i hear what your saying Zandor, im not sure what the media in the US is like, but the UK media does like to make a big song and dance about these things for two reasons, 1. it calms the public down and satifies the ignorant masses that action is being taken, and 2, it sells newspapers.
on a slightly more encoraging note, heres an article i found, i belive its old, written just after cannabis was downgraded in the UK, but it shows that the situations not as grim as mr.berrys mum thinks it is, wich i think will please mr. berrys. lol
"Home cultivation of cannabis is so widespread that it may now account for as much as half of all consumption in Britain. But there are wide discrepancies in the way that police and the courts apply the laws against cultivation, which will be left unchanged after Government plans make possession of cannabis a less serious offence.
New research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlights an increasing tendency for cannabis users to ‘grow their own’, making them less dependent on the international trade in narcotics. It suggests that some cultivation is by commercial dealers, but much is on a small scale for personal use or use by friends.
It also describes how the home-grown market is supported by a thriving, legal trade in cannabis seeds and horticultural equipment – including soil-less ‘hydroponic’ cultivation systems and lighting – that can be purchased through magazines, the internet and even garden centres.
The report is being published in the same week as the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) meets in Vienna to review international action against illegal drugs.
The researchers, at South Bank University’s Criminal Policy Research Unit and the National Addiction Centre at King’s College London, surveyed practice in English and Welsh police forces, reviewed the law and enforcement arrangements in other countries, and examined the requirements of the United Nations conventions on illicit drugs. They also surveyed 37 cannabis growers. Their findings led them to divide cannabis cultivators into five different groups:
Sole-use growers, who cultivated cannabis for personal use or use with friends. They tended to view cultivation as a hobby where they could save money and avoid contact with dealers.
Medical growers, who used the drug to relieve the symptoms of long-term conditions, such as multiple sclerosis.
Social growers, who wanted to ensure a good quality supply for themselves and friends.
Social/commercial growers cultivating for themselves and friends, but also selling the cannabis to provide an income.
Commercial growers cultivating the drug to make money and sell to any potential customer.
The cultivators who were interviewed used a variety of growing techniques, depending largely on their knowledge and technical expertise, and achieved very variable yields from their ‘crops’.
Home Office statistics show that 458 offenders were cautioned for cannabis cultivation in 2000, while another 1,502 were convicted in court, including 243 who were sent to prison. However, the police survey revealed how similar offences were treated differently by different forces. Some forces charged growers with ‘production’, which carries a mandatory seven-year prison sentence for a third conviction, while others used the lesser offence of ‘cultivation’.
David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, has announced that possession offences will usually attract on-the-spot warnings and confiscation when cannabis is reclassified as a Class C drug later in the year. The report discusses ways in which the police and courts might treat cultivation of cannabis for personal use on a par with possession.
One possibility would be to leave the law unchanged, but for the police, prosecutors and the courts to receive guidance about the circumstances when home growers should be given on-the-spot warnings. This guidance could be based on the weight of cannabis or the number of confiscated plants.
Another option would be to create new offences of ‘social supply’ and ‘social cultivation’ of cannabis – defined as growing and distributing the drug non-commercially to friends – and for guidance to be issued about the way that these offences should be dealt with by the police and the courts.
The report notes that a UK decision to change the law so small-scale cultivation of cannabis was treated in a similar way to possession would not contravene the UN drug conventions. But it would bring British law into line with many other developed nations – including the Netherlands and Switzerland, where enforcement policy deliberately seeks to draw cannabis users away from criminal suppliers who may also try to sell them more harmful drugs like heroin and cocaine.
Prof. Mike Hough of South Bank University, co-author of the report, said: “The Government has decided to re-classify cannabis as a Class C drug, with less serious penalties for possession. Yet debate has so far ignored the issue of cultivation and the opportunities for careful reform that would reduce the harm caused by dangerous drugs and drug dealing.
“Large minorities of young people use cannabis. It is essential to insulate them as much as possible from drug markets operated by dealers who sell not only cannabis but crack and heroin. If small-scale home cultivation attracted an on-the-spot warning rather than a caution or a court conviction, it is likely that more users would switch to growing their own and stop buying from dealers. As their profits from cannabis sales diminished, criminal entrepreneurs could be forced to abandon the cannabis market altogether.”
Dame Ruth Runciman, Chair of the Foundation’s Drug and Alcohol Research Committee, and formerly Chair of the Police Foundation’s Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act, said: “I very much hope that the Government will pay close attention to the anomalies highlighted by this report and to the range of policy options that it identifies. In particular, it seems likely that a more careful distinction in law between social and commercial cultivation could be used to drive a wedge between users and the criminally sophisticated gangs who might otherwise try to sell them more harmful, Class A drugs as well as cannabis.”
Note to Editors
A growing market: The domestic cultivation of cannabis by Mike Hough, Hamish Warburton, Bradley Few, Tiggey May, Lan-Ho Man, John Witton and Paul J. Turnbull is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and available from York Publishing Services, 64 Hallfield Road, York YO31 7ZQ (01904 430033), price £13.95 plus £2 p&p.
A summary of the findings is available here.
For further information contact:
Prof. Mike Hough 020-7815 5818 (office)
Paul Turnbull 0207 815 8459 (office)
Issued by David Utting, Associate Director (Public Affairs) 020-7278 9665 /
[email protected] "