Just been looking at theHome Office drugs classification.
Class A: Ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms, amphetamines (if prepared for injection). 7 years if caught in possession.
Class B: Amphetamines, Cannabis, Methylphenidate (Ritalin), Pholcodine.
Up to 5 years.
Class C: Tranquilisers, some painkillers, Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), Ketamine. 2 years.
Well, well, well.
I shall have to warn patients with severe non productive cough that the Pholcodine cough medicine I prescribe should not be sold to anyone, otherwise they could get up to 14 years for dealing.
I have seen ugly, violent confusional behaviour from someone on Ketamine, (an also quite a few people on alcohol) but this in the estimation of Government is less of a threat to the fabric of society than the loved-up behaviour of someone on Ecstasy.
It is well known that journalists and politicians are fond of alcohol. Maybe they have taken a liking to Ketamine also. It would explain their thinking. Nothing else does.
I'm at a loss for words. Have to leave it to Shakespeare:
Lord, what fools these Home Office policy makers be!
It's utterly illogical, that Ketamine and GBH are viewed as less harmful than Cannabis, and that Ecstacy is in the same category as crack cocaine.
ReplyDeleteThere have been reports of repeated use of Ketamine causing all sorts of medical problems in Bristol:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage/Research-reveals-Bristol-increase-ketamine-use/article-616088-detail/article.html
Drugs policy is much more to do with moralising and appeasing the tabloids than in protecting users and the wider public.