Cannabis users to be jailed

Cannabis will be raised to a class B drug with a maximum five year jail term for users, the government said yesterday, rejecting a recommendation from its own drugs advisors to leave the classification unchanged.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the decision had been made because of concern, particularly amongst the public, about the "alarming" use of skunk, a stronger strain of the narcotic which now dominates the market.

(China Daily 05/08/2008 page11)