LONDON (Reuters) – The government has ruled out changing the system of classifying illegal
drugs, which was deemed by MPs earlier this year to be “not fit for purpose”.
The Home Office said on Friday that, “after careful consideration”, it had decided the current
system which rates substances in A, B or C categories according to their medical and social harm, did not need to be reviewed.
The decision came as the latest study by the British Crime Survey (BCS), which examined
trends in drug use, reported that overall drug use, particularly cannabis use, had fallen
significantly.
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“It is important that there is a coherent system in place to categorise drugs and determine the
penalties for their manufacture, possession and supply,” said Home Office minister Vernon
Coaker.
“I believe that the existing classification system does this effectively, allowing for clear and
meaningful distinctions to be made between drugs.”
A critical report by the Science and Technology Select Committee in July said the system of
classifying drugs was failing and needed to be completely overhauled and replaced by a scale
which assessed harm.
The committee said the current scale had “significant anomalies” and was “not fit for purpose”
while there was no convincing evidence that using the system had worked as a deterrent.
It called for a new, scientifically based scale which took into account the harm that each drug
caused, rather than one based on historical assumptions and on the penalties incurred for
possessing or trafficking a substance.
However Coaker said he had met police, victims, and drug addicts and that none had raised the
classification system as a problem.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the body that advises the government,
also rejected criticisms expressed by the MPs in their report saying it had been misleading and
contained “significant errors of fact”.
The MPs said they had found a number of serious flaws in the way the ACMD worked, along with
confusion and a lack of transparency.
“The Committee makes some interesting points but the Council is disappointed by the errors and
misconceptions in the report,” ACMD chairman Michael Rawlins said.
The Home Office did announce on Friday that it had accepted the ACMD’s advice to re-classify
the club drug crystal methylamphetamine as a class A substance, alongside the most serious
drugs such as heroin in light of the harm it caused.
It follows fears about growing misuse of the highly addictive drug, known as crystal meth.
Coaker said the government’s main focus would remain tackling Class A drugs and the problems
they caused.
The BCS report said that between 1998 and 2005/6 there had been an increase in the use of
Class A drugs among 16 to 59-year-olds, mainly because of a rise in cocaine abuse.
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