:: press release ::

Tuesday May 13, 2008

ROSS WELCOMES CANNABIS DECISION 

Democratic Unionist Assembly Member Alastair Ross MLA has welcomed the announcement by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that the government is to re-classify cannabis as a Class B drug.  
 

This announcement was made just 24 hours after a motion in the name of Mr Ross which called for the re-classification of cannabis was selected to be debated at the Northern Ireland Assembly.  
 

Mr Ross commented,  
 

“Whilst I would love to think that the motion tabled by myself and Iris Robinson has forced the Prime Ministers government into immediate action on this issue I think the reality is that the Government has realised what a catastrophic error they made four years ago when they downgraded cannabis to a class C drug.  
 

This foolish decision gave the impression that cannabis is a safe drug and led to an ambiguity over its illegal status.  
 

Let there be no confusion, cannabis is extremely dangerous and this is particularly true of the newer, stronger forms of the drug. There is an abundance of scientific evidence which proves that people who regularly use cannabis are more likely to suffer from serious mental health problems, lack motivation and experience memory loss.  
 

Evidence also suggests that people who start off using cannabis oftentimes move on to much stronger drugs, and this is especially the case amongst younger people who start smoking cannabis in their teens.  
 

Besides the health implications of cannabis, there is also the affect that drug taking has on society, on a young persons personality and on their educational ability.  
 

After much procrastination from this Labour administration they have finally taken the right decision and sent out the message that cannabis is dangerous and has serious implications for an individuals health.”