Chrissy Sturt Researcher, Politics Show South

click here to view the Politics Show South

Read your comments here:

The whole cannabis situation stinks, I am an MS sufferer and use cannabis as my medicine. The changes in the law make no difference at all to medical users, without people like Chris Baldwin where are people like me meant to get supplies of our medicine ?
Lezley Gibson

Unlike drugs like crack cannabis doesn't make people violent; rather it makes them relaxed, passive even; a far cry from the image of the burglar or lager lout. (burning it might even be an effective and relatively safe method of crowd control during a public disturbance!) But the smoky environment is nevertheless a danger to health in other ways. I think it would be better to reach a compromise and only sell cannabis in licensed 'headshops' to be smoked in the home, preferably behind closed doors. And to provide leaflets on less dangerous ways of taking the drug (which is mildly carcinogenic), such as in tea.
Katherine

Legalisation and coffeeshops give a message to our children then that there is an acceptable time to take their own choices in life with an age classification like we have with drinking alcohol. You will always have the abusers as you do with any other social substance.
Chris Hyde

The problem with this drugs argument is that Politicians are no longer interested in the good of the nation or its people, they are far too interested in furthering their political careers. Our government have never been so self concerned. Nothing is being done to promote truth. It really is high time (excuse the pun) that we had a return to politicians that care about something over than their careers. The communities they are from would be a good start.
Emma O'Neill

With all the hype surrounding the mental health aspect in the reclassification of cannabis debate it seems people are forgetting the mental torture suffered by alcoholics,gamblers,and just about every other type of addict. Alcoholics suffer severe halucinations. Surely the law should reflect a drugs ability to cause death. The cannabis users I know seem to suffer mental torture because of the injustices throughout humanity.. money spent on space exploration while people starve!
Dan

I use cannabis for medical reasons and have found it very beneficial, it is vital that sick people have access to quality, clean and uncontaminated cannabis and do not have to approach "unscrupulous drug dealers" who are profiteering from our misery and vulnerability and not knowing if the cannabis is laced or harmful because of other toxins added after all they don't care .
Anne James

The main point of the re-classification is being missed. It is to avoid putting people in prison for smoking cannabis. While cannabis is class 'B' people can be imprisoned for merely smoking cannabis. This is deemed unneccesary by society, and thus reflected in the move to make cannabis class 'C'. I hope nobody would want to imprison someone for smoking cannabis.
Craig Cooper

While smoking cannabis may cause these psychotic problems, the problems only occur after the person stops smoking cannabis, also they talk about the hundreds of people who die of cannabis, yet hundreds of thousands are dying from cigarettes, and there are many problems, deaths and injuries caused by alcohol. I think that cannabis, along with anything, is good in moderation, however some education would be needed to inform people about the dangers of abusing the drug.
Oliver

For years I commercially cultivated cannabis. Now there are not enough home grown UK cultivators due to prohibition, this means cannabis is being imported. Where from ? Inevitably from where it's grown. Hashish and soapbar hash roots are firmly linked to terrorist activity. We the Brits, unless we buy British weed, are fuelling the war on terror. These Al-Queda cells etc. Islamic Jihad don't get their money off trees do they? Yes they do.. cannabis and opium trees, so let's give the ole British cultivators a pat on the back for promoting a safe, terror free way of supplying a demand.
Chris Jones

I think we should all get high and the police should crack down on the dirty crack heads.
Ed

Follow the money. When the government spends $10 billion arresting cannabis smokers each year, someone is also profitting on that $19 billion. Perpetuating the war is what profits. Not common sense ending it.
Dende

The Dutch policy is well thought out and proven effective. The War on Drugs policy in the US is dangerous and ineffective. Just as its prohibition of alcohol gave benefit to criminal enterprises, so does the prohibition of cannabis help to put money into criminal networks.
Nick Bell

Mr Wychgel claims that cannabis doubles the risk of schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions. Cannabis use leads to 200 additional cases of schizophrenia each year in the Netherlands, according to his study. And of the 400,000 Dutch youngsters who regularly smoke cannabis, 400 will fall victim to psychiatric difficulties or schizophrenia. This is not conclusive as many other variables cannot have been taken into account...ie was cannabis only drug use(doubtful) and the schizopherenia view is unclear how to define one, I wonder if it's a general medical term,not a precise one?
Winston Matthews

The Politics Show

What do you think?

You can have your say by contacting us using the form below.

And don't forget to watch the Politics Show, with presenter Peter Henley, on BBC One on Sundays at Noon.

click here to view the Politics Show South

Disclaimer: The BBC may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all emails will be published.