Post-decriminalization in the UK - no explosion in cannabis use as predicted
Since the reclassification of cannabis in January 2004 the British media published a great number of articles on an expected increase of marihuana use among the young population. The Home Secretary Charles Clarke have requested drug experts to reevaluate this decision and declared himself being ready to change it, if necessary. Nevertheless, it is already becoming quite clear that one of the great threats put forward by decriminalization opponents turned to be vain, as the predicted increase just did not happen. It could even seem that cannabis is losing its glamour and attractiveness of a "forbidden fruit" for the young Brits because the figures for the last year show the lowest yearly increase in number of its users over the last decade.
The Independent Drugs Monitoring Unit published the results of its research based on 10 years study of marihuana users, which key indicators of cannabis use show no evidence of any such increase. The monitoring unit is the UK’s leading authority on the street value of narcotics and their consumption. The number of users in 2004 increased only by 0,5% while in 1998 it was reaching 45%. The researchers interrogated over two thousands of persons asking them to rate the cannabis on a ten points scale from the point of dependency, health risks and "high" effects. The rule in this kind of evaluation is that higher rating the drug receives, more it is considered as attractive: cannabis received the highest rating (8,8) in 1997, while for the last year its rating fell down to 7,5 points. Other drugs like ecstasy, crack or heroin had a rising tendency for the same period.
These results imply a clear descending tendency in the number of those who are already using cannabis as well as those who could have the intention to do it. Government experts say that it would be still too soon to make any definitive conclusions on the effects of decriminalization, but they already agree on the fact that expectations of an explosion of cannabis use did not fulfill. Matthew Atha, Director of the Independent Drugs Monitoring Unit, declared that far from leading to an explosion of use, declassification of cannabis appears to have had little or no effect on consumption or levels of cannabis usage, if anything the upward trend in cannabis use appears to have been halted.
Researchers say, that today’s British teenagers are most of all interested in reaching of good results in their favorite sports than in getting "high". Only 3% of adolescents are finding satisfaction in the drug use, following the researchers. Marihuana is no more on the list of the most popular illegal drugs in the Great Britain because it has been replaced by hard drugs. In spite of all the declarations made on a harder persecution of these drugs, their prices are tumbling and dealers sell a line of cocaine for a lesser price than costs a cappuccino. This is another reason for giving up the war on relatively harmless marihuana and concentrating all the available resources into the prevention of hard drugs use, which is incomparably more harmful.
