New penalties for UK cannabis users...

Another decision which goes completely against the ACMD evidence & recomendations... and just another ploy to gain political advantage that won't have any affect for a failing Labour party.

Cannabis does not make people violent criminals, nor criminals of any kind if the true 'perp & victim'.

The only way to ensure 'future generations' are protected is from regulation out of the hands of true organised crime, and education.

The goverment should understand people have free will, and a decision to be a cannabis user is entirely up to the individual.

Harm reduction initiatives for those suceptable to any mental illness that might occur is far greater good than pushing the issue underground where people may suffer for years before toppling over and it becoming an issue.

End this stupidity now! And stop making Cannabis users scapegoats for political wrangling.

What has always baffled me about this debate is that they say they are "extremely concerned about the use of stronger strains of cannabis", and yet making it "more" illegal isn't going to stop people using it?

Education and proper control and regulation of the substance is surely a more logical way to go.

Why are they singling out 1 strain. Skunk isn't necessarily the strongest weed, it is just another strain.

"Skunk" is their term for good pot in UK. But still all BS. Nice job UK, keep letting people die from cancer instead of using this "drug" and its chemical properties to save millions.

Jeez! I thought most countries were on about legalising it, we just make the fine bigger. I spose the bank managers bonus' have to come from somewhere....

Don't politicians understand that they cannot "protect" people from themselves?

one step foward 2 steps back. This is the kind of crap that takes the health risk of a little to much laughing and eating all the cookies to jail time with the health risk of TB, assault, harassment, abuse, and a record that stays with you for life. God when will they see that its the laws that are the problem not the users

Why is Cannabis such a big freakin deal anyway? It's their bodies, let them do what they wish. It shouldn't be the government's job to watch out for people in that sense. This is just completely ridiculous.

Josh;)

These gov't reps are so far behind the times. We've been calling homegrown Indica strain bud "Skunk" for over 20 years in CA. For the last 10 or more years it's been called "Chronic". Personally, when I smoked the stuff back in the '70's and '80's the Colombian Gold and Red, plus the Thai Bud and sticks were easily as strong as this so-called skunk. I don't smoke any more, but that is by choice. The more officialdom criminalizes it, the more organized crime and black market forces take control of it, since the price goes up with criminalization. Drug gangs and cartels just love what law enforcement involvement does for their profits. You couldn't assist the cartels more if you did what they asked you to do. Educate youth, then tax and regulate use among adults in the framework of a controlled free market economy and the allure of your skunk as a forbidden fruit will drift away. Learn from the Dutch. In over 100 years of criminalization, law enforcement has not halted use of this plant, nor will it ever unless your gov't becomes totalitarian, and you execute users.

With several states having Marijuana Laws at stake on referendums during the upcoming election, we need to BURY THIS STORY! We've waited long enough in this country for the legalization & development of hemp & cannabis-a weed that our gov't sees as a danger.

Vote YES on question #2 in Massachusetts!

So why don't they think about scheduling ethel alocohol -- it does more damage to people's bodies and lives

And that other scourage - Caffiene

(No I hope that they don't - it just seems stupid that if alocohol is legal that other things should be as well)

i kinda agree with this because skunk has a lot more thc than other strands
and tch alone is what causes paranoia and all of the other negative side effects

thc when combined with canibenoids gives you a pleasant high
canibenoids are the source most of the medical breakthroughs that pot has had anything to do with

(my spelling is not so good)

Way to push the young to binge drinking instead... I'd rather my children use cannabis than drink alcohol - with alcohol, many become loud, aggressive and frankly stupid. They easily get into fights, and are a lethal danger at the wheel. Those who smoke cannabis tend to stay quietly at home with friends, listen to music, and get enough sleep. Frankly, reclassifying cannabis to Class B is a very stupid thing. They should apply this law to young alcohol abusers, not to pot smokers.

cannabis is always seen as a slippery slope towards stronger drugs. but then surely you are not taking into account that 99% of users will start the alleged 'slippery slope' by getting off their face on drink.

this is all party politics - Smith even plainly admits to this in the article. it is all about the message they are giving voters - they don't want to be seen to be light on drugs.

It is wrongly seen so - most of my friends who use cannabis have not gone on to harder drugs, and a few of my ex-junkie friends went from the hard drug to cannabis use. The only reason why some people began with cannabis and then got hooked on hard drugs was because their dealers sold them heroin-laced cannabis so as to get them heroin-dependent, thus ensuring a "faithful" customer for a drug far more expensive than cannabis. Legalize cannabis and you kill the market, and no longer expose young people to dealers who would get them hooked on the hard stuff.

ah yes, a decidedly conservative move from our liberal labour government. What a surprise.

I would like to add another perspective to this campaign against marijuana. Historically, in the U.S. the campaign against marijuana began in the Southwestern states. The purpose was racial discrimination. Mexican laborers in the early 20th century migrated to the Southwestern states to work as agricultural laborers. As their numbers increased, many of the the non-hispanic residents began to resent their presence. Politicians, eager to find an issue to hang their hats on in order to be elected, discovered that one of the cultural practices the mexicans brought with them was the consumption by smoking of Cannabis Sativa. In no time at all, state laws were being introduced and enacted to criminalize this practice. Now the opponents of mexican immigration had a law enforcement tool to use against the mexican immigrants, in order to drive them out of the country or imprison them. Many non-hispanic residents did not want a large bloc of hispanic potential voters making their voice heard in the Southwest. So this marijuana drug scare was cooked up in order to disenfranchise and drive out the mexican immigrants. This is the history of the beginning of the campaign against Marijuana in the U.S. Is it possible that increased criminalization of marijuana in the U.K. may be a ploy to disenfranchise those who may have political views opposite the ones currently held by the powers-that-be in the U.K? Just a thought. I am not saying that this is definitely the case in this particular situation.