A Class of Its Own

Let's hear it for the triumphant return of Cannabis to its former Class B Glory!

For those of you new to the wild and wonderful world of drug classification, Class B drugs achieve slightly higher sentences in court than Class C drugs. When cannabis was de-classified to Class C in the first place, Blandshire Constabulary acknowledged the reduction in severity by lightening the penalty for those found in possession of it. The following options became open to us:

• Anyone who hadn't been caught with cannabis before could receive 2 informal street warnings before being arrested.
• Negligible amounts could be just disclaimed and destroyed by the police without any penalty.
• Quite large amounts could be written off as "personal", even with a grinder and a few sets of scales present (for weighing the drugs).

Under the harsh criteria applied to Class B drugs, Blandshire Constabulary has issued the following strict guidelines:

• Informal street warnings can still be issued.
• We are not interested in negligible amounts.
• Unless it's a big-time drug dealer, a few wraps will just get treated as "possession" (rather than supply).

I am not a magistrate, but I have little doubt that the sentencing criteria will undergo the same radical changes, and that it will be applied in a similarly severe manner.

The government's decision on re-classification was not taken lightly. A great deal of research was commissioned into whether cannabis should be a Class C or B drug, and I think you'll agree the conclusions spoke for themselves. Whatever you think about the merits of such research, at least the government is consistent in how it approaches such serious matters.

The War of the Words continues.

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