Nigel 
November 2nd,2009
It's not illegal to smoke tobacco,but you can get 5 years for smoking cannabis.
Prof David Nutt used to be chief drugs advisor to the UK government. He was recently forced to resign after publicly criticising politicians for choosing to ignore any scientific evidence they didn’t like. One article about this is here. Mark Easton has written an excellent article for the BBC on why Prof Nutt was sacked. Find it here.
In the UK we classify illegal drugs as A,B or C with class A being considered the most dangerous,and possession or dealing therefore carrying the greatest potential punishments.
Just over a year ago cannabis was reclassified from class C to class B,so the maximum prison sentence for possession has increased from 2 to 5 years. This decision was controversial. Recently Prof Nutt made the public statement that cannabis is actually less harmful than nicotine or alcohol. Let’s examine all three sides of this statement.
Note:I’ve worked hard to ensure this is factually correct and to indicate where research is not yet conclusive. If you identify any errors in what I say then please tell me. Click the CONTACT tab above for my e-mail address.
1. Alcohol and nicotine are the dangerous drugs
In the UK over 100,000 people die each year from smoking,and over 4,000 from drinking. (The figure for alcohol is hard to pin down since some deaths result from damage done to the body by excessive drinking,and some from the effect of drinking on behaviour. For instance some road deaths are caused by people driving poorly while under the influence.) There’s no doubt:alcohol and tobacco should be illegal.
Well under 20 people die each year from smoking cannabis. That’s only twice the number who die because of an allergy to peanuts. We don’t ban peanuts.
Cannabis is far less addictive than nicotine,and less than alcohol.
Cannabis has some bad effects on the body,but surely everyone knows they are minor and temporary and almost never result in death. The permanent damage caused by alcohol or nicotine use is significant,and is often a direct cause of death.
Who are the people in town on a Saturday night causing trouble? Not the cannabis users. It’s the alcohol drinkers.
Alcohol is a depressive drug. It is used in concentrated form as a poison,for instance on antiseptic wipes to kill bacteria.
Smoking cannabis mixed with tobacco obviously increases the risk,but cannabis can be smoked on its own without that risk.
2. Cannabis is dangerous
Research into the effects of cannabis is tricky because the substance is illegal. Which of the following questions from a Doctor are you most likely to lie about:Do you smoke? Do you drink? Do you use cannabis?
It has been commonplace for a long time to breathalyse drivers involved in road accidents to discover how much alcohol is in their blood. Until recently there was no cheap and easy test for being under the influence of cannabis,so we just don’t have the facts.
It took decades to collect enough data to be sure that smoking damages health. No such data can be gathered for cannabis,again because people are unlikely to admit to health researchers if they use cannabis.
There is increasing evidence that cannabis use does cause both short and long term brain damage which is not immediately obvious.
I knew a student who smoked a lot of cannabis one summer,and cut back to a couple of joints a week during the autumn term. At Christmas he tried to revise for important January exams:“It’s frightening. I work hard one day learning stuff I need for the exam,and the next day it’s all gone again!”
There’s also increasing evidence that even limited short-term cannabis use can trigger major mental illness such as clinical depression or paranoia.
Cannabis does affect the brain –that is the reason for using it. Trouble is we’re only just beginning to discover how bad the unwanted affects are. These side effects also seem to vary from person to person, as with prescribed drugs too. For cannabis they seem to include memory loss,inability to permanently store new information,and personality changes.
Smoking cannabis alone (not mixed with tobacco) means the smoke you inhale is significantly hotter. This probably increases the chance of mouth and throat cancer.
When you buy a legal drug such as alcohol or tobacco you know it is exactly what it says it is,and of the stated strength. When you buy an illegal drug such as cannabis you have no way short of an expensive lab test of checking what you’ve really bought or how strong it really is.
Nicotine is an extraordinarily addictive drug. Addiction happens fast. Withdrawal is extremely tough. It damages health in a well-understood way.
For most people alcohol use can be controlled. We know a lot about its effects. Moderate use,such as a few glasses of red wine a week,may be beneficial to health. The problems only arise with drinking too much at a time,drinking too much a week regularly,or if you were born unable to control your drinking. For most people it’s a good way to relax and feel more sociable.
3. Politics is the art of the possible
A number of countries have experimented by making alcohol illegal,and after a few years reversed the legislation.
The trouble is that alcohol has been a socially acceptable drug for thousands of years. It is also very easy to make.
The USA made alcohol illegal in 1920 and stuck with that policy for 13 years. Before prohibition the mafia had limited itself to gambling and theft. During it they embraced the opportunity to supply illegal alcohol. This probably helped to increase their power and the damage they caused. The cost of trying to enforce the law against alcohol became very high. When the major financial depression hit in 1929 people increasingly agitated for the right to once more use alcohol as a legal way to cope with what for many was an almost unbearable existence close to starvation.
Alcohol and tobacco have been in common use for so long that a blanket ban of either would be very unlikely to work. If they were invented tomorrow they would rapidly be classified as highly dangerous and illegal,but that is not the situation. A subtler and longer-term approach is needed.
Statistics show clearly that tobacco use is killing far more people and costing the country far more in medical aid than any other drug. It therefore makes sense to target tobacco first,and that is exactly what is happening in the UK. Smoking has not been made illegal,yet,but it has been made illegal in all enclosed public places. If you want a smoke at the pub you now have to go outside. Tobacco advertising is now severely restricted. Films now rarely portray anyone smoking. Effective assistance with quitting is now freely available in the UK. Smoking is becoming socially less acceptable. Government strategies seem to be working.
Alcohol is far more problematic. Intelligent use,in moderation,is only a risk for a small number of people. For everyone else it can be used safely (although often isn’t). Why should everyone else be denied a glass of wine with the main meal of the day? Perhaps they shouldn’t. The government is looking for strategies to cut binge drinking and reduce alcohol abuse. Part of their approach is education. There remain things we don’t understand,such as why British young people do so much more binge drinking than happens on the continent. Progress will be made.
Cannabis is in a different psychological and sociological category. Its use is moderately common,but it has been illegal for a long time. It is generally less socially acceptable than alcohol. Even very limited use can bring major psychological damage which can last for months or even many years. We simply do not know enough about it. Moving it from class C to class B was not a scientific statement. It was a strategy aimed at reducing the number of people exposed to this risk. How a drug is classified might feel like it ought to be purely based on how dangerous the drug is,but that ignores the reasons for passing any law. Laws are political strategies intended to modify behaviour and produce results which the government believes are desirable.
Personal conclusion
I believe the government has every right to seek expert advise and then appear to ignore it. The scientist looks for truth. The politician looks for the possible,and has to adopt a variety of strategies which may at first sight appear unscientific.
If however,as Prof Nutt has alleged,our present UK government has on occasion changed the law without first asking for updated information from the advisory body they set up then they need to improve their management skills. They should communicate to their advisors why they appear to be ignored. A good way to achieve this would have been to request specific scientific advice first,then give a clear explanation to the advisory body of why it might appear their advice was about to be ignored. Advisors should be treated with respect,especially as in this case when they are not paid for their work. Sadly governments are often good at spin but dreadful at communication.
In my view Prof Nutt has every right,even a responsibility,to make sure the scientific facts are widely known. However he also had a responsibility as an official government advisor to ask for an explanation before criticising their policies,and to resign before criticising them publicly.
If you want to read more about alcohol and cannabis a good starting point is the urban75 web site section on drugs. Be aware some of their information is seriously (several years) out of date,and research is constantly throwing up new information –especially about illegal drugs which are much harder to research.
You might want more articles like this one. If so please let me know by clicking the Thank You button just below.
