Industry News
Minister calls for cannabis education
Posted on 7th April 2008
The Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral election has called for more ?time and effort? to be spent on educating young people about the dangers of cannabis use.
Brian Paddick's comments follow the prime minister's reported decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class B drug.
A reclassification of the drug would put it in the same category as amphetamines and would carry a maximum prison sentence of five years for those caught in possession.
Mr Paddick, speaking to the BBC's London News, said: ?[We should be] delivering health messages to young people, telling them that cannabis is very dangerous, it can cause paranoia, it can cause schizophrenia." He added that this was more important than ?messing about? with what class the drug should be.
The Unite/Mental Health Nurses Association (MHNA) also supported the prime minister's decision. Chairman Andy Lauder said that the ?grim reality? of cannabis use was potentially ?psychotic breakdown?.
In 2007 the British Crime Survey found that, for the period of 2006 to 2007, 8.1 per cent of 16 to 24 year-olds had reported using drugs.