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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Pot Shot at Home Secretary Toby Denney Maidenhead Advertiser Friday 24 Aug 2012 Give me an overview of the group? The community is a platform for social and activist interaction aimed towards enjoying the right to consume cannabis responsibly and promote harm reduction strategies instead of prohibition against a natural plant that has been in existence for millions of years. Where/when are you having your next meeting? Our next meeting is at RISC Global Cafe in Reading on the 12th September. More details can be found on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/berkscc Why do you use cannabis? After many years of heavy drinking I came to the conclusion it was a safer recreational past time than alcohol and started to become aware of the medicinal benefits of the plant. After being diagnosed with M.E last year and going through a few different pharmaceutical "treatments" I soon realised how badly the synthetic drugs were affecting me. Between my depressive moods, non-existent appetite and the constant headaches it wasn’t a hard choice to treat myself with a more natural medicine. How does it help? Different strains combat different symptoms. I'll usually smoke a high CBD (one of many beneficial naturally occurring cannabinoids found in cannabis) for muscle aches and pains during the day and preventing spasms and muscle seizes during sleep. I'll also use a Sativa strain during the day to combat fatigue. This all depends on what strains are available from a black market not designed to cater to medicinal users. Most of the time I have to make do with what medicines I can get hold of. Where do you get it from? What are the difficulties of this? The only option available is to go through the black market which has many disadvantages. Not only are people supporting a huge criminal industry which doesn’t care about them as patients or consumers (Dealers don't tend to put customer care lines on their packaging), they are also forced into contact with undesirable associations. Going through the black market will also mean no way of discerning the strength or quality of the strain for sale. Most black market dealers won’t even be aware of the strain they are selling, a huge problem for medicinal users who need to pick the correct strain with the right cannabinoids to combat their symptoms. How long have you been using it? Many years recreationally and about 18 months medicinally. How much do you use? 1 gram a day keeps the worst of symptoms at bay, on really bad days it can be more. It is important to recognise how much you are consuming so you can establish what works best for your ailments. How do you take it? I wish I had enough that I could smoke it without tobacco (the majority of UK studies showing negative side effects of smoking cannabis comes from studies performed with people smoking cannabis with the extremely damaging but legal tobacco) or even bake my cannabis into edible food such as brownies or cookies which is a much safer form of consumption. I do have a portable vaporiser that heats the cannabis into a cool vapour avoiding the carcinogenic fumes created by smoking and thus eliminating any issues with tar or other harmful carcinogenic. We have full details of these products on our Facebook page. How does it compare to alternative drugs? Cannabis is very difficult to compare to the other alternative recreational drugs on the black market due to its medicinal benefits such as the concentrated cannabis oil made by Rick Simpson which has successfully shrunk tumours in a number of cancer patients (This can be seen in the documentary Run from the cure. Of the few studies made into cannabis the British Medical Journal found in their studies published 27th July 2012, Cannabis rates as the least harmful of a wide range of “recreational drugs". Alcohol, in comparison came 4th behind Crystal Meth, Crack and Heroin in 1st, and just in front of Cocaine in 5th. Who did you approach to get cannabis? Cannabis use is bigger than you might expect in the UK (There are an estimated 2 million cannabis smokers in the UK but this figure is approximate as people may not openly admit to smoking cannabis) so establishing a 'contact' can be done often through friends of friends and the such like. How did you first approach them about this and what happened? I was lucky when I first started to have good friends who I could trust, but it meant they we're the only thing separating me from the black market and soon enough I was forced into engaging and supporting criminal organisations myself with my cannabis consumption. I also felt guilt that my friends may be arrested merely for helping me obtain something which helps me live a better quality of life. What kind of dangers are there? There are a number of dangers of buying black market cannabis which I have mentioned above (such as having to deal with people who don't have your best interests at heart) but also consequences which can impact you for the rest of your life. A cannabis conviction can destroy your job prospects in an instant and also see you banned from a number of countries (Including the United States of America which quite ironically has introduced medicinal cannabis in 17 States as of August 2012). What do you want to see happen? I would like to see the public and parliament accept that this issue and the wider drug issue should be considered a health issue and not a criminal one. There should be safe access for patients who choose how they wish to medicate while the positive benefits of recreational use over alcohol, nicotine and caffeine needs to be recognised as well. What is happening in Maidenhead? I am meeting with Teresa May of the 24th August to discuss this very issue. We will also be holding our first meeting in Maidenhead towards the end of the year. Keep an eye on our FB page for details as they emerge. How many members? The only requirement to be a member of the Berkshire Cannabis Community is that you consume cannabis peacefully and have a vested interest in the improvement of the wider Berkshire community by ending prohibition. We currently have over 550+ on our Facebook page but have a lot of support from people who are unable to publically profess to using cannabis either recreationally or as a medicine due to the stigma's that society places upon them that labels them as criminals. https://www.facebook.com/berkscc https://www.facebook.com/notes/berkshire-cannabis-community/full-transcript-of-maidenhead-advertiser-interview/427284213984463
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