is a serious subject that needsto be addressed, and which people in the House feel that this is a matterfor complacency, and that we can continue with the present, failed policies. Response by Brian Iddon (Bolton South East, Labour)

"I want to speak against this attempt to bring in serious measures via aten-minute Bill. There are issues to be debated—about the connection of cannabis to mental disease and also the effect of cannabis on people's driving ability—but if we are going to change the law, we need a much wider discussion than we can have in the context of a ten-minute Bill. That is the main reason why I am opposing the measure today. [...]""What is important is the harm that different species of cannabis cause. Ithink that the usage of cannabis will go down, because young people are learning that if it has high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol in it—the level could be as high as 15 per cent.—it causes mental health problems, but itdoes that to a small number of people, not to the public in general. Thereis a lot more research to be done on the subject, and it is far too early tobring such a Bill before the House. [...]"It is too early to introduce drug testing at the roadside. The people towhom we talked at the laboratory run by the Home Office near St. Albans toldus that cognitive tests can measure the ability to drive better than any of the instruments currently available, such as the breathalyser, which is usedfor alcohol testing. [..]""I oppose the Bill, largely on the grounds that the subject should not be dealt with in a ten-minute Bill, because the whole House should be part of this discussion. I also oppose it on the grounds that the measures that the hon. Gentleman has put to the House are impractical, at least at this stageof the development of the subject."

EyeCeyE's Response:

"As a Qualified Psychiatric Nurse who works with, and studies Schizophrenia, I can honestly tell you that there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE to suggest that the use of Cannabis amongst the population has increased the numbers of people developing Schizophrenia. The numbers and statistics remain unchanged. Those who do go on to develop Schizophrenia were ALWAYS GOING TO DEVELOP IT ANYWAY!!

But I guess we can't expect a serious debate from yet another small-minded Conservative MP, who will say whatever, to get back into parliament. Please read the actual research, not research conducted by Alcohol manufacturers, who are the real power behind the move to Re-Classify Cannabis. They risk a major loss in profit if Cannabis is legalised.

Young teenagers, I do agree, to a certain extent have still got developing amygdala's and emotional centres of the brain, and ANY Psychoactive drug is not encouraged for that age group, especially in large quantities, but for the adult population ASPIRIN IS MORE DEADLY.

Peace and Love in an Alcohol Dominated World, Please be choosy which advise you take onboard xxx