Cannabis reclassification

On 29 January 2004, cannabis was reclassified using the groupings of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 from Class B to Class C. As well as the increasing evidence that the drug is harmful to both physical and mental health, which has been recently highlighted (Henry et al, 2003; Rey & Tennent, 2002) this has caused confusion and concern regarding its legal position. This has been highlighted in articles on TV, broadsheet (‘Cloud of confusion over cannabis’, Daily Telegraph, 23 January 2004) and tabloid newspapers (‘Pot a joke’, The Sun, 23 January 2004).

We would like to report our deep concern that this confusion may extend to the medical student population, 5 days after the reclassification.

As part of an evaluation of a substance misuse lecture given to first year medical students at Sheffield University, 163 completed an evaluation form (62% response rate) (fig. 1). When asked if smoking cannabis at home by yourself was illegal, 42% of the responders answered incorrectly that it was not. Eighteen per cent were under the misapprehension that smoking cannabis in a public place was not an arrestable offence. Surprisingly, given the publicity, 41% did not know the drug class cannabis resin belonged to.

Fig. 1. Lecture evaluation questionnaire.

Further questions in the evaluation related to other drugs, their purchase and means of administration. We highlight these findings because cannabis is known to be the most widely used illegal drug among medical students (Pickard et al, 2000), with reports of 54% of males and 40% of females using at least once (Webb et al, 1998).

If this surprising level of ignorance exists in medical students, we wonder what the understanding of the rest of the population is. This is especially important given that those of a similar age to our students are most likely to use cannabis, the government’s own data showing that 44% of 16-29 year-olds have used the drug (Home Office, 2000).