Tightening the laws on cannabis does not make the trafficking of it any harder. It just makes it more appealing to flood our shores with a drug that will make more revenue the stricter the laws. Prohibition is fueling the crime syndicates and mafias and causing the majority of crimes it is fighting.

Clive Baxter, London, United Kingdom

I am totally of the opinion that cannabis should not be classified as a B drug. If England change this law then Ireland would probably follow and this would result in major overcrowding in jails within the next few years.

If the government were being any bit smart about it then they would make this drug legal. They would make a fortune if this was done. The majority of people smoking cannabis is increasing every day so the courts would end up being packed out the door too because so many people would be getting caught!!

Amanda, Cork, Ireland

If Gordon Brown wants to make Cannabis a Class B drug, then he should be doing the same to alcohol. Most any of the long term damage (outside the lungs) that cannabis inflicts is done worse by alcohol. We all know this, and if you don't, then look it up.
Alcohol and tobacco are more addictive, and more deadly, and more easy to overdose. Alcohol makes people violent and sick, cannabis makes them calm and hungry (and sick, if too much is smoked). Driving drunk is worse than driving stoned and so on and so forth.

Yes, there are mental health issues with Cannabis, but there are mental health issues with Prozac; should that be a class B drug, too?

Elliot, Hawarden, Flintshire

Well in the words of past US President Jimmy Carter "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use."

P.Smith, Palo Verde, US

Its great to see so many people against this joke to make cannabis a class B drug. Smoking is a pubic health issue not a criminal offence!!!

Koz, London, England

I don't understand why Brown would waste so much of his (and the police's) time and money on dealing with a problem that doesn't exist! Shouldnt he be concentrating on more pressing matters? Such as the war we are currently fighting? Or the terrible NHS? Or alternative energy resources? I think theres a lack of REAL people in the government.

Chris, Watford, UK

Skunk is not the strongest form of Cannabis, Budder is, which has an average content of over 90% THC . Please try and get your facts right.
Morrocan "hash" is of HIGH quality. It's due to the law that hash in the UK is contaminated, if cannabis was tolerated as a health issue and not a criminal offence, hash and weed WOULD be pure and not full of contaminants.

Change it to class A for all I care, the government has no right what to tell me to put into my body or not.

Drew Peat, Cambridgeshire, UK

Seriously, a five year jail sentence for smoking a bit of weed
is absolutley uncalled for. Cannabis misuse is often argued to be a social problem, not a criminal one. I completely agree with this point of view. If weaker kinds of cannabis were available to the general public, it would almost surely discourage illegal use of the stronger forms in the general population of users. Problems with gangs taking advantage of Britains drug problems and growing mass amounts of dangerous "super skunk" would rapidly decrease, as there would no longer be a large market for such products. There are also a couple of moral issues involved: One being that people are generally going to do what they want to do regardless of what the law says, most avid users will continue use for as long as they like, or lose five years of theirs lives in prison. Another issue is that just because scientists who could easily be biased towards governmont interests, say theres a problem, dosent mean there is.

Stephan Harris, Peterborough, UK

Look, research has shown that government funding for further education pales in insignificanse when compared to how much they spend repairing larey drunk people at the weekend (quote "The Irony Of It All"). If you're going to make a drug more illegal it should be alcohol. When you're stoned you don't feel like going out and causing trouble, the majority of problems caused is by people over drinking and losing their minds, weed just makes you want to stay at home and play games or something, and weed does NOT make you lose your mind it makes you a happy, funny person and it also helps you understand emotional issues more.

You CANT stop us from smoking dope, if you make it class B then people who sell weed WILL be dangerous and can you imagine how rougue the teenagers will get(like me) they will turn to alcohol (which will have to be stolen, as the legal age is 18) and reek havoc beating up innocents and destroying property for no reason.

If anything weed should be legalised. Risk

Risk, Guildford, England, Surrey

Thanks for reporting that the Government is preparing to overule the findings of the Advisory council on the misuse of drugs, it was to be expected given the high crescendo of media bias that is currently travelling on the cannabis bandwaggon.
Cocaine and heroin use is out of control, a hoot at many suburban coffee mornings up and down the country and a far greater danger than cannabis will ever be. It is sad that an emminent paper as the Times cannot see through the Government agenda and make up its own mind.
Instead of publicising sad celebrities and their habits and create these foolish role models, confusing teens with a hypocritical message, they should look intensely at the real alternative proposals by chief Constable Brunstrom.
This prohibition has cost us dearly, prohibition has got us were we are, it has failed abysmally for over four decades, so lets have a new agenda called educating about drugs, controlling the strenght and living with drugs, society demands it.

