Cannabis
The Government wants to return cannabis to its ‘class B’ status, according to Whitehall sources quoted in The Times. The drug was controversially downgraded to a class C bracket in 2004 by the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett. Since then, mounting evidence of mental health risks, and fears that the move sent out the wrong message to youngsters, has caused the Government to think again.
Gordon Brown launched a review on becoming Prime Minister in 2007, saying at the time: ‘It is the message you send out. Why I want to upgrade cannabis and make it more a drug that people worry about is that we don’t want to send out a message, just like with alcohol, to teenagers that we accept these things’.
