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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Selkirk campaigner puts the case for cannabis John Ross Scott The Southern Reporter, Scottish Borders Tuesday 22 May 2001 "While alcohol has become sociably acceptable, just ask the police which type of people they prefer to deal with, violent ones on alcohol or laid-back ones on cannabis" - DOUGIE PURVES "NOT many people put their head in a noose like I do," claims Dougie Purves, the Borderer who, for the past three decades, has argued the case for the legalisation of cannabis. The Selkirk campaigner, who was a judge in the 1994 Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam and always dresses from head to toe in hemp, has stalwartly fought against prohibition since he was in his teens. He told me: "In this day of human rights it should be a fundamental right of everyone in the UK to be allowed to buy cannabis if they want to. Imagine what would happen if people banned tobacco or outlawed alcohol? Yet these commodities are the two biggest killers in Scotland." The charismatic 35-year-old from Bridge Street, one of only a few members of the Borders branch of the Legalise Cannabis Campaign (LCC), hopes his family motto, "Brighter From Darkness", will soon apply to the public perception of the Class B drug. With senior police officers and barristers now arguing a case to legalise cannabis in an effort to concentrate the attack on hard drug dealers and bring relief to MS, ME, arthritis and Parkinson's Disease sufferers, it may not be long until the law is changed. "Prohibition was wrong. What Scottish politicians should consider is legalising cannabis and placing a tax on the sale of it. That would bring in millions more to spend on education, health and anything else they want to spend it on," said the man who makes a point of attending local MP and MSP clinics on a monthly basis to argue his case. As "an environmental and political statement", he wears hemp shoes, jeans and shirts, and always washes his hair in hemp shampoo. "Cannabis, which is the best natural relaxant, helps people get to sleep and is better for you than either prescribed pills or alcohol, which is a depressant. I know several old age pensioners who use it instead of taking pills from their doctor. "Remember there have been no recorded deaths caused by cannabis." "While alcohol has become sociably acceptable, just ask the police which type of people they prefer to deal with, violent ones on alcohol or laid-back ones on cannabis. The majority of court cases are alcohol related." Dougie has good reason to have a downer on alcohol. His younger brother died from it. Having been arrested and fined once for possession, he admits to having a few other close shaves and hopes that speaking out about his beliefs won't have repercussions this time. "I'm not against the police. I'm all for them. But I'm sure they’ve got more important jobs to do than hassle people over cannabis." So why is cannabis banned and alcohol and tobacco not? "It's political. After the First World War all European countries wanted to be friends of America. President Woodrow Wilson, who was a religious dude, wanted a ban on alcohol and drinking. "Europe leaders thought: we can't do that. But to keep in his good books we can ban cannabis." The drug was made illegal in Britain in 1928 and, according to Dougie, the opportunity was there for industrial profiteers to extend the ban. "Prohibition is causing most of the problems we see today, forcing some people into common crime to pay for it. Building egos and lining pockets for self profit. By 1946, Mexican physicians, reporting to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, were of the view that its uses had no ill effect on health. This has come up in most of the reports or Royal Commissions on the drug since. "British governments over the years have continued to enforce an unenforceable law and I think that within 10 years the ban will be lifted," Dougie said. "Right now the judges blame the politicians and the politicians blame the judges and on it goes." Born in Edinburgh, brought up in Selkirk and educated at Philiphaugh and Selkirk High schools, Dougie first smoked hash when he was 16, but is so against younger people smoking that he now assists with drugs education. He also, in 1997 and 1998, arranged sponsored walks which brought in more than £1,000 for the Aberlour Child Care Trust from the local cannabis smoking population. "In my time at school nothing was mentioned about drugs. We knew that heroin killed Sid Vicious in 1979 and Malcolm Owen of the Rutts in 1980, but we didn't really know what a heroin overdose was. Now, thankfully, children are taught everything about drugs, alcohol and solvent abuse. "I do have morals and principles, and believe a similar 18-year-old age ban should be placed on cannabis as it is on alcohol." Dougie added: "I know smoking anything is bad for you, especially tobacco, so I tend to take pure cannabis when I can through a vapouriser," he said. "Everything I get I pay tax on." "Cannabis opens up the hairs in the lungs which tobacco blocks up with cardogenic oils." After school he worked at the sawmill on Philiphaugh Estate. "I thought at the time after cutting all the trees down, why don't they plant hemp? It would be more economical and environmentally friendly. There was initially a big fuss over the reintroduction of hemp as an agricultural plant "People nowadays are more educated. In the past they thought hemp was pure cannabis. If you smoked hemp all you'd get would be a sore head. One of his ancestors, William Purves of Greenlaw, was a collector of taxes for the Scottish Crown at the time of Charles II. His mother hails from Glenlivet, which boasts one of the first legal distilleries in the land. "'Taxation not Alienation' should be the motto. So much could be raised from taxing cannabis here in Scotland, and the money could go to public services instead of lining the pockets of dealers in big flash suits with big flash cars. It would stop some of the crime and the drug would be pure and not adulterated as most of the British stuff is." On politics, he said: "I'd love to stand in this election as a LCA candidate like those in Fife and Cumbria, but I couldn't afford the £500 deposit. "The Green Party and Scottish Socialists want to legalise cannabis, the Conservatives would legalise medical use of cannabis, Labour want to keep it illegal, the SNP want alternatives to prison for users who are caught and the Liberal Democrats want a Royal Commission to look into the cannabis issue. "But why do we need a Royal Commission when the facts are staring us in the face. "If politicians were more honest they'd get more votes. Misinformation given out in the 1960s is still being given out as misinformation now. "Prohibition has done more harm to people than cannabis has ever done. The law is racist and victimises the cannabis community. At the end of the day whose life is it anyway? It is mine, not the politicians." He added: "Cannabis was smoked freely in the Borders in the past. It was the second most found drug at the medieval Soutra Aisle Hospice, near Oxton. "It remains the safest social intoxicant known to man."
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