Wasted

Of all the moronic things this government have done about drugs this seems to take the cake.  They hire a committee to investigate the “relative harm” of drugs, the committee promptly does as it is told and when it makes its report, the government does the complete opposite of what the committee recommends, i.e. upgrading cannabis to a class B drug (the committee said it should stay class C) and leaving ecstasy and MDMA as class A (the committee recommended downgrading them).  This must be pretty insulting to a group of scientists who spent months researching for the government, only to have their research thrown back in their face.  Then, when their chair Prof. Nutt stands up for their research, the Home Secretary sacks him.

True, Prof. Nut has been rather outspoken in his criticism of the current classification of drugs.  He said alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than cannabis.  In terms of damage done to society his is absolutely right.  You don’t have to be a scientist to see our hospitals are crammed full of people with injuries picked up in drunken fights or comatose from alcohol poisoning.  To say otherwise makes you a god-damn liar, but I guess the words “politician” and “liar” are pretty interchangeable.

Alan Johnson is no question an arrogant idiot – it is the prerequisit of holding the position of Home Secretary these days (David Go-Back-Where-They-Came-From Blunkett, Charles I’m-Sorry-I-Havn’t-A-Clue Clarke, Jacqui Porno Smith) but it seems to me this whole idea of arguing over which drugs are worse is, in itself, pretty stupid.  To borrow that word again, it’s all “relative.”

Consider these cases: Somebody who has a hit on a bong at a party is harming themself and society less than a raging alcoholic, yet the cannabis user is committing the crime.  However, a person who enjoys an occasional glass of wine with a meal is doing much less harm to themselves than somebody who sits at home every single night smoking weed – which, incidentally, nearly everybody mixes with tobacco (don’t tell me THAT’S a harmless drug).

Our entire system of classifying drugs according to relative harm is pointless since no two people abuse substances in the same way.  Of course, nobody will point this out to the government now as telling anything verging on the truth about drugs appears to get you sacked.