It seems that the Government is considering a u-turn over its decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug. The reason for this suggested back down is that they’ve discovered cannabis might be harmful to some blissfully unaware ’spliffers’. A group called Rethink Severe Mental Illness has been lobbying the Government for two years. They say that:

There is mounting evidence that cannabis dramatically increases the risk of developing schizophrenia in people where there is a family history of the illness, and significantly increases the risk even where there is no family history.

Blighty would like to point out that nicotine can massively increase the risk of lung cancer regardless of your family history. And not only to the person partaking of it. Nicotine addicts can ruin your health, not merely theirs. And smokers think they are currently being persecuted.

Then there is Blighty’s own drug of choice. Alcohol. We admit to enjoying a glass or two of vin blanc and/or vin rouge of an evening. A bottle of lager and even a measure or two of malt whisky might follow it down the Blighty throat (and that was just last night). Unlike many Friday night drinkers, however, we don’t feel compelled to flood the town centre with urine and the blood of other drinkers. Unfortunately, not all Englishmen show such restraint. Although Blighty does avoid casualty wards of a weekend, we might be concerned about the state of our liver if we make a habit of it.

The two aforementioned drugs aren’t classed as such by the law. But if the basis for classification is related to the potential risk of a substance why is this the case? And while it is legal for one group of people to risk the health of others by enjoying their drug of choice, cigarettes, why should someone else be prosecuted for what he puts into his own body? If a bill was proposed to make smoking illegal there would be an outcry. Our liberties would be under threat. The headlines would follow: ‘Nanny state strikes again’. Banning smoking from pubs is considered fascist by many. But smoking is the one drug that directly affects the person not indulging in it.

It is no wonder that many people don’t take the drug laws seriously.