Make alcohol a class A drug
So, the UK police are recommending that cannabis is reclassified as a class B drug. Hm. The Nurse wonders, fruitlessly, whether they’ll make alcohol a class A drug while they’re at it.
A quick online search shows there aren’t any figures available for cannabis-related damage. But alcohol trails destruction, unhappiness and chaos behind it wherever it goes. Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians and chairman of the Health Alcohol Alliance, agrees. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7090864.stm) He says that it’s time we began treating alcohol in a similar way to drugs: “If you look at the burden of damage to society, it’s hugely greater for alcohol than for drugs.”
In fact, there were 8,386 alcohol-related deaths in 2005 and alcohol-related damage costs the UK taxpayer an estimated £18 billion a year. In an effort to solve the problem the government has introduced a hugely complex cross-departmental Alcohol Strategy. This behemoth includes a public information campaign to promote sensible drinking, an independent review of alcohol pricing and promotion, toughened enforcement of underage sales by retailers and plans to introduce more help for people who want to drink less. Well, there goes a few billion more pounds of our tax money. Thanks.
It seems out of proportion for cannabis to remain illegal while alcohol - the UK’s most dangerous and destructive drug - remains legal. Our nutty drug classification system, with its non-inclusion of alcohol, must represent the most glaring irony of our time. Rather than reclassifying cannabis, why not legalise it and deal with the consequences? Whatever the consequences, they’ll never be as appalling, ugly and expensive as those of alcohol.
