Congressman's bid to legalise cannabis challenges United Kin
Posted: Wed 26th Mar 2008 06:11 am
Congressman's bid to legalise cannabis challenges United Kingdom's stance
A United States Congressman has alluded to the fact that the time is right for cannabis to be decriminalised once and for all, and he called the jailing of people who smoke cannabis "pretty silly".
Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank (Rep), was appearing on a national television show hosted by Bill Maher (HBO's Real Time), when he announced he intended to "file a bill as soon as we go back to remove all penalties for small amounts of marijuana."
"Why are you doing this in this late stage in the history of marijuana?" host Maher probed.
The demon "Super Skunk" which, according to a member of parliament from New Zealand, is yet to figure in a credible report as causing a single death, and this in over 12,000 years of use! Alcohol on the other hand, causes 10,000 UK deaths annually.
"Because I finally got to the point where I think I can get away with it," explained Frank, who has been in the House since 1981. "I wanted to do it for a long time. I filed it in the state legislature in the '70s. When I got to Congress, frankly, I was feeling more cautious.
Make Room for Serious Criminals
"I now think it's time for the politicians to catch up to the public. The notion that you lock people up for smoking cannabis is pretty silly. I'm going to call it the Make Room for Serious Criminals bill."
Mr Frank is not the first member of US congress to swim against the tide on the marijuana issue.
It was in the run up to the US presidential elections that democratic candidate Mike Gravel, while speaking in New Hampshire, said that cannabis is safer than alcohol.
Speaking to a group of students at Phillips Exeter Academy, he said that he believes people should be able to buy marijuana in high street chemists.
"Alcohol is a heck of a lot worse than marijuana, and I'm sure a lot of you have tripped out on alcohol," Gravel said. "It's a lot safer to do it on marijuana."
You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
US Senator Mike Gravel warns students of the perils of alcohol, and recommends they use cannabis instead.
Other presidential candidates to go public on the cannabis issue include front-runners Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, both of whom have admitted to using cannabis themselves in the past.
Presidential favorite Obama, when asked "if he inhaled", remarked "of course I inhaled - thats the point right"?
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom however, the message from central government remains the same.
In an e-mail from the direct communications unit of the Home Office, Pro-Reform cannabis website the Canna Zine was informed, "There is real public concern about the potential mental health effects of cannabis use and, in particular, the use and availability of increased strengths of the drug, commonly known as skunk. In these circumstances, the Government is considering whether it is necessary to toughen the penalties relating to cannabis possession."
Thinking back to what Senator Mike Gravel told the New Hampshire high school students, "Alcohol is a heck of a lot worse than marijuana, and I'm sure a lot of you have tripped out on alcohol," Gravel said. "It's a lot safer to do it on marijuana", begs the question of just what agenda the Labour government are working to?
Who, or what, are the archaic and draconian UK cannabis laws trying to protect?
Could it be the alcohol industry?
Since cannabis was reclassified to a class C drug by then Home Secretary David Blunkett back in 2004, cannabis user figures have shown a marked fall, and this according to the governments own figures.
But during the same period, the numbers of people dying from alcohol related causes has taken a sharp upturn, with National Office of Statistics figures showing that 10,000 people every year are quite literally, "dying for a drink", and the numbers of hospital admissions in the aftermath of alcohol consumption is currently over 1200 per day, or close to half a million people per year across the country, with a great many of these admissions being under 18's.
Prime Minister Brown told the country he would look at the new 24 hour licensing laws as a matter of the highest priority when he came to power in summer 2007, yet in the run up to Christmas 07 he announced he was happy with the laws as they stood, but new figures released by Home Office minister Vernon Coaker show the government are doing precious little to protect the UK population from alcohol and tobacco, which currently account for over 90% of ALL UK drug related death's.
Mr Coaker, one of the raft of Labour ministers who admitted to experimenting with cannabis as a student, confirmed that since the 2003 Licensing Act was introduced, only one person has been found guilty of selling alcohol to a drunk person, which proves yet again that while the government is happy to collect the taxes generated by the massive upsurge in alcohol abuse, they are prepared to do little to help people who are hoplessly addicted to the worlds No.1 abused drug.
A fact the Conservative party are only too keen to point out.
The Conservatives said that the figures, obtained in a parliamentary answer, discredited the Government’s claim to be committed to tackling the irresponsible sale of alcohol as part of moves to tackle binge drinking.
