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If society is to achieve any success in its
effort to reduce personal and social damage through drugs use, we must
continually re-examine our own understanding and attitudes to drug use,
misuse and abuse. It is worth noting that the overwhelming majority of
those who use cannabis are not "problem users" and "normal" use ought
not be labelled as "abuse".
We also need to examine the successes,
failures and costs of past and present control regimes.
Can we really justify punishing people for
cannabis possession or growing a few plants when clearly neither
individual nor society benefits through the prosecutions?
How does the implementation of law conflict
with Human Rights, harm minimalisation and good policing?
Above all, it is essential to instigate a
continuing dialogue between government, drug agencies, police AND users.
We need to create a just and workable
legislation that reduces harm from drugs without infringing upon
personal privacy and the right to choose ones own lifestyle and beliefs.
We need legislation that is aimed at
PROTECTION, not control.
To achieve this, we encourage:
a) A truly open and honest dialogue among
professionals, government, the public and the cannabis using community
b) Meaningful discussions on whether it would
be preferable to have a system of licensed cannabis retail outlets
incorporating all necessary quality control and harm reduction
provisions, rather than criminal supply chains that seem unstoppable.
c) Discussion between Government, employers and
workers representatives (TUC) on the value, reliability, cost and the
need for universal testing for recent past cannabis use.
To ensure constructive consultation we
invite you to reproduce this document [unedited] and forward to anyone
expressing a prior interest.
Legalise Cannabis Alliance
March 2003
READ
and SIGN THE CHALLENGE
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