Tony Blair plans U-turn on cannabis

[Thom Little]

Tony Blair is planning a controversial U-turn on cannabis laws and the reintroduction of tough penalties after an official government review found a definitive link between use of the drug and mental illness.

The Independent on Sunday can reveal that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has detailed evidence showing cannabis triggers psychosis in regular users. The findings are expected be used by Mr Blair to overturn the decision made two years ago to downgrade the drug. The reports makes it "an open door" for ministers to change the law, according to one official.

Mr Blair is keen to reverse the controversial decision to downgrade its status from B to C, taken by David Blunkett. His successor as Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, asked the Government's official advisory body to reassess the classification of the drug after a public outcry.

A senior Whitehall aide said: "There is no barrier to reclassification of cannabis on the grounds of political embarrassment. This was David Blunkett's decision, not something agreed by the Cabinet."



http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article332383.ece

[RagingInMiami]

1. Reefer Madness all over again

Why has the 21st century been nothing but regressive politics?

[anotherdrew]

6. the "studies" cited are bullshit and here's why...

first off, and the only point that should need to be made: just because the weed using population may have more people with diagnosed psychosis than the general population doesn't mean the weed CAUSED the psychosis, quite possibly the opposite in fact, and that the people are using the weed to self-medicate. but of course bastard traitor blair finds it far better to criminalize these people and cram pharma drugs down their throats at great profit to the drug industry. Screw tony blair - what a waste of a man.

[RagingInMiami]

7. I agree about the self-medicating part

I have ADHD and I self-medicated myself all the way through high school.

[daleo]

9. Correlation is not causation

And government sponsored drug research is notoriously biased in any case.

[Thom Little]

10. Too bad that so few people know what correlation and causation really are.

[DELUSIONAL]

18. E-bias -- Experimenter bias -- found in a lot of research

if the "researcher" is being paid -- the researcher may just come up with the results in line with who is paying the bills.

E-bias can be conscious or even unconscious.

[malachibk]

21. Many non-government sponsored studies have found the same thing

n/t

[rodeodance]

15. you are right.

.... doesn't mean the weed CAUSED the psychosis,

[awoke_in_2003]

16. Reefer madness is a myth,

however, smoking it gives me Cheetos madness. Can't get enough :)

[0007]

22. Yes, man has leaped backward one hundred years without

batting an eye.

In the late forties I was willing to bet that marijuana would be legal by the mid fifties. When it didn't happen, I wasn't shocked just a little disappointed in the ignorance that prevailed. Then in the sixties I thought for sure, that this time period would open the eyes of even the brain dead.

Times have changed. The next step is execution for the grower. Harry Potter readers will be examined and perhaps tortured as witch lovers.

[High Plains]

2. What a crock.

[Webster Green]

3. What a load of crap!

Figures that asshole poodle would be on board with this absurd bullshit.

[WindRavenX]

4. Not only is it absurd...

I have read in medical journals studies that actually show the opposite of what this war mongering buffoon is claiming.

Weed is a gift from nature. Fuck these fascist pigs.

[Howardx]

24. Tell a Fundie

There is a scripture that says to partake of every herb of the land;)

[rfkrfk]

5. Blair needs to be punished --> at the polls

these guys only respect one thing,
the rath of the vorer.

It needs to be made clear to Blair,
there is no upside to this decision,
only a downside.

{with that said, my understanding
is that TB planning to step down
before the next general election, figures}

[Chicago Democrat]

8. Unfreakingbelievable!!!

Wow, just wow...

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Blair's corporate masters must be pulling his strings

Oh no, can't have any of that decriminalization now can we. Isn't good for business, is Tony?

I want to know how much pot Tony smoked in his younger day. Maybe there is a correlation because Tony certainly ain't right in the head anymore?

[rodeodance]

14. you can bet the BushCo team was egging this on also.

[JuniperLea]

25. Key word: Business

My theory is that "the evil weed" is actually medically beneficial and could cause many pharmaceutical concoctions to become unnecessary. Can't have people growing their much needed medicines in their own backyards when corporations need that revenue!

