The laws on cannabis within the UK are difficult to understand, so where do we actually stand with the government and what rights do we have?

On the 29th January 2004, cannabis has been reclassified from a Class B to a Class C drug in the UK. For a while cannabis users had the strain of the government taken away until on Wednesday May 7 2008 the government defied the advice of drug experts and upgraded cannabis from class C to class B. The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, announced a new structured system of escalating penalties for adults caught in possession of small amounts of cannabis which will come into effect from early next year.

This means that if you get caught, you will be less likely to get a police warning as the new laws will allow officers to arrest first time offenders. The UK government argument is that the strength of today’s skunk is much stronger than before, Gordon Brown said last week that today’s skunk has ‘more lethal quality’ than ever before.

Jacqui Smith’s decision to upgrade the drug back to class B went against all of the recommendations provided by the government’s scientific experts, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, who were asked by Smith to consider the classifications over recent years. Their advice was to keep cannabis as a class C drug.

All that aside, new schizophrenia cases reported to GPs had gone down, not up, between 1998 and 2005 indicating that the new potency of the streets is no worse for you than before. Gordon Browns council also analyzed evidence that the potency of UK homegrown cannabis is twice as strong as imported cannabis.

Danny Kushlick of Transform, from another drug law reform lobby group, said: “This argument over drug classification is distracting attention away from where the real and substantive debate on whether drugs should be illegal or regulated.”

What are your thoughts on the UK cannabis laws? If you would like the government to reconsider any areas of the laws you can sign any of the petitions below that will be delivered directly to Downing Street.

Click here to petition the Prime Minister to Legalise Cannabis under strict conditions - Deadline to sign up by: 23 July 2008

Click here to petition the Prime Minister to Keep cannabis class C - Deadline to sign up by: 03 October 2008

Click here to petition the Prime Minister to Decriminalise cannabis cultivation for personal use only (not for profit) - Deadline to sign up by: 16 May 2009

Click here to petition the Prime Minister to Legalize cannabis use and cultivation in the home, license and regulate Amsterdam style coffee shops - Deadline to sign up by: 21 July 2008