David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The figures show that Gordon Brown’s promise of a crackdown is yet more cynical Labour spin. Labour has utterly failed to get a grip on the alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder that plagues our streets.
Super Skunk?
According to the Home Office, there are very real concerns over the herbal cannabis branded "super-skunk" by government ministers and certain members of the press, yet according to administrators from other countries around the world, the cannabis issue is no-where near as bad as this Labour government would have us believe?
A member of Parliament from New Zealand spoke out recently, explaining just how dangerous cannabis really is to the majority of the population.
Nandor Tanczos, MP for the Green Party provided some answers for commonly asked questions on the statistics regarding Cannabis:
"Cannabis use encompasses 12,000 years of human experience and is now used daily by enormous numbers of people for recreation, yet there is no credible medical report to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death.
Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects; however, researchers have been unable to identify the amount of cannabis which would need to be consumed in order to cause death.
Estimates indicate that a person would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much cannabis as is contained in one cannabis cigarette, and they would have to consume this amount in a short space of time (e.g. less than 1 hour)."
Death by Alcohol
If you compare this, with the recent death of a bank worker from Manchester, who managed to drink himself into unconciousness in 45 minutes, and who was later found dead in his bed, it once again hammers home the irrational prioritisation the Government place on outlawing cannabis, whilst at the same time, seemingly encouraging the nation to drink itself to death with 24 hour licensing, and alcohol available in every late night convenience store and petrol forecourt, a measure which isn't allowed in other EU countries with more liberal cannabis policies, such as Holland for instance.
Cannabis has already been decriminalised in a number of countries the UK would deem as "allies" on the battlefield, and yet when it comes to deciding whats best for the populations of these respective countries, all of which are members of NATO and the United Nations, their governments stand worlds apart.
Already the United States, Canada, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic and Germany, many of whom were involved as allies "on the ground" in Afghanistan and Iraq, have made allowances for the small percentage of their respective populations who choose to use cannabis either out of medical necessity, or recreationally.
But maybe this latest announcement in the US from Congressman Barney Frank serves to question the agenda which the UK government are truly working to?
An agenda which sees many medical patients unable to use the best drug for their condition, for fear of arrest and incarceration.
The fact that cannabis use, when carefully controlled and regulated could and would reduce greatly the numbers of people dying from alcohol abuse doesn't even seem worthy of consideration.
But maybe, just maybe, that's the real issue here?
Source, pic & video
A United States Congressman has alluded to the fact that the time is right for cannabis to be decriminalised once and for all, and he called the jailing of people who smoke cannabis "pretty silly".
Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank (Rep), was appearing on a national television show hosted by Bill Maher (HBO's Real Time), when he announced he intended to "file a bill as soon as we go back to remove all penalties for small amounts of marijuana."
"Why are you doing this in this late stage in the history of marijuana?" host Maher probed.
The demon "Super Skunk" which, according to a member of parliament from New Zealand, is yet to figure in a credible report as causing a single death, and this in over 12,000 years of use! Alcohol on the other hand, causes 10,000 UK deaths annually.
"Because I finally got to the point where I think I can get away with it," explained Frank, who has been in the House since 1981. "I wanted to do it for a long time. I filed it in the state legislature in the '70s. When I got to Congress, frankly, I was feeling more cautious.
Make Room for Serious Criminals
"I now think it's time for the politicians to catch up to the public. The notion that you lock people up for smoking cannabis is pretty silly. I'm going to call it the Make Room for Serious Criminals bill."
Mr Frank is not the first member of US congress to swim against the tide on the marijuana issue.
It was in the run up to the US presidential elections that democratic candidate Mike Gravel, while speaking in New Hampshire, said that cannabis is safer than alcohol.
Speaking to a group of students at Phillips Exeter Academy, he said that he believes people should be able to buy marijuana in high street chemists.
"Alcohol is a heck of a lot worse than marijuana, and I'm sure a lot of you have tripped out on alcohol," Gravel said. "It's a lot safer to do it on marijuana."
You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
US Senator Mike Gravel warns students of the perils of alcohol, and recommends they use cannabis instead.
Other presidential candidates to go public on the cannabis issue include front-runners Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, both of whom have admitted to using cannabis themselves in the past.
Presidential favorite Obama, when asked "if he inhaled", remarked "of course I inhaled - thats the point right"?
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom however, the message from central government remains the same.
In an e-mail from the direct communications unit of the Home Office, Pro-Reform cannabis website the Canna Zine was informed, "There is real public concern about the potential mental health effects of cannabis use and, in particular, the use and availability of increased strengths of the drug, commonly known as skunk. In these circumstances, the Government is considering whether it is necessary to toughen the penalties relating to cannabis possession."
