Time to decriminalise cannabis
Iain Paterson rightly proposes that the use of cannabis should be decriminalised (Letters, June 7).
Iain Paterson rightly proposes that the use of cannabis should be decriminalised (Letters, June 7).
It is of interest to discover why a drug which was in common use historically suddenly became outlawed.
Despite the fact that the UK has no historical problem with widespread cannabis misuse and there being no prior parliamentary or public debate on the subject, the use of cannabis was criminalised in the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1928. This decision stems from the League of Nations Convention on Narcotics in 1925 which voted to ban the drug. The drive to illegalise hemp came from representatives from Turkey and Egypt and the reasons behind their proposal were based on politically motivated dogma rather than scientific fact.
The political decision to accommodate the wishes of these countries has created the mess we find ourselves in where the state criminalises ordinary people who by their actions are at worst harming only themselves and where the law has created a situation that encourages and perpetuates a lucrative international criminal enterprise.
The problem was created by the stroke of a pen; it could be eliminated by the same method.
David J Crawford,
131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.
http://www.heraldscotland.com 07/06/2012
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Soft Secrets
