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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Drug training for councillor
Wiltshire Times
Friday 08 Oct 2004 A BRADFORD ON AVON councillor will go on a cannabis training course after nearly half of teenagers quizzed in a survey thought the drug was used in the town on a daily basis. Cllr Michael Bowen, 74, chairman of Bradford's Community Safety Group, said he hopes the training day will open his eyes to the issues surrounding cannabis as he admits he knows very little about the banned drug. "The misuse of drugs and solvents is of concern to all of us," he said. "I know nothing about cannabis. I have never had cannabis. "I know what it smells like and I know immediately when I go in a room if it is being smoked." "People think it's quite amusing that I'm going to Salisbury for cannabis training but I certainly don't want to be discussing cannabis without knowing all about it," he added. The UKP25-a-head training day, organised by the Wiltshire Health Promotion Service, will be held at the Red Lion in Salisbury on October 22. The move comes after a Wiltshire County Council Tomorrow's Voice survey showed 45 per cent of teenagers in Bradford on Avon believed cannabis was used daily, compared to the county average of 35 per cent. In the same survey figures for perceived use of solvents and cocaine were also higher than the county average. A council working group drafted in three teenagers to talk over the survey results earlier this year, leading to the decision to send Cllr Bowen on the drugs awareness course. "All of them said that drugs were easily available in Bradford on Avon and quite a lot of their friends smoked them," Cllr