Ingo Wagenknecht, Norwich, UK

Come on health concerns?? Lets remember what we are talking about here, it's a plaint. Just a plant.

Bob Evans comment, cannabis should not be consumed until the brain is fully developed. It'd say 21 years old. Giving cannabis to a pre-pubescent is just crazy and I'm sure it would have damaging effects but that's not to say it should be a class B drug.

Lets remember how floored this system is. Alcohol which kills thousands and thousands each year and causes havoc in every town and city on a Friday and Saturday night, using every single emergency service, filling to capacity every emergency ward from fights or alcohol poisoning is....wait for it...........Legal???

How many deaths have there been from cannabis overdose?.Not one.

Until alcohol is re-classified I just think the whole drug classification system is a joke.

Jonathan Bowers, Hull,

why would a government reverse a policy that is working. There are less people smoking cannibis according to this article. People die every day from drinking alcohol not from smoking cannibis

jay, anchorage, alaska

Prohibition is an expensive failure that encourages violent criminal gangs to peddle adulterated and or dangerous drugs not least to children. Our money should be invested in education and healthcare.

The government is breaching our rights by making informed adult usage of mind-altering substances a criminal offence.

We need a sensible, rational drugs policy respecting individual freedom not this mishmash of unethical, arbitrary, repressive law.

Richard, Bicester,

Just hang on six months they'll have changed their minds again. Wasting time and money is this Government's raison d'etre.

Judy , Liverpool, england

Right whos up for joining me in a mass protest?

A million spliff march on the houses of parliament...

How could they refuse us then? x

Alex Bennett, Southend, England

Do you see, people who smoke this drug fighting i the streets on a saturday night? do you see domestic violence after using this drug? the only reason alcohol is legal is because of its use in history, otherwise it would be a class A drug. All that Gordon brown wants is tax!

jay, valleys,

Terry, what you are saying is absolute nonsense, a recent report by Dutch researchers stated quite clearly that young peoples brains are NOT affected or damaged by THC in Cannabis, if THC is such a toxic dangerous substance why do we have receptors in our brain that Cannaboid molecules can attach to, why has there never been a single death attributed to Cannabis in thousands of years of recorded use?, why are scientists unable to produce a death in the LD50 test on Cannabis,.simple really its chemically harmless, perhaps if you applied your zeal into researching the subject rather than repeating the rantings of lazy journalists from the likes of the Daily Mail you could make a comment that is sensible, based in fact and not show yourself to be a prohibitionist Parrot.
Is it not strange that most "experts" in this field have absolutely no direct personal experience of Cannabis or its effects,
would you stop drinking if someone who had never had a drink told you it was bad!, ridiculous

Hugh Wark, North,

Terry Hammond- Southanpton
Those who argue that cannabis is ok because it has had no adverse effect on them, are deluding themselves and those they preach this nonsense too. During the 1940/50 this was excactly the same naive attitude expresed about cigarettes, which helped to convince young people to carry on smoking-many now of which are dead as a result. Make no mistake about it,cannbis can cause brain dammage. The THC element of cannabis binds to the brains cannabinoid receptors and for about 1 in 6 people can cause perminant brain damage. The long term damage can range from a regular feeling of inertia and a dulling of social competitiveness, bouts of paronia, to schizophrenia. The govenment is right to re-examine cannbais but they are wrong to focus on criminalising it. They must as a matter of grave urgency focus on health education, before further young lives are permanently ruined.

