The Culture of Drugs is Everywhere.

Back in the swinging sixties hippies everywhere got high and dreamt of love and peace according to the Observers Jamie Doward and Tom Templeton. Now, almost fifty years on a very different attitude towards drugs is held, some people, including the Science Editor of Softpedia News, Stefan Anitei, believes that drugs are ruining society. The Government also admitted in 2006 that drugs are ruining the youngsters in Britain Whether this is true or not, there is a serious problem with drugs in this country, and it is one that the government cannot seem to decide how to fix.

Gordon Brown has recently upgraded cannabis back to a Class B drug. This is something that has already been tried, and the Prime Minister has gone against the advice of the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in this matter. Dr Alun Morinan: Research Associate National Addiction Centre said: “Personally I do not think it will make a difference and I also believe that the harsher penalties that might be imposed on users will be more damaging than the effect of the drug (in the vast majority of cases).” This habit of changing the classification of cannabis has left many confused, a lot of people believed that when cannabis was downgraded it had become legalised. This was obviously not true but the government seemed to struggle to get this message out.

There has also been, in the past and even recently, calls to downgrade Ecstasy to a class B drug. This is a move that was backed this year by the ACMD, but has been rejected by the Home Office. Ecstasy is currently in a group with heroin, cocaine crack and LSD and yet figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed in 2007 that Ecstasy causes a relevantly small number of deaths in comparison.

Dr Morinan has, however, been quick to praise the government on the work they do to get Class A drug users into rehab instead of prison. Whilst this is a worthwhile activity surely this should be the action taken not only in regards to Class A drugs but in fact for all drugs. Help is needed when a person is addicted to any drug not just those of a certain classification. Whilst drugs in the lower classes may not be seen as being as dangerous, they can in fact still cause major problems for those who are addicted.