Politicians Years Behind Grass Roots...!!! Part 1

Guilty! We all know that politicians largely live in a different world, somewhat removed and out of touch with the world the rest of us live in. We also know that the decisions and policies they make and administer, or do not, as the case may be, can cause us, the public, severe problems at times if it is not the right and proper course of action. The following is just one such story and example of how the politicians, by failing to understand, be educated and to act properly and morally, have been guilty of hypocrisy, abused the public, ignored fundamental human rights, and endangered the psychological welfare of our young people...

Cannabis Reclassified: Monday 26th January, 2009, and cannabis has just been reclassified by the politicians from a class C, back up to a class B drug. It took the British Government many years to work out that perhaps cannabis isn't so bad after all, and to reduce its classification from a class B to a class C, meaning that you didn't get quite so harshly dealt with for being caught with it. However, the Government have now decided that they made a mistake and have backtracked. So, what went wrong...?

Power Of The Flower: In the 1960's, public awareness of cannabis was at such a point where many people smoked it or had tried it at some point. It was the decade for love, peace and goodwill and smoking cannabis was a catalyst and a fertilizer for the birth and growth of an era that became famous for all of those things and more besides. The power of the flower was upon us and creativity, awareness and good feeling, were etched into our society and epitomised in the pop music of the day. Everyone was simply having a good time! Great, you would think! It was a bit of a contrast to some of the other Western World activities of that era, such as the Vietnam War. While some were getting their arms and legs blown off and dishing out death and destruction, others were having a great time, listening to good music and getting on famously! There was minimal alcohol related violence, elderly people could come out of their homes without being intimidated or feeling threatened, and many people were much more interested in the unifying force than taking on the world and killing each other! Much of this was to do with our culture of the time, of which cannabis played a significant part! Wonderful, wouldn't you think!

Many People Punished: Of course, over the years, due to the fact that cannabis is deemed a controlled substance and an illegal drug, many people have been imprisoned or fined for the various so called offences, relating to the use, possession, and supply of it. As well as the amount of a controlled substance you may get caught with, penalties dished out by the state for so called 'drug offences' have a severity rating which is dependent on the drug's classification. The higher the classification, the higher the penalty. Therefore, if the state is going to insist on persecuting people for such 'crimes', it should be regarded as essential to at least get the classification of the various substances right, so as not to make matters worse than they already are. Society does at least recognize its responsibility to try and do just that. Although lifestyle choices amongst consenting adults should not be an offence in the first place, in all fairness, the politicians have never quite known quite how to handle, or juggle, such a hot potato as the drugs' issue and were perhaps trying to be a little fairer on people when they lowered the classification of cannabis to a class C. However, they were unfortunately just a little bit late! I won't say they haven't got a clue, but Sherlock Holmes certainly isn't in the picture.

Making A Hash Of It! Throughout the 1980's and 1990's we, in the UK, tended to get a lot of adulterated cannabis hash (hash is the compressed oily pollen from the cannabis plant) coming into the UK, in the form of repressed 'soap' bars (so called because of their shape). These had been remixed and repressed by the unscrupulous and cut with all sorts of things. This bastardisation of the product was simply to try and bulk it out and make more money, just like watering down the beer, only what the water was in this case was anyone's guess. So while people in other countries were able to enjoy the real thing, cannabis smokers in the UK were getting real rubbish, mixed with all sorts, such as henna and even ground up seventy-eight records. In fact some cannabis didn't have any cannabis in it at all and although people paid their money, what they were smoking could be anything. Things reached an all time low, as the morally bereft continued to make a hash of it (excuse the pun) and churn out cannabis for the U.K. that was often simply unsmokable. It gradually became more and more difficult, often impossible, for people to get a piece of natural clean unadulterated cannabis, that is, until the advent of what we now know as skunk, and there's the rub, so to speak!