Drugs consultation

Ecstasy tablets

Wednesday, 25, Jul 2007 12:00

In what is supposed to be the biggest event of its kind, the government is opening its new drugs policy to public consultation.

The Brown administration will concentrate its strategy on three themes – coming down hard on dealers, educating children and treating users.

Proposals include implementing a drugs awareness campaign for children under 11 and channelling an extra £5 million into Frank, the government's drug awareness project.

The consultation will involve the Home Office, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department of Health (DoH)

It follows what looks to be a massive government U-turn on cannabis, with Gordon Brown strongly hinting he wants it to be reclassified as a Class B drug following a review of its previous reclassification by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).

Commentators and politicians are stressing the increased strength of cannabis variant 'skunk' - now enormously popular with young people across the country. The last review by the ACMD found the variation in strength had been overstated, however.

The home secretary Jacqui Smith admitted last week to having tried cannabis when she was studying at Oxford University in the 1980s. Mr Brown's sympathetic response to her announcement led numerous cabinet ministers to follow suit.

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