Terry Hammond, Southampton, UK

Brain dead gordon brown follows the whim of the daily mail, again.
It's rather sad that he's just going to do more harm than good. I won't vote for him.
As a side issue (point), skunk was first bred in the 70's. So if you think that you didn't try it back in the day, really, you probably did.

fred bloggs, uk,

Well said MICHEAL DONNELLY, if I see your name running for Prime Minister You have my vote. It's about time Britian Grew Up............and stopped blaming cannabis for all the U.K's problems .............its beyond a joke now.....If cannabis is so bad why havn't the thousands of years previous use, wiped out the human race before we got here?...............its pathetic...
Julie Lister Doncaster....

julie lister, doncaster, uk

What a disgrace. I am ashamed to call myself British. I am 17 years old and have been smoking cannabis for two years now, and I have successfully completed almost 13 years of school with good exam result passes and I have plans for University in the future. I am not running out killing my friends of family or passers-by in the street, I am not a "psycho" or "schizophrenic", I am a normal 17 year old who can differentiate between reality and being high. I agree with the comments above, the terms being used "super-skunk" etc. are clearly being used as scare-tactics, it's like "reefer-madness" all over again. The whole reason cannabis was initially outlawed is because people could use the hemp extract to make clothes and rope etc. which proved to be more efficient that cotton, something the government had recently invested in. If cannabis is re-classified to B, I might just consider leaving the country, as this is a disgrace. I am a criminal if I choose to ingest a chemical into my body?

Michael Donnelly, Dundee, Scotland

Since moving from B to C cannabis use has dropped. By making it less illegal it has become less cool. 30 years of Class B only saw usage soar and it didn't put half the Cabinet off smoking dope when they were young. The only people who will benefit from Gordon's puritan Daily Mail pleasing are the drug dealers.

Tony Gosling, London, London

Cannabis is a lot more dangerous illegal.

there are no victims in a cannabis market, only those who are forced to live in the cages created by prohibition.

drugs are not bad, the misuse of them is.

educate instead of forcing innocent people to jail

brown is complete scum if he does so

Cork, cork, ireland

How long before high fat and high sugar foods are rated for harm by class and made illegal? This would send a strong message?

No of course not, foods that cause dangerous diseases are a HEALTH issue not a criminal one, Cannabis should like wise be a HEALTH issue not a criminal one.

Since the days of the Slave Trade the UK has been hooked on sugar how many premature deaths have resulted? But no one suggests making sugar possession illegal. Just imagine the black market that would be created it it was prohibited.

It is all about terminology, if you say 'drug dealer' and 'porn pusher' it sounds bad, if you say 'family run Tobacconist and Newsagent' it sounds perfectly acceptable yet what you can obtain in such places is cigarettes that can/will kill you and pornographic magazines that may corrupt your mid.

The original decision way back in time to criminalise Cannabis use was political, not scientific, the decision reported above, in advance of the report, is likewise political.

Ross, Norwich, Norfolk

Prohibition never works, and when imposed, the population will find a way round it, by legal or illegal means.
Our laws are not set in stone, nor are they cast iron rules without flexibility. In a democracy, we have a duty to always examine if they are working, and if not, change them.
It is therefore right to implement new legislation which is pragmatic and accepts Human Nature, nurtures it, acknowledges it, and protects it.
People choose to use drugs for many complex reasons and that is their choice.
Therefore to deny the choice through prohibition, regardless of some of the potential outcomes can only be wrong.
Our laws regarding drugs do not reduce harm in the multitude of contexts that needs considered and only serve to propagate the problems of crime, health and justice we have today.
The most logical and pragmatic approach to drugs is to therefore legalise, regulate, protect and educate consumers.
Government has this responsibility by default and is not fulfilling it!

Villanovajunction, Glasgow,

There is a criminal element that legalisation could deal with. There are certain unsavoury elements that set up houses full of lights, throw 6 inches of soil on the floor and thrown some seeds down with no care or attention; the weed is then pressed into kilo sized blocks and sold on. This is known as ‘commercial’ cannabis. It contains twigs, leaf, seeds and all sorts of bug and chemicals. Generally this stuff doesn’t taste very good and would be better for making Hash oil that smoking.
There is the other side of the coin however - growers that do it for the love of the plants..these guys are pretty few and far between, but the weed is grown properly, is much stronger, tastes nice, smells nice and gets you very very high. You know from the way it burns and tastes that it’s been care for and that the chemicals have been flushed. It’s a much more pleasant experience.

Savage Henry, London,

Will the Home Secretary take the time to explain to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that the drugs laws are the wish of the elected Parliament of the country and that therefore he has the choice of enforcing them or resigning? If she doesn't and the Metropolitan Police continues with its 20 year policy of de facto legalisation it really will make little difference in London.

