Push to make Cannabis Class A causing huge debate
As Rishi Sunak goes through Downing Street’s revolving door, alongside the economy, one of the key debates he’s going to have to be involved in is the one around cannabis at present.
Read the news and every day you’ll see the latest raid having taken place by police, with only last week a seizure on Lochfield Road taking place, while it’s a similar story all over the country, and in particular Glasgow, where stashes of hundreds of thousands of pounds are being uncovered by authorities.
Cannabis addiction is also becoming an increasing problem, with more people entering residential rehab for it than ever. However, on balance, that figure is still much lower than the likes of alcohol, cocaine and heroin.
Suella Braverman, who until recently was Home Secretary, and may again become so once again under Sunak, believes cannabis has effectively been legalised in the country as it’s not being policed properly, and she welcomes the idea of the drug being upgraded from Class B to Class A.
Unsurprisingly, the news has been met with both support and criticism, particularly with so many nations around the world legalising the substance both medicinally and recreationally.
Of course, with that does come the health risks that cannabis does carry, as well as the addictive nature, while also being more regulated by authorities and taxed.
Shaun Ryder, lead singer of Happy Mondays and advocate of legalising cannabis told Piers Morgan on his show, Uncensored: “It is ridiculous, it is draconian, and I really thought whatever happens in America, whether it’s 10 years, 20 years, it happens here, and we should be taxing it and we should be making money off it.”
“We need to go forward and we’re going backwards, we need to try something that hasn’t been tried before.”
One of the main reasons the idea has been floated to increase cannabis to a Class A drug is due to a “wealth of new data” meriting a “reevaluation”, largely due to the fact that it is being seen as a gateway drug and a large number of crimes are linked to it.
At present, sentences for Class B drugs are up to five years in prison for possession and up to 14 years for supplying or producing the drug. Should the drug be bumped up to a Class A, this could include an unlimited fine and up to seven years in prison for possession, while producers and suppliers of the drug can be sentenced to life.
It would be a controversial move should any bill be passed through, and be one of the major talking points in the western world as so many other nations are now earning money, regulating and beginning to see cannabis as a norm, in the same way as alcohol and cigarettes.
