
							Text only version

Welcome to UKCIA
A website dedicated to the issue of cannabis law reform


UKCIA is being archived by the British Library UK web Archive project

Newsblog
News and comment on the unfolding story of cannabis law reform

Latest UKCIA blog - 15th March 2010

Details of the Freedom of information ruling about the government's proposals to reform the Misuse of Drugs Act

Government forced to publish consultation paper on the future of drugs classification 2006. - We all know and understand that the drug laws are supposedly based on the harm drugs can cause, hence the ABC classification system. What is also becoming common knowledge is that the whole thing is in a mess. It now seems that the government has been aware of this for some time and tried to get out of the mess by adopting some other measure to justify prohibition.

There is no such thing as an illegal drug (reprise) We really do have to stop saying "legalise cannabis!" confused? That's understandable...

Follow UKCIAnewsblog on Twitter

UKCIA

Cannabis is a stimulating-hallucinogenic depressant with anti-psychotic properties, it's not your normal run of the mill drug.

UKCIA is a law reform, specifically an "anti prohibition" site. You don't have to be a cannabis user or even like cannabis very much to understand the harm prohibition is causing to individuals and the wider society and to want to do something about it.

Actually, Cannabis is not a drug as such, it's a plant which grows widely all over the world. Some forms of the plant contain a substance known as THC which, together with certain other chemicals contained in the plant, produce an effect on perception known - in the UK - as "getting stoned". THC is rightly called a drug, but cannabis isn't just THC

This property is well known in British society and many millions of us have experienced it, but it is an experience which carries a prison sentence of five years simply for possessing a sample of the plant, trading in cannabis can land you with a 14 year stint inside which is more severe than you can expect for violent assault.

The aim of this law - called prohibition - is to prevent the use of cannabis through a deterrent effect provided by legal sanctions. It doesn't work and the result has been to create an illegal, uncontrolled and unregulated trade which employs hundreds of thousands of people and reaches into every corner of society. The dangers created by prohibition are outlined on this site and they far outweigh anything the plant could do.

Nothing on earth is "safe", especially things we all enjoy doing for fun and cannabis is no exception. But prohibition prevents any rational, informed debate about or study of the real dangers cannabis may or may not be capable of. Instead we are fed a diet of hype, misinformation and downright lies. Even to the extent that this illegal, uncontrolled and unregulated substance is called a "controlled drug" by politicians and police. "Controlled", of course, is the one thing that cannabis is not. Indeed, many of the dangers the law claims to exist to protect us from are caused by the law in the first place.

UKCIA is a website of information. We have a Research Section stuffed with scientific studies and a Library of significant developments in the law reform debate. We have information on the Therapeutic use of cannabis and its Industrial uses - which some argue are the real reason cannabis is illegal. We examine the long history cannabis has and the effects of using it (including the risks) in the Culture section. Lastly, but sadly not the least importantly, we have a section on Politics and Law, the cause of all the problems.

UKCIA is here for you to use. Get informed and when you hear stupid people saying stupid things about cannabis - put them right!

Please use our Forum to talk about issues, or tell us what you think with the Feedback Form.

The message from UKCIA is simple: if you want change, it's up to you to make it happen. The first step is to get informed and that's what this site is here for, please use it.

Pragmatism
UKCIA, the what and the why

Whatever politicians and the police might try to tell you, cannabis is not really a "controlled drug", prohibition prevents any real controls.

A pragmatic approach to law reform challenges this use of doublespeak. Instead it argues that the potential risks should form the basis of the regulatory approach.

UKCIA is a pragmatic cannabis law reform campaign for a drugs policy based on proper control and regulation of the commercial supply, coupled with effective harm reduction measures.

Cannabis pragmaitism and the case for law reform

What is UKCIA?

Contact UKCIA

Cannabis - the real risks
Warning: Using cannabis makes you listen to loud music, wear jeans and hoodies and grow long hair!

UKCIA Risks Section - No-nonsense info on the downsides of cannabis use

Children and cannabis - the failure of prohibition

Skunk!

We're told cannabis has increased greatly in strength in recent years, just what is the truth behind the hype?

THC, CBD and the misleading concept of "potency" - why potency is not strength.

The Home Office potency study 2008 - the "evidence" that cannabis has changed and the unscientific way it was collected.

Be careful: Illegal drugs are not controlled drugs. Prohibition kills.

The Keele study
Blowing a hole in the reefer madness claims

The Keele university study "Assessing the impact of cannabis use on trends in diagnosed schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005" was paid for by UK taxpayers and carried out for our government as a part of its review of the classification of cannabis in 2008, yet its results were kept very quiet for 18 months.

The study found no link between rates of cannabis use and mental illness undermining the stated reason for moving cannabis back to class B and blowing a hole in the reefer madness claims that cannabis caused mental illness. The government ignored the results of the study and when it did publish the results, did so with as little media awareness as possible.

UKCIA Newsblog comment

Read the Keele study online here

Talk to Frank
The government's anti drugs advertising campaign

The Government on Drugs - talk to Frank if you must

Following up on recent observations about the Talk to Frank cannabis information an e-mail was sent to the Home Office Frank team

Talk to Frank answers some questions about its "Cannabis facts" - well, sort of. Read the reply !

Talk to Frank gives good, honest information shock horror. The Sunday Telegraph spat blood at Talk to Frank's help line for giving honest advice.

A cost benefit analysis for the war on drugs? The government just says “no”! An examination of the reasons the Home Office gives for not allowing a proper examination of the prohibition policy. In truth, they know that if anyone did such a study, prohibition would be exposed for the sham that it is.

The first casualty of war is the truth - prohibition depends on it.

You may have heard Talk to Frank adverts on radio and TV that claim cannabis will make you sick (puke as they put it). Unless you mix it with alcohol cannabis is very unlikely to do that. The information given by Talk to Frank is highly questionable in many ways, but in this instance it is simply wrong. See information on getting a "whitey" here.

Cannabis information critique. Talk to Frank's latest version of the truth about cannabis - and by far the worst yet it contains claims which are actually wrong.

Cannabis: Mess with your mind. Seen the latest offering from the government's anti drugs advertising agency?

Inaccessible - despite costing the UK tax payer a huge amount, the Talk to Frank website is very badly designed. See how it appears to blind and partially sighted people who use JAWS screen reading software.

BEEN BUSTED?
NEED HELP?

The Independent Drug Monitoring Unit (IDMU) has legal advice and a find a solicitor service.
IDMU
IDMU drug use survey

Daily Dose of drug information. Subscribe to the daily news digest e-mail here

Transform Drug Policy foundation

After the war on Drugs - A blueprint for regulation.

The highly respected drug law campaign Transform have just published their latest report looking at options for the regulation of a legal drugs trade. Worth a look.

More information here (Transform website)