Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner David Sidwick is stepping up his call for cannabis to be reclassified as a Class A drug.
The move follows the publication of a new book which examines the impact of cannabis on physical and mental health.
The reference book, the Epidemiology of Cannabis by Stuart Reece and Gary Kenneth Hulse, explores the potential health impact of the illegal drug.
It focuses on several areas associated with cannabis use, including mental health in adults and young adults, birth defects, cancers and ageing.
Mr Sidwick, who has written the foreword, hopes the publication will be a catalyst towards the government changing the focus to address the harm illegal gateway drugs including cannabis cause to society.
He said: “I have always been very clear about the pernicious impact I believe cannabis and other illegal gateway drugs have on physical and mental health.
“I have long campaigned for it to be reclassified as a Class A drug because of these effects and the impact it presents on wider society as a result.
“It needs to be taken seriously on a national scale, because of the danger it presents and there needs to be money put into prevention and education to ensure people are aware of these dangers.
“Currently, Class A drugs take precedence when it comes to enforcement and treatment, but it is my view that there is no point focusing on the destination of addiction if we don’t stop people getting on the first two or three carriages of the train in the first place.
“Only through reclassifying cannabis will it be treated with the severity it deserves.”
In Dorset, the painful effects of cannabis have been highlighted by Janie Hamilton, a mother who campaigns for the drug to be reclassified to a Class A after her son, James, suffered from mental illness induced by his cannabis intake, which started when he was 14.
James died when he was 36, after refusing treatment for testicular cancer, following years of battling mental illness, which his family believe was triggered by his addiction to cannabis.