22 July 2007

Blowing smoke

If Scotland on Sunday is going to run scare stories, it would be helpful if they got the facts right. This nonsense for instance:
And just as worrying as the soaring production rates is the fact that the cannabis is today around seven times stronger than the era when many top politicians were smoking it.

Well, no, it's not. According to The Independent (here)
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which examined the issue 18 months ago, will be asked to do so again. It concluded in its report in December 2005 that the strength of cannabis resin (hash) had changed little over 30 years and was about 5 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Skunk, it found was 10 to 15 per cent THC - two to three times as strong...

There is something of a difference between seven times as strong and two to three times as strong.

Scotland on Sunday also produces this absurd non-sequitur:
DETECTIVES are shutting down at least one cannabis factory a week in their battle to contain an illegal industry created by reclassification of the drug.

So the introduction of cannabis factories was 'created' by the reclassification of the drug. Any evidence for this statement? Does anyone believe that a reverse of reclassification would wipe out cannabis factories?

Drugs are a serious problem in society. It does nobody any good for newspapers to get over-excited.

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