UK plans curbs on cannabis use

The British government is having a re-think on its earlier decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B drug to class C. The move was supposed to let the police focus on tackling harder drugs like heroin and crack.

The British government is having a re-think on its earlier decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B drug to class C. The move was supposed to let the police focus on tackling harder drugs like heroin and crack.

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But now, Home Secretary Charles Clark has ordered a review in the light of fresh evidence linking it with mental health problems.

"People do not understand the impact of the consumption of cannabis well enough, and what the legal consequences of consuming cannabis are," Clark said.

"I'm very struck by the advocacy of a number of people who have been proposers of the reclassification of cannabis that they were wrong," he told The Times. “I am also very worried about the most recent medical evidence on mental health. This is a very serious issue."

Medical sources said that cannabis might again be put in the Class B category of drugs and its possession and selling could lead to prosecution.

Clarke said he would announce a decision about the classification of the drug after he has considered a report he commissioned last year from the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs.