The Wardman Wire

A word of praise for the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on her handling of her admission that she had smoked cannabis at University, by simply admitting to it - avoiding all the obfuscation and humbug that we normally experience.

She then put the spotlight on the practicalities. Good.

From the Telegraph:

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has admitted that she smoked cannabis while a student at Oxford University.Her confession came after Gordon Brown indicated the drug could be reclassified as more dangerous, as he announced the third review of the issue in six years.

Asked today whether she had ever taken cannabis herself, Miss Smith, 45, said: “I have. I did when I was at university. I haven’t done for at least 25 years.

“I am not proud about it, I did the wrong thing,” she told GMTV, adding that she had never tried any other illegal substances.

Asked if the confession made her unfit to be in charge of drugs legislation, she said: “One of the things about being a politician is that you are often criticised for not knowing what’s going on.

“I hope that my experiences in my life have actually helped me understand that I do want crime tackled”.

and also congratulations to Mr Brown for starting a possible move to address the issue of cannabis and other drugs seriously (which I will believe when I see it implemented).

Dangers of Cannabis

Evidence about the long-term dangers of cannabis, including publications by other governments (this from Australia - pdf, 80k) has previously been ignored by the Blair-Brown administration.

Cannabis and Driving

The effect on driving in combination with other substances requires serious consideration. From the Canadian Safety Council:

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical in cannabis, reduces a driver’s ability to keep in the centre of the lane, to maintain a constant following distance, and to make quick decisions about manoeuvres such as passing. Faced with an unexpected event, a cannabis-impaired driver may find it difficult to react quickly…

…THC can be detected in blood or urine for days after smoking. Surveys that establish recent use of cannabis show that THC-positive drivers, especially at higher doses, are three to seven times more likely to be responsible for their crash than drivers who had not used drugs or alcohol. In other words, recent use of cannabis may increase crash risk, while past use of cannabis does not.

Few road fatalities test positive for THC alone. Most often, it is found in combination with alcohol. Controlled studies show this combination produces severe impairment. Driver casualty statistics confirm that using cannabis with alcohol dramatically increases crash risk.

But the overall effect on cannabis on accident occurrence and risk is not yet clear. A March 2007 Review of the literature on cannabis and crash risk (pdf, 500k, local copy) from the Australian Centre for Automotive Safety research at the University of Adelaide.

Cannabis may not be as great a problem as alcohol, but research is still needed, particularly a case-control study, to determine how great a problem it is and whether steps need to be taken to apprehend those who combine cannabis use and driving.

So…

Now let’s address the question properly in its various aspects, and get away from the yes-but-no-but-yes-but-no posturing, whether it’s of the “free market in cannabis” or “ban the evil weed” variety.

And for me this is a welcome sign that there might be an outbreak of a primacy for for evidence over politics in New Labour social policy formation.

Rounding-up and Wrapping-up

I picked up this story from Ordovicius, who shows that he knows a suspiciously large number of names for cannabis in his technorati tags.

This story has also been covered by others, who show more of a consensus than I expected - generally favourable from across the political spectrum:

The Anorak

They smokes dope.They smoked fags and sat in smoke-filled pubs. They grew up.They want to stop you doing it lest it harm you. But did it harm them, these people in power?

MW:- If I have my cynical head on, and judging by most of the stuff they do, probably yes.

Norfolk Blogger

I am sure that people would hold MP’s in higher esteem if they were more honest and didn’t try and hide their past.

Iain Dale

I don’t exactly have a liberal view on drug taking but even I have to give a massive shrug of the shoulders at this so-called revelation.

- Quite.

The only relevant question here is this. Does having smoked a joint at university impair a politician’s judgment 25 years later. Of course not.

- We have no way of telling, nor knowing how many others have had their judgment impaired by how much cannabis use.

Transform

The public consultation (which would always have been part of next weeks consultation on the drug strategy - so really is non-news) will provoke a range of predictable views ranging from the ferocious anti-cannabis extremists who think it turns you into an axe-crazed lizard and should be class A, through to the equally blinkered cannabis evangelists who think it is completely safe and use should be not only legal, but mandatory.

Most people take a more pragmatic view that the market should be appropriately regulated by the state, that consenting adult use should not be a criminal offence and that resources should be put into education, prevention and treatment rather than a demonstrably failed punitive approach and mass criminalisation.

- There are still areas - such as driving - where we need knowledge before we could go for this approach.

Freeborn John

A lot of people, reportedly, smoke or have smoked cannabis, but they go quiet at times like this. That’s understandable, since lives can be affected by the admission that one engages in illegal activities, even if the law is wrong. But this silence is harmful.

I’ve smoked cannabis, on and off, for nearly thirty years. It hasn’t done me any… ah… where was I? Oh yes, it hasn’t done me any harm …

…The drug prohibition laws are tyrannical, stupid and destructive, and I’m not going to dignify them by pretending I will take the slightest notice of them.

The Stirrer (best headline:Smith Sends out Smoke Signals)

Do you agree with The Stirrer about Jacqui Smith? And should cannabis be reclassified? Leave a comment on the Message Board.

- Aha, Stirring.

Tim Worstall

Yes, we know, the whole debate over whether cannabis should be Class B or Class C is stupid: the only sensible question anyone should be asking is whether the corner shop can sell it in packs of five or ten.

Phil for Pontefract

If you haven’t done them, odds are you don’t know what you are talking about. If you have done them, you tend to prove it’s possible to try them and not die in some dank rat-infested slum gutter. I’m waiting for a politician to say: I tried it, I enjoyed it, I don’t feel guilty about it, and on that basis, I can support no law that passes judgment on people because of it. I would if I reached office.

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