Thinking back to what Senator Mike Gravel told the New Hampshire high school students, "Alcohol is a heck of a lot worse than marijuana, and I'm sure a lot of you have tripped out on alcohol," Gravel said. "It's a lot safer to do it on marijuana", begs the question of just what agenda the Labour government are working to?
Who, or what, are the archaic and draconian UK cannabis laws trying to protect?
Could it be the alcohol industry?
Since cannabis was reclassified to a class C drug by then Home Secretary David Blunkett back in 2004, cannabis user figures have shown a marked fall, and this according to the governments own figures.
But during the same period, the numbers of people dying from alcohol related causes has taken a sharp upturn, with National Office of Statistics figures showing that 10,000 people every year are quite literally, "dying for a drink", and the numbers of hospital admissions in the aftermath of alcohol consumption is currently over 1200 per day, or close to half a million people per year across the country, with a great many of these admissions being under 18's.
Prime Minister Brown told the country he would look at the new 24 hour licensing laws as a matter of the highest priority when he came to power in summer 2007, yet in the run up to Christmas 07 he announced he was happy with the laws as they stood, but new figures released by Home Office minister Vernon Coaker show the government are doing precious little to protect the UK population from alcohol and tobacco, which currently account for over 90% of ALL UK drug related death's.
Mr Coaker, one of the raft of Labour ministers who admitted to experimenting with cannabis as a student, confirmed that since the 2003 Licensing Act was introduced, only one person has been found guilty of selling alcohol to a drunk person, which proves yet again that while the government is happy to collect the taxes generated by the massive upsurge in alcohol abuse, they are prepared to do little to help people who are hoplessly addicted to the worlds No.1 abused drug.
A fact the Conservative party are only too keen to point out.
The Conservatives said that the figures, obtained in a parliamentary answer, discredited the Government’s claim to be committed to tackling the irresponsible sale of alcohol as part of moves to tackle binge drinking.
David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The figures show that Gordon Brown’s promise of a crackdown is yet more cynical Labour spin. Labour has utterly failed to get a grip on the alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder that plagues our streets.
Super Skunk?
According to the Home Office, there are very real concerns over the herbal cannabis branded "super-skunk" by government ministers and certain members of the press, yet according to administrators from other countries around the world, the cannabis issue is no-where near as bad as this Labour government would have us believe?
A member of Parliament from New Zealand spoke out recently, explaining just how dangerous cannabis really is to the majority of the population.
Nandor Tanczos, MP for the Green Party provided some answers for commonly asked questions on the statistics regarding Cannabis:
"Cannabis use encompasses 12,000 years of human experience and is now used daily by enormous numbers of people for recreation, yet there is no credible medical report to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death.
Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects; however, researchers have been unable to identify the amount of cannabis which would need to be consumed in order to cause death.
Estimates indicate that a person would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much cannabis as is contained in one cannabis cigarette, and they would have to consume this amount in a short space of time (e.g. less than 1 hour)."
Death by Alcohol
If you compare this, with the recent death of a bank worker from Manchester, who managed to drink himself into unconciousness in 45 minutes, and who was later found dead in his bed, it once again hammers home the irrational prioritisation the Government place on outlawing cannabis, whilst at the same time, seemingly encouraging the nation to drink itself to death with 24 hour licensing, and alcohol available in every late night convenience store and petrol forecourt, a measure which isn't allowed in other EU countries with more liberal cannabis policies, such as Holland for instance.
Cannabis has already been decriminalised in a number of countries the UK would deem as "allies" on the battlefield, and yet when it comes to deciding whats best for the populations of these respective countries, all of which are members of NATO and the United Nations, their governments stand worlds apart.
Already the United States, Canada, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic and Germany, many of whom were involved as allies "on the ground" in Afghanistan and Iraq, have made allowances for the small percentage of their respective populations who choose to use cannabis either out of medical necessity, or recreationally.
But maybe this latest announcement in the US from Congressman Barney Frank serves to question the agenda which the UK government are truly working to?
An agenda which sees many medical patients unable to use the best drug for their condition, for fear of arrest and incarceration.
The fact that cannabis use, when carefully controlled and regulated could and would reduce greatly the numbers of people dying from alcohol abuse doesn't even seem worthy of consideration.
But maybe, just maybe, that's the real issue here?
Source, pic & video
