It is not harmless. It is a mind-altering substance. It has risks. But compared to tobacco, alcohol and heroin, cannabis is relatively safe. The problem is, its supply is illegal.
Young people go to illegal dealers to buy cannabis -and are offered heroin.
To protect young people, we need to separate the supply of cannabis from the supply of heroin. It should not be promoted or advertised - but it should be legalised under strict control and licence. That s now the position in Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and parts of Germany, Italy and Austria. For heroin addicts we need to investigate pharmaceutical heroin on prescription. Let s keep addicts alive, stabilise their lives and remove the supply of heroin from our streets.