Drugs expert warns: cannabis as dangerous to society as heroin

By Aideen McLaughlin
sunday herald

A LEADING Scottish drugs researcher has claimed that cannabis could be as big a danger to society as cocaine and heroin.

In a comment piece written for the Sunday Herald, Professor Neil McKeganey, of the Centre for Drugs Misuse Research at the University of Glasgow, warns that the government and drugs workers should put the focus back on cannabis to solve the problem of illegal drug use in Scotland.

McKeganey argues that the threat of cannabis is not so much its health risk to the individual, but that it creates a climate in which the use of harder drugs could become increasingly socially acceptable.

Earlier last week, countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Iran rallied at the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs to persuade the UN to reject a zero-tolerance approach in international drug policy.

Their appeal was vetoed by the US. The UK delegation stayed silent on the issue.