Cannabis crackdown

Cannabis will be reclassified as a class B drug, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced. The drug was degraded to class C in 2004 by the then Home Secretary David Blunkett. The U-turn by the government comes even though cannabis use has, by the government’s admission, fallen significantly across all age ranges in recent years. In making her decision, Smith reportedly went against advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which wanted to keep cannabis as a class C drug. The council has not been overruled for 30 years. Smith says the reclassification reflects the fact that “skunk”, a much stronger type of the drug, now dominates the market and accounts for 81% of cannabis available on streets compared with 30% in 2002.