London, United Kingdom: British officials have rejected an appeal to reclassify cannabis as a Class B prohibited substance. Their rejection is in accordance with the recommendations of the British Advisory Council on the Misuses of Drugs (ACMD) which determined that marijuana’s relative health risks do not warrant increasing penalties for those who use it.
“The harmfulness of cannabis to the individual remains substantially less than the harmfulness caused by substances currently controlled under the [law] as Class B,” such as amphetamines, the ACMD concluded. The agency further added that cannabis presented only a “very small risk” to users’ mental health, including the onset of schizophrenia.
Britain amended its drug laws in 2004 to downgrade cannabis from a Class B drug to a Class C “soft” drug. Under the reclassification scheme, individuals found possessing minor amounts of cannabis are typically cautioned by police, but no longer arrested.
To date, there has been no documented increase in cannabis use following the downgrade.
Preliminary data released by the Home Office last year indicated that law enforcement saved an estimated 200,000 hours of police time as a result of the reclassification.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, or Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500.