Thursday, January 19, 2012 -

    There Can Be No Doubt – British Government Cannabis Policy Is Corrupt.

    David Cameron is corrupt.  The Home Office is corrupt.  Theresa May,  Lord Henley, James Brokenshire, Alan Johnson, Jacqui Smith  (I name the worst) are corrupt.  Every Home Office minister over the last 40 years has been corrupt.

    On recent evidence I have seen, David Oliver and Lee Smith, on the Home Office drug policy civil service staff are also corrupt.

    There are “mentions in dispatches” to be made for David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and Bob Ainsworth who deserve honour for the efforts they have made to fight against the lies and deceit, though all of them have at times been consumed by the built-in corruption that pervades  British drugs policy.

    Don’t let anybody fool you.  None of these people follow the path that they do to protect people or out of concern for public health.  They are driven entirely by what serves themselves.  Political advantage, fear of the press, particularly the Daily Mail, Big Booze and GW Pharma bribery – these are the only factors  that drive British cannabis policy.

    There are beacons of light amongst the darkness:  Paul Flynn, Molly Meacher, Peter Lilley, Tom Brake.  These are people of integrity and principle.  We need many more.

    We also need our Department of Health, yes our health department to start taking responsibility, facing facts and using cannabis as the miraculous medicine that it is.

    Earl Howe, the minster for medicines, promised me back in early 2011 a “considered response” to a detailed proposal on medicinal cannabis.  At least half a dozen people that I know had a similar, encouraging feedback from him.  Then suddenly the shutters came down.  Obviously he was “leant on”.  He turned to “Cannabis is a harmful drug which should not be taken.  It has a number of acute and chronic effects….“. He turned to the Home Office lie.

    The Home Affairs select committee inquiry into drugs policy is our best hope yet for a turn to honesty.

    The members of the committee are:

    Keith Vaz (Chair), Labour
    Nicola Blackwood, Conservative
    James Clappison, Conservative
    Michael Ellis, Conservative
    Lorraine Fullbrook, Conservative
    Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat
    Steve McCabe, Labour
    Alun Michael, Labour & Cooperative
    Bridget Phillipson, Labour
    Mark Reckless, Conservative
    David Winnick, Labour

    Find out about them.  Write to them.  If one of them is your MP then please go to see them.

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    Related news:

    1. BBC Investigation Exposes Irresponsible Government Policy On Cannabis
    2. BBC – “Drugs policy in England ‘doomed to failure’”
    3. How Will The Murdoch Scandal Affect Drugs Policy?
    4. Home Office Refuses FOI Request Concerning GW Pharma’s Cannabis Licence
    5. Labour Party Policy On Cannabis
    • http://www.facebook.com/Juergen.Me Juergen Meixner

      That’s the right way to challenge the politicians by naming the corrupt ones so anybody has a chance to recall them or spell shame on them. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jasper-Knight/544359047 Jasper Knight

      “James Clappison, a Conservative member of the Commons home affairs 
      committee, said: “The reclassification of cannabis sent the wrong 
      message and was clearly the wrong decision. These figures show the 
      evident dangers of cannabis abuse and support the case for the drug 
      being restored to Category B.”
      From what I can see just briefly googling each MP + drugs or + cannabis it appears most support prohibition.

    • Christopher

      Governments like to load committees with MPs who agree with them, especially on something like this.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=572305772 Christopher Carman

      Strong words, I’m with you all the way and will help spread knowledge anyway I can :D

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chuck-White/534892945 Chuck White

      Keith Vaz is at the helm I see – doesn’t fill me with much reassurance considering his rather dodgy track record.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chuck-White/534892945 Chuck White

      Anyone have any idea how long the inquiry will be?

    • Anonymous

      I’m amazed this all happening so quickly.  Drugs policy has never been a government priority and, considering the global financial meltdown that’s going on, suddenly this has jumped to the top of the ‘things to do’ list.  What’s going on ?  Something must have triggered this uncharacteristic government momentum.

    • http://twitter.com/WeedBaker Mark Baker

      I feel this may be the excuse they are looking for to change policy for the better. Imagine if you’d been living a lie for decades and the truth was beginning to come out – wouldn’t be looking for a decent excuse?

      They’ve not had an opportunity like this in a long time. They can listen to all the evidence (Branson will really help on Tuesday), all the while knowing all the facts they’ve ignored for so long. Once they’ve ‘gone away to digest everything they’ve heard’ they will hopefully come back with some more sensible, science based views… and we can only hope that this will become the new way of thinking about these issues (please, PLEASE let this be the case!).

      Right now their main concern is the recession and we simply haven’t got the resources to continue fighting this ridiculous ‘drug war’. They’ll be looking at the (financial) bottomline, and when they calculate the savings and tax they can make from (at least) relaxing the laws or legalising cannabis, surely they’ll do it??? 

    • Anonymous

      Corrupt? A little bit OTT surely?

      Can people not have a genuinely differrent opinion on what is best for society?

      We have alcohol & tobacco use normalised. Both hugely harmful, personally & socially.  It is very difficult indeed to see the long term social benefits of normalising the use of other drugs. Even the ACMD, who heard lots of evidence and were against the reclassification upwards, of cannabis, did not give it clean bill of health. They said it was harmful. It is.

      Legalisation, because it would likely lead to a substantial increase in use, is a very risky stratgey.

      A more moderate tone might help your case more. You will not make your case with such stridency. You will get dismissed as a vituperative crank.

    • http://www.peter-reynolds.co.uk Peter Reynolds

      No, corruption is entirely accurate.  Their decisions are not based on evidence but on personal opinion.  Both the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts committee confirm this.

      On top of that they publish false propaganda and in the case of GW Pharma, create an unlawful and secret monopoly of medicinal cannabis.

      Open your eyes.  Stop swallowing lies.