http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,1759835,00.html
James Randerson
"Drug treatment charities have argued for years that the classification system is inconsistent and is failing to protect the most vulnerable. Why, if it is really designed to reduce harm to the user and to society, do the two most dangerous drugs not form part of it? Alcohol contributes to around 1.2m assaults a year and smoking kills 130,000. That these are not classified is the biggest anomaly in an antiquated system that has utterly failed to prevent drug use from rocketing. The blame lies not with the ACMD, but with the framework within which it is forced to operate. Only if politicians acknowledge the system's faults will we have any hope of building a legal framework that will protect users and society effectively." [Includes reader comments]
