edgarshade
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2010
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Telegraph
By Sam Marsden
12:01AM BST 05 Apr 2013
With reader comments
More...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...rter-after-Class-C-downgrade-study-finds.html
From the Daily Mail...
PUBLISHED: 00:27, 5 April 2013
With reader comments
More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-experiment-pushed-hard-drug-use-crime.html
By Sam Marsden
12:01AM BST 05 Apr 2013
With reader comments
Labour’s decision to downgrade the classification of cannabis to Class C led to a 25 per cent increase in use of the drug and a sharp increase in crime, research has found. People from poor and troubled backgrounds were most affected by the temporary change in the law, which saw the maximum penalty for possessing the substance reduced from five to two years. Both violent and non-violent crime rose as a result of the move, with particular spikes in cases of assault, stealing and vehicle theft. There were also surges in anti-social behaviour and the likelihood of users themselves becoming victims of crime. However, the Government’s temporary reclassification of cannabis from Class B to Class C did not increase the consumption of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin, according to the study.
Academics Nils Braakmann and Simon Jones, from Newcastle University, looked at the effects of the policy of downgrading the drug, which lasted from January 2004 to January 2009.
More...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...rter-after-Class-C-downgrade-study-finds.html
From the Daily Mail...
The price of going soft on cannabis: Labour's experiment 'pushed up hard drug use and crime'
PUBLISHED: 00:27, 5 April 2013
With reader comments
Labour's liberalisation of the cannabis laws was a disaster that pushed up drug use and crime and doubled the number of drug victims in hospital beds, two major research studies said yesterday. They found that after police were told to go easy on cannabis smokers, there were increases in assaults, theft and car theft, burglaries, vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The chance that a young person who had never smoked cannabis would try the drug went up by a quarter after it became unlikely they would get more than a warning if caught by police, one project found.
Mary Brett, of Cannabis Skunk Sense, said: ‘There is no surprise about these findings. We know there are direct links between cannabis and psychosis. Now we have powerful evidence that decriminalisation had disastrous effects. People who push for liberalisation are just not bothered to read the literature.’
Dismissing the reports, Mr Blunkett said: ‘This is a perverse piece of research. Cannabis use has gone down in every age group and every part of the country both after reclassification downwards and since reclassification back to Category B.’
More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-experiment-pushed-hard-drug-use-crime.html