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UK: Cannabis could have saved dying mum
Horley & Gatwick Mirror Mirror
Thursday 22 Nov 2007 Drug Should be available for medical and recreational use says activist who believes it is less harmful than drinking and smoking 'Cannabis could have saved dying mum' The Government is considering restoring cannabis to a class B drug after a medical report published earlier this year suggested use of it could increase the risk of schizophrenia by at least 40%. But, with cannabis use having fallen since it was downgraded to Class C in 2004, activist Winston Matthews want to see the drug legalised. Mark Mudie looks at the controversial issue. Winston Matthews' arguments for the legalisation of cannabis are well-rehearsed. Alcohol and nicotine (or, at least, the carcinogenic s it is served up with) kill, and yet are legal, cannabis does not, and yet it is outlawed. Binge drinking is the scourge of ASBO Britain, bringing chaos to town and city centres across the land, and smoking-related diseases plague the debt ridden NHS. Cannabis, argues activist Mr Matthews, is much less harmful that both of these vices. A member of pressure group the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) Mr Matthews, 51, of Upfield Close Horley, has made a vocation of his belief that the drug should be available for medicinal and recreational use. He said:" What we are fighting for is a choice in our culture. "We want to offer people a drug that doesn't make you violent and doesn't get you too addicted to the point where you have to wear patches to help you to give up. "And cannabis still has no deaths attributed to it." His interest stems form personal tragedy. When he was just 10, his mother, Violet died after accidentally overdosing on a cocktail of alcohol and barbiturates. She was 46. She had been taking depressants to help her sleep, and Mr Matthews thinks cannabis could have prevented her death. He said: "Seeing my mother die through a recreational drug and a medicinal drug made me very sceptical about her drug usage and pushed me to becoming a bit of an anorak about drugs. Cannabis could have helped her then. You can't overdose on cannabis and it’s a natural tranquilliser. "I felt cheated when I found out cannabis could have saved my mother." The prospect of cannabis being decriminalised for medicinal or recreational use looks remote. With the government considering reversing its decision, taken from 2004, to downgrade it to class C from class B. The rethink was triggered by a report in medical journal The Lancet, which suggested the drug could increase the risk of users getting schizophrenia by more than 40%. The report estimated 800 people in the UK were suffering severe psychosis as a result of smoking cannabis. But Mr Matthews maintains the link is unproven. He said: ”I would debate whether there's a mental health attachment to cannabis because there are so many other variables.“ And he cited figure, released as part of the British crime survey, which show a drop in cannabis use since it was downgraded. According to the statistics, 21.4% of 16-24 year old had used cannabis in 2005-6, compared with 28.8% in 1998-9. Mr Matthews said legalising the drug would "take away the criminal mystique", thus removing many youngsters' motivation for trying it. The issue is, of course highly controversial and provokes strong feelings on both sides of the continuing debate. Mr Matthews recently attended a talk at the houses of Parliament entitled Cannabis and Children, at which mothers of children who had become involved in harder drugs spoke passionately for the drug to be returned to class B. The move would effectively make possession of the drug an arrestable offence again. Mr Matthews, who described his reception at the conference as "hostile", typically rejects any link between cannabis and harder drug use. His own position on drug use could not be more clear. He said:"I don't drink or do nicotine or even caffeine these days. But I do smoke a bloody great bong.
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