John, Hackney,

Good to see the top 3 comments I see on this page are of people with common sense and that Cannabis hasn't got stronger, and media propoganda has again released its fury on the lovely herb. Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith are also ridiculous for believing the hype. Its not going to make the world a safer better place, dont you think the increase in "mental health" issues could be due to the surge of single chav moms within the 90's therefore bringing up children with a different view of life and respect. Causing a huge amount of hassle for the majority of cannabis users. Its societys problem that kids are using it, by allowing anyone to have a kid when they a clearly unfut to care for a child and bring them up knowing and understandingly!

Lee Whitehouse, Staffordshire, England

Seems like the government have declared war upon the medicinal users of the herb
Typical of New Labour, picking on the needy.

Steven Halligan, southampton, hempshire

Firstly
The Government once again has made up its mind before its own report has come out as with Nuclear Power
Secondly according to the governments own figures cannabis use among young people has gone down since reclassification
Thirdly Why should Adults have their choices restricted because some stupid teenagers are overdoing something that is already illegal ..is the Government going to reclassify Alcohol because Teens get drunk.

IMO Education not Legislation is the positive way forward

Also I was pleased to see that your readers are not fooled by this populist policy.

D N Easby, Reading, UK

So the Advisory Council gets paid a big fat salary to advise the Government on what is the right thing to do in the best interests of the people, but Jacqui Spliff has already made her mind up and will throw the Advisory Councils recommendations in the trash if it doesn't agree with her.

So what's the point in having advisors if your not prepared to take their advice?

I wonder who pays the wages for these Advisors. The tax payer i suppose!

Nice to know our hard earned tax is being dumped on top of the Governments rubbish tip!

Dawn Potts, Newcastle, UK

Drug classification is a prime example of something that SHOULD NOT be in the hands of politicians. The politicians have to answer to the tabloids and the moral zealots in the electorate and it is obvious that they will not be well placed to make objective assesments of the relative harm of different drugs.

The power to classify drugs should be taken out of the hands of the politicians just like the power to set interest rates has been.

Peter Dawson, edinburgh,

2 year propaganda campaign relating dope to mental health... now coming to it peak...

People have been smoking the stuff for 1000's of years - who cares what the govt, police, archbishop of canterbury or the muslim council of GB think.
Personally I smoked it when it was class b before and it won't stop me now - and as for the people worried that their children are going to turn into mentalists after smoking weed - I ask,what kind of parent doesn't know that their kid is smoking pot?

I will make no difference other than re-criminalise a large section of society... yob culture... better blame drugs, tv, movies, violence, hip-hop - anything other than realising that maybe if we hadn't banned/made it to expensive to insure parades and village fetes that we might actually still have some resemblence of a community where we still actually cared about the other people around us.....

Don't half the cabinet smoke dope or snort cocaine more likely on their salary???

dij, Leicester,

When I travelled from Australia INTO SIGNAPORE 15 years ago, I was given a piece of paper stating that the DEATH PENALTY was carried out for carrying/dealing/using drugs. Why can't we do the same; AND MORE IMPORTANTLY APPLY IT.

jIM t, sOL, wm

They are completely ignoring the recent reports on drug harm and deliberately going against the evidence-based approach of the Drugs Advisory Council. Cannabis is less unhealthy than both alcohol and tobacco and the downgrade led to a decline in use yet for the promise of a few votes Brown is happy to overcrowd our prisons even further. What a farce this government is.

Jonathan Hobbs, Pease Pottage,

I am a 16 year old grammar school boy, who frequently smokes cannabis, and damn well enjoys it. i am hard working, and this is evident from my pretty fantastic GCSE results, however have found cannabis the perfect way to relax after a long day.
As it has been mentioned, the strength of cannabis has absolutely no effect on anything, all it does is increase the efficiency of the drug, THEREFORE REDUCING THE AMOUNT SMOKED.
i am saddened that the government is criminalising decent people, and using shock tactics that have only previously been seen during America's period of prohibition.
If i were to get caught with possession, it would probably reduce my chances of success that i aspire to achieve, thus altering my entire potential in life, simply because i chose to light up a joint, with my mates, rather than asking some 43 year old to buy me some White Lighting or Scrumpy Jacks from a shop near to a poorly lit park.
MR BROWN, DO US A FAVOUR, AND ALLOW FOR LIBERAL INDIVIDUALISM!!!!!!!!

