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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: High hopes for cannabis legalisation
Lara Macmillan Edinburgh Evening News
Monday 23 Jul 2001 HIGH HOPES FOR CANNABIS LEGALISATION LINDA Hendry is only too aware of the dangers of drugs. That’s why she chooses to chew on her cannabis instead of smoking it. "I’m asthmatic," she explains, "and I know it’s bad for my lungs - I prefer to eat it." The petite, softly spoken 51-year-old mother of three cuts an unlikely figure for a cannabis campaigner. Her late father was a sheriff and she works as an auxiliary teacher with special needs children. Once, as police raided her home, she was warned her daughter could be put into care if she did not fully cooperate with officers. Yet now, as the cannabis debate again rears its head, Linda is even more determined to state her case for decriminalising the drug. In fact, in the 19th century cannabis was hailed as a medicine for all sorts of ailments, including tetanus, migraine, depression - even gonorrhoea. More recently it has emerged as the drug of choice for MS sufferers prepared to break the law in the quest for pain relief. Some cannabinoids, which are compounds found in cannabis, have also been found to relieve vomiting suffered by cancer patients having chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment. Linda, fortunately, does not suffer from any of these illnesses. Yet the research is all grist to the mill for her campaign to legalise the drug in Scotland. So strongly does Linda feel about the issue that she stood at the General Election recently. She failed in her bid but plans to keep the pressure on politicians to legalise cannabis. "It’s barbaric that people with rheumatism and MS are being denied it for pain relief. "Tony Blair needs to listen to the arguments. Whenever opportunities arise, I’ll be lobbying politicians." The decriminalisation of cannabis campaign is certainly gathering momentum. A poll of Labour MPs last week said at least 81 would vote to decriminalise cannabis and Home Secretary David Blunkett recently said he would welcome an "adult debate" on the subject. But if the drug was legalised and more people started using it, what would the effects be on the nation’s health? Over the years all sorts of conflicting claims have been made in this controversial area. Some people who oppose wider availability of the weed have painted cannabis as a demon drug which can damage body, brain and personality. Others, in favour of liberalisation, have argued that cannabis is not as unhealthy as tobacco and can even do good by easing painful symptoms of chronic illnesses such as MS. So what is the truth about the drug’s effects? Professor Heather Ashton, a professor of psychopharmacology at Newcastle University, has reviewed studies about the drug’s impact on the body and the brain. She has some stark warnings about the recreational smoking of cannabis. "The smoke contains all the same things as tobacco smoke but the cancer producing substances are in greater concentration," she says. "They say one spliff is equal to four or five cigarettes in terms of tar and carbon monoxide, which is a risk to the heart." She says there is evidence of increased incidences of cancer of the mouth, throat and tongue in cannabis smokers, "because the smoke hangs around in the mouth for longer". On top of this, she states, the drug can trigger psychotic reactions in some users, helping to trigger schizophrenia in vulnerable people and a risk of paranoia in others. "Anyone who argues it is harmless is, I think, basing their thoughts on the 1970s flower power stuff - even those people were a little bit amotivated," she says. "But nowadays it is ten times stronger and that is because of modern plant breeding techniques and growing methods." Dr Philip Robson, a senior research fellow in the psychiatry department of Oxford University, is running a pilot study into the effects of cannabis on people with MS and other serious neurological illnesses. "Our studies have certainly indicated that many patients who have been really struggling to get any benefit from standard medicine in relief of their symptoms - like pain, spasticity, muscle spasms, bladder problems and tremor - have had significant improvements with these cannabis extracts," he says. But he is not encouraging people to sit around in smoke-filled living rooms, listening to Jimi Hendrix and rolling their own joints - his test subjects have two cannabinoids sprayed under their tongue. "The act of smoking cannabis produces risks all of its own which, as a medicine, I think are never going to be acceptable," he adds. But Linda has heard it all before: "They say it alters your mind. But so does alcohol, so does television . . . the difference is that people don’t get aggressive like they do with alcohol. By using cannabis you can’t harm anyone but yourself." SHE adds: "People always think it’s student types and drop-outs who smoke cannabis. But it’s everyone from all walks of life, from artists and musicians to computer program designers. I was at a party about ten years ago with loads of lawyers and I was offered a puff. My father, who was a sheriff substitute in Dumfries, wasn’t alive when I started campaigning for cannabis to be legalised. It’s difficult to know what he would think. But my mother has supported me. She wrote to her MP 20 years ago about it. "Once, when I was house-sitting for a friend, the drug squad arrived at the door. I had my daughter with me, who was four at the time. They said if I didn’t co-operate she would be taken into care until I was released." Linda doesn’t feel that her campaigning has affected her children, aged between ten and 33, other than perhaps putting them off it because they do not see it as being ‘forbidden fruit’. "I don’t think legalising it would increase the number of people using it and the quantity they use," she says. Doug Harrison, policy officer with the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, says the body is in favour of proper clinical trials to gauge the benefits of cannabis. "While there are the obvious dangers associated with smoking cannabis, there are huge side-effects with any drugs," he says. It is unlikely Scottish police forces will follow police in south London who have announced that they will turn a blind eye to use of cannabis - for the time being, at least. Tom Wood, the deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, has said that no company would operate on a 30-year-old business plan, and so it made little sense for the police and courts to tackle cannabis using equally outdated legislation. He flatly denies that he is an advocate of the decriminalisation of cannabis, but agrees there is a need for a frank and open debate on the subject. Jane Tadnan, of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council for Research Scotland, also welcomes further debate. "We are fairly open-minded about the issue," she says. "We know a lot of people with arthritis who don’t get relief from conventional drugs so they take cannabis to relieve their pain. "A number of people have been taken to court over it, but we feel that’s wrong.
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