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. I could solve half the world's problems with just two things

The legalization of industrial hemp and the legalization of marijuana. Of course big oil and big pharma won't have none of that now. Talk about bad for business, they fear they would be out of business.

[UncleSepp]

12. I read that as "Blair plans U-turn on cannibals"

Musta smoked too much of that wacky weed...

[rodeodance]

13. not sure but seems the UK has similiar system to ours-no input from their

Cabinet. the decision is left to top officials in the administration.

...A senior Whitehall aide said: "There is no barrier to reclassification of cannabis on the grounds of political embarrassment. This was David Blunkett's decision, not something agreed by the Cabinet."

[baby_mouse]

17. The man's a fucking fool. n/t

[applegrove]

19. See - that is what gets me. If canabis is dangerous. Then it should

be illegal.

[malachibk]

20. As a pot smoker and an epidemiologist...

I'm sad to say that there are indeed many, many studies that link cannibis use to psychosis. I have problems with how they measure the exposure (which, unfortunately, would bias results toward a null finding) and there's the definite possibility that the effect is due to a third, confounding variable. Also, perhaps people predisposed toward psychosis are more likely to initiate pot use -- there have not been good prospective studies that would establish temporality. Could also be that the relationship depends upon the age of pot initiation.

That said, though, the current researh points to a higher risk of psychosis among marijuana smokers. That's the best that science has to offer right now. Just so you know.

[alfredo]

29. Pot tends to open people up to feelings they've been hiding.

Some of the more powerful varieties can scare the crap out of you (Sativa more than Indica for me). I can see where a person who has been more or less successful in hiding their psychosis could start acting out under the influence of pot.

[Briar]

23. This has nothing to do with cannabis

and everything to do with David Campbell, who is known to be liberal on the subject. Bliar is out to make him look weak on crime and the causes of crime and so please the brain-dead "centre".

[D-Notice]

27. David Cameron...

Once more Bliar's pandering to the Daily Mail, despite the fact that his own department states that the drugs laws don't work.

[MrPrax]

28. No deviation regardless of party label...

The Liberal gov't in Canada, 86'ed it's cannabis committment as well.

Essentially, this issue is simply one that social democrats simply use to enhance their votes among young disenfranchised voters; to gain a 'hip' factor.

This report would seem to be about a vague correlation regarding a drug producing an even vaguer illness.

Psychosis is a generic psychiatric term for mental states in which the components of rational thought and perception are severely impaired. Persons experiencing a psychosis may experience hallucinations, hold delusional beliefs (e.g. paranoid delusions), demonstrate personality changes and exhibit disorganized thinking (see thought disorder)...A psychotic episode is often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosis

I would love to know what constitutes the ideal alpha state to which a mind racked by 'ghosts' presumeably loses to constitute a diagnosis of psychosis.

Also if a single questionable study is enough to keep 'bad' drugs off the market and cause a government to 'flip-flop', then one hopes that BLiar et. al. will set the same bar for any number of drugs produced for legal sale by Big Pharm.

In fact, I would love to see this consistency of a single 'environmental' assessment killing off a disasterous mega project t the political level.

Would also like to see a single report of 'decreasing wages' and 'increased poverty' even getting a Cabinet reading, let alone, a total reversal.

Can you imagine?
"Mr. Speaker, I arise today to tell the nation about a report describing the increasing number of homeless people in Great Britain. The government will pend all business until this is solved"

Gawd I love government diligence in protecting my health...

[area51]

30. Tony bLIAR

bLIAR certain has become GW Hoover's lapdog. I expect him to take that allegedly offered job w/the Carlyle group as soon as he leaves office.

[anotherdrew]

34. the Carlyle job is for sure going to be taken, bLiar is a made man now

I would sugest that we need to make our own giant private corps with our money and put these pigs out of business once and for all.

[gulfcoastliberal]

31. Blair is mentally ill

I hope the British have him committed, pronto.

[Gregorian]

32. Cannibals?

Phew. For a minute there I was affraid he was going to put an end to cannibalism. Thank goodness I simply misread it. What is the world coming to?

Now, on to something really important...

[Baclava]

33. It's all true...