Manu S, Birmingham,

I am fed up with hearing about the demonization of cannabis. I have been smoking cannabis for 20 years, hold down a good job, and have a lovely family. I do not drink alcohol as this has a worse effect on me than cannabis, so I gave it up about 20 years ago and made cannabis my drug of choice. I have no hangover's, am very fit and I'm very pro-active.
O.k stronger cannabis is now being bred, but I've noticed with people who drink alcohol that the percentages on wine is going up, for example my parents won't drink any wine under 13%, so as time goes by we want more of the active intoxicants, but you just take less.
I would like to see all drugs under government control, then if that means legalization then yes I'm all for it. Take it out of the organised criminal's control and make the drugs safe to use, and yes offer lower strenghth cannabis, but with a view for rehabilitation on those on harder drugs, yes including alcohol.
Please get it off the streets. Make it safe.

Steve Ashman, Birmingham,

A complete insult on our intelligence.
True, some of the new strains of cannabis are very strong.
That is why we need education and for it to be totally decriminalized so that it can be regulated.
PROHIBITION DOESNT WORK!!!
Surely that is obvious to anyone with any kind of sense.
By tucking it under the carpet and making criminals of people is absurd.
I to have smoked cannabis for over 15 years and I`m a tax payer, a father and a loyal husband.I AM NOT A CRIMINAL.
Alcohol causes so many many more problems for society as a whole and for the individual.
I cant believe that in an evolved society we are still having this argumant.
I am totally outraged and disgusted by this announcement today.Another example of fear mongering.
Grow a brain people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

George, London,

What no-one on the anti cannibis side of the debate EVER seems to understand is that smokers don't give a damn about the law. I have smoked it for 32 years and met hundreds of smokers in my time and not once has any of them ever considered the law before lighting up, except in that it may have made it more attractive by being an illicit and therefore exciting act.
Politicians flatter themselves indeed if they think people take any notice of them in this regard. They don't.
But Skunk is indeed a problem. I have seen this myself. It is a problem in the same way that illegally brewed alcohol was a problem when it was prohibited in times gone by. People went mad and blind. What is needed, obviously, is to make it LEGAL so it can be sold through government outlets and it's strength regulated, like alcohol. However, that would require courage no politician today possesses.
For myself, it can be any classification you like, I will simply ignore the law and carry on smoking....

Ross Woodhouse, Brighton, UK

''Having seen a procession of youngsters in Police cells locked upf or damage, sexual assualts and the like after smoking skunk - this move is long overdue.''

Richard Garland, you obviously have no direct experience of cannabis culture. It's as if you're not thinking about what you say before you say it. These youths who are causing damage have more than likely been drinking alcohol and not just smoking cannabis. Would you care to do some research and look at the number of crimes that involve alcohol, then I'd like you to look at the number of crimes that result from cannabis. Alcohol is legal and yet it is involved in a great proportion of crime in this country. The majority of cannabis related crimes are crimes simply due to the fact that it is illegal, not from crimes committed under the influence of cannabis.

The unfortunate thing is that you only notice the troublesome people. You may as well ban reproduction because it leads to crime.

Scott Millar, Coleraine, Northern Ireland

You reported on 4th Jan. "More than 100,000 young adults have been out of work and on sickness
benefit for five years or more, largely because of mental problems, the Government said yesterday.".
Am I alone in thinking these figures are connected with heavy cannabis use-particularly early cannabis use? There is no doubt about "Blunkett's Blunder". Home Secretary for only weeks when he made his announcement about downgrading cannabis. It confused a generation, sent mixed messages on the harms of cannabis and subliminally lowered resistance to all illegal drug taking. Blunkett was listening to siren voices in the ACMD (Not one expert there on the Uk drug market!) and to the legalisation & metropolitan media lobby. It did nothing to help parents. Parents want help from politicians & senior Police Officers to keep kids free of drugs. Cannabis downgrading was a major part of the "dripping tap" of media comment that affects and worsens drug using culture. All drugs, legal or illegal

David Raynes, BATH, UK

I can't think of one law or any other country which is not regularly broken. If there is a demand there will be a supply. Better to take control of the supply ensure a quality product, tax it. By doing that crime which is drug-related will be reduced to almost overnightis. If drug users can be persuaded, like alcohol users, to use their drug of choice sensibly I see no reason why it should not be sold openly just like tobacco and alcohol.

Sending someone to prison for using a drug just shows the crass stupidity of political decisions related to crime and its effects.

The last dumb suggestion was a prison sentence talking on the phone whilst crimes against people either theft or assault appear to be mostly unsolved with almost no deterrent.

One must ask why when a government commission was a report they then announce they intend to ignore it before it's even published.
At least we get to vote every few years for a new dictatorship

Michael Wilkinson, Telford, UK

Having seen a procession of youngsters in Police cells locked upf or damage, sexual assualts and the like after smoking skunk - this move is long overdue.
A small group of people ( maybe those writing some of the above comments) may think they are able to cope with smoking this rubbish - but cohorts of school children are being sucked into the "cannabis culture" - smoking the stuff and turning into zombies and wasters.
The drug is insidious and is as socially damaging as heroin and crack cocaine - anyone who disagrees should spend a few hours dealing with anti-social groups of youths on street corners smoking the drug before causing damage and running amok up , schoolpupils who cant be bother to achieve anything because they are just thinking about the next spliff, deal with the unemployable who cannot get out of bed and hold down a job because they worship the stuff, witness the increase in drug wars on the street because the stuff has become more sought after following downgrading.

Richard Garland, Greater Manchester,

This is completely ridiculous, how can they be making it MORE illegal? the public is stupid and uninformed if they don't object to this on a massive scale. Cannabis is easily the least harmful of all the main legal/illegal drugs.

Thomas Jonwa, wadhurst, east sussex

The veritable 'menu' at teh end of the article actually makes me want to smoke dope. Not sure that this is the best way to finish off an article that ultimately claims that due to mind-altering effects from strong skunk can lead to mental illness! I am quite intirgued by the Dutch Dragon variant, sounds almost like a lemon sherbert!

Charlie, Oxford,

That the classification of a drug has any affect on its use is obviously wrong.The use fo Cocaine a class A drug has risen in the last year yet the use of cananbis has fallen since it was reclassified to C.
Also if we think we can make a drug safe by making it illegal is again obviously wrong.The fact that illegality puts the distribution and control of drugs in the hands of organised crime makes any health dangers far worse.
if the Government really had the health of our citizens as a priority then they should wrest the supply and control of drugs from organised crime and gun gangs.
Prohibtion just doesn't work and why we persue this failed policy leaves me speechless at the incomptance of our politicians.

John L, Sheffield, UK

Cannabis can cause underlying mental health problems to be brought to the surface that may or may not naturally surface during later life, however it cannot create them in new individuals so theres one of their reasons out the window.

You people all realise that Brown is just using this as a distraction technique. The government have been pumping us up with propoganda and lies ever since this ridiculous war on drugs started in the 1970s. Theres more evidence to show that drugs such as Cannabis are actually less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Oh wait, I forgot, the government tax those drugs therefore its ok to destroy your liver and smoke a cancer stick.

The government trapped themselves in a corner with their cowardly techniques and now all they can do is make their ineffective laws most of which are completely unenforcable.

Oh and for everyone that says about making children safer, how about the fact that by keeping drugs illegal it puts criminal gangs on our streets.

Rupert, Rochester,

Why is the govt spending our money on a review when their mind is clearly made up?

Two idiotic decisions.

Hugh Robertson, Cupar, Fife

I use cannabis and have done for 35 years without ill effect (allegedly). I know one person who has had an "episode" with mental illness that was a "possible" link to the amount of cannabis used. The figures given are simply not true.
As for super strength cannabis that is 20 stronger than "normal" cannabis. It simply does not exist. I have been looking for it for years!
Some people down my local pub use "superstrength" alcohol when they can't get drunk enough on beer. It's called vodka.
Too much of anything can kill!

simon hughes, coventry, coventry

Everything is so black and white with the Government. You either smoke it, so you're a criminal or you dont. What about some proper information on the dangers? How much would I have to smoke before I developed a mental illness? How often? Is a joint every now and then ok? I certainly cant belive that the odd smoke at the weekend is going to send me to the funny farm!

There probably aren't any answers because the Government dont really know, but they'll never actually admit that. Re-classifying it simply lets them wash their hands of the fact that an awful lot of people smoke cannabis and the Government haven't actually got a clue whether their health is in danger or not.

Rod Munch, Northampton, UK

And still the government can't tell the difference between a crime (in which a victim is created) and a vice (in which you do something deemed naughty to yourself).

I imagine the "debate" will cherry pick the evidence as usual and the Daily Mail's view will carry more weight than those pesky experts that never seem to get the right answer.

Depressing. How on earth did this clueless clod become PM?

Paul Angel, Darkest Preston, UK

Paul Angel, Preston, England

if no one smoked cannabis there would still be mental illness skitzos and psychos.they wont just disappear mental illness is mostly brought on by depression due to having no job no money no goals no options no life and living in poverty. why not sort out unemployment ??? help people get a job a home a family a car and a couple of quid in the bank more important issues should be addressed first im sure

rich get richer, wolverhampton, united kingdom

Is this a work of fiction?.

Hugh Wark, North,

Skunk is not a separate or special form of cannabis, and the use of the name is for scare tactics only.

The term skunk was worked out of the cannabis users' lexicon about 15 years ago, and one will not often find skunk on Amsterdam's cannabis menus.

One thing forgotten about when politicians and demagogues speak of ,"stronger," cannabis is its relative cost effectiveness.

With stronger cannabis, one has to use less in order to achieve the desired effect.

Then one can achieve the desired effect more times for the same price.

No, cannabis users don't use stronger cannabis to accomplish a bigger better or stronger high, or to get out of their minds (this is best accomplished with booze anyway).

This is what cannabis foes and demagogues want the public to believe, but it isn't true.

Stronger cannabis means less smoking and more money left over to spend in the local economy, instead of being shipped out of country.

5 years for possession? Way to go! Sharia law may yet come.

eric R. Johnson, Los Angeles, USA

Cannabis should be legal. If someone wants to smoke themselves silly, as long as they are not driving a car, operating heavy equipment or walking around with a firearm then God bless them. I have never heard of someone overdosing on cannabis. As a matter of fact no one really knows. Back in the 70's some US Govt. Scientists pumped MJ smoke in a rats cage until the stoned silly rat kicked. They then calculated that the OD amount would be about 20lbs smoke in an hours time. I can't roll a joint or fill a bowl fast enough to get that much ingested into my lungs. Seems like every time I'd like to get high I don't know anyone who sells the stuff, sign of being over 40, or I have some responsibility that over takes the trip to find some weed or even go to my favorite watter hole (Pub in Britt Speak) I guess my Job and Family demand so much of my time the only time I get to ride my motorcycle is going to work and then coming home, never mind stopping off at the pub for an hour.

Paul E. Bahre, Granby, USA, CT

Brown may be excoriated by the cannabis apologists, but he will have the gratitude of thousands of parents who would otherwise see the the mental health of their children destroyed.

Research is now showing that many children who smoke cannabis before and during puberty suffer from a variety of mental health issues. Most of these children have been diagnosed as bipolar and schizophrenic in their middle and late teens.

One has to wonder just how many young lives were ruined by "Blunkett's Blunder", and how much money has been spent in dealing with the associated mental illnesses?

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

Brown may be excoriated by the cannabis apologists, but he will have the gratitude of thousands of parents who would otherwise see the the mental health of their children destroyed.

Research is now showing that many children who smoke cannabis before and during puberty suffer from a variety of mental health issues. Most of these children have been diagnosed as bipolar and schizophrenic in their middle and late teens.

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

If the Govn. goes after wacky tabaky like they have gone after
tobacco then they will "snuff" it out.
What about the second hand smoke? Can it be smoked in
pubs? After all it isn't the ogre tobacco.

Jerry Scroggin, Phoenix, Arizona/USA

i have read this article released about the cannabis debate and have even previously appeard on radio 5 live debating the issue...

i personally have smoked cannabis before and you may say i because of this will have a bias opionnon however, how can u judge or come to a decision without understanding both sides/facts...

untill a doctor and not a politicion can actually prove to me that in the long run cannabis can seriously harm your mental and physical state i will stand by my view that cannabis is a soft drug and shud be kept as a class C or even legalized..
maybe if that was taxed, other things such as car, home, income tax could be lowerd ? ? ?

according to the reason it is illegal the fact that it is health damaging & not every1 agrees with it ..
isnt that exactly the same reasons why some people hate smoking ???
they dont actually have a real reason to make it illegal ?
well not in my oppinon anyway..

what ya think ?

Mr Cannabis, Milton Keynes,