Absurd! Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg call for cannabis legalization

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Former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said in his letter to the British Medical Journal that it should downgrade cannabis in the legal system from schedule 1 to schedule 4, putting it below barbiturates, painkillers and sedatives.

In an article published in the Daily Mail, Mr. Clegg explains that cannabis should be legalized in recognition to its medicinal value and it is much safer than many medicines used in the UK. He also added that continuing to criminalize the drug is absurd.

People abuse cannabis because of its hallucinogenic effects to the brain, making them high on everything they want to feel and thus, promotes negative impact to the user and to the people around. That is why countries all over the world are banning cannabis to be legally accepted.

According to Drug Info, cannabis is a depressant drug that slows down messages between the brain and the body. It is widely used in the relieving of symptoms of a medical condition especially in epilepsy. But with large doses, it may also produce hallucinations to the person taking it.

Marijuana, Hashish and Hash oil are the three different forms of cannabis. Effects on these drugs would depend on the method it is being introduced in the body. Some is taken orally which will take about an hour to feel the effect and some may take in smoke for immediate result.

Currently, crimes involving cannabis would entail 14 years of imprisonment or no jail term at all in four offenses.

One of the 8 Liberal Democrat MPs who retained their seats during the last election, Mr. Clegg also urges ministers to revisit the scheduling of cannabis and move the drug from controlled substances to a prescription only medicines in recognition of the limited risks and the medicinal value of the plant and its constituent parts.

Nick Clegg also believes that through his move to legalize the use of cannabis would help research into many conditions for which the drug may be an inexpensive but an effective treatment. This may also help patients with a range of conditions to obtain cannabis medicines to alleviate their symptoms.

Meanwhile, experts suggest that even if the drug may be used to alleviate chronic pain, anxiety and muscle problems, it also carries severe mental health risks.

In a review conducted by King's College London in 2014 led by Professor Wayne Hall, drug advisor of WHO, concluded that smoking cannabis is highly addictive and can cause metal health problems. In the study, Dr. Hall also found one of the six teenagers became dependent on the drug as do in one in ten adults.

There are already cannabis based drugs existed in UK but they are tightly controlled by the government - Nabilone, a synthetic cannabis-based drug and was used since 1982 for hospital treatment only and Sativex, a herbal-based cannabis drug for use in UK in 2010.

However, amidst the effort to legalize cannabis, the Home Office still repeatedly stressing out its opposition.