Dear MIRIAM: DOPE TO SMOKE?

Byline: Dr MIRIAM STOPPARD

Dear Miriam I WAS glad when the government reclassified cannabis as a less dangerous class C drug. Now they have changed their mind and it will be class B once more.

Why can't they make up their minds? I've smoked pot since I was 16 and it hasn't harmed me.

THE government just got its timing wrong on reclassifying cannabis to class C.

From the moment in 2004 that cannabis was classified as a less-dangerous drug, evidence began to accumulate that it could cause mental illness in susceptible people, particularly in adolescents whose brains are still developing.

Last July, The Lancet published a big review concluding that the risk of serious mental illness increases by roughly 40 per cent in people who have used cannabis and up to 200 per cent in the most frequent users.

Reclassification is not a reflection that cannabis has got worse for you; it's the result of medical evidence becoming ever more powerful in deciding what we find acceptable and unacceptable.

I, for one, am glad medical facts are turning the tide against cannabis. Many will be relieved about the reclassification as it sends out a clear message that cannabis is bad for you.