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January 09, 2004
Keep off the grass!
Surprise, surprise, no sooner had our illustrious leadership downgraded cannabis to a Category B drug - in other words you don't get tossed in the pokey for possession, just a telling off - unless you offer to sell it to the Policeman, than a "new" medical report is published. This highlights the health risks that were identified back in the 60's when the Prime Misery's generation were rushing about organising "sit in's", blacklisting lecturers, digging up cricket pitches and no doubt smoking anything they could get rolled up and burning.
Of course, the committee that recommended the downgrade contained a number of medics - but none from the field of mental health! Therein lies the rub.
Those who claim it does not contribute to criminal violence are not telling the truth. This is a drug which suppresses the inhibitions and it also creates a state of mind in which the user feels invulnerable. Why do these idiots think the Ottoman Empire used to provide it in bulk to their troops on the eve of battle? Quite simply because the troops who got high enough could only be stopped by literally being blown to bits! As long as they could move they kept coming. This is not rational behaviour, nor is it the behaviour of normal soldiery in any other army.
Try holding a rational conversation with someone who has used it sometime. Rational it is not! The problem is that the cannabinoids remain in the system for an extended period (which varies from person to person) and they are cumulative, so the damage done is never quite repaired. Another factor is that the variants now being pedalled are a hell of a lot more potent that the weedy stuff puffed so daringly in the 60's.
The reports findings are frightening. Anyone using this stuff in their teens is much more likely than a non-user to suffer from a depressive illness before they reach their thirties. And even more likely to suffer schizophrenia! In fact the report does identify that the huge increase we are seeing in mental illness - particularly the schizoprenia related types, are directly related to increasing cannabis use.
Does our wonderful political leadership admit they have made a mistake? Of course not, we get the usual platitudes and assurances that the downgrade won't increase use. Oh yeah? You can't tell people on the one hand that it is a dangerous substance and then tell them its OK to use it by reducing the category! I notice they have stopped short of trying to rubbish the reports findings - the author has far more support in his profession than the cretins at the Home Office could possibly command.
Another nice mess you and your cronies have created for posterity Tone!
Posted by The Gray Monk at January 9, 2004 11:35 PM
Comments
In the U.S. - especially California - the medical marijuana movement is gaining momentum (try saying that 5 times real fast!) and it's long been my belief that, if someone truly needs to use marijuana for pain relief or nausea suppression, they should be able to get a prescription and take it to a pharmacy. Otherwise, there's no control over the quality of the marijuana.
Posted by: Da Goddess at January 10, 2004 05:46 PM
Perhaps with the right controls on producing and refining it MAY be marginally safer. My problem is that, while there may be medical uses, recreational use is leading to a truly massive crisis in mental illness. I do not believe that downgrading it or even legalising it is the way forward. After all, morphine is a refined form of heroin, under strict medical controls it has a place. But it is hardly a "recreational" product.
Oh, and there's one more thing that should worry everyone. We have a drink/drive limit for alcohol, but now a ver large percentage of those routinely tested after serious accidents for alcohol are coming up negative on drink but positive on cannabis. This stuff doesn't only suppress your inhibitions, it inhibits your sense of danger and increases the liklihood of risk taking behaviour. With impaired judgement, reduced inhibitions and reduced sense of responsibility/self preservation, should a user be allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle? Perhaps we need a few more fatal accidents to get a proper perspective on this. This problem is increasingly being identified in industrial accidents as well.
No, I don't know what the answer is, but I am pretty sure it isn't in condoning "recreational use" even tacitly!
Posted by: The Gray Monk at January 10, 2004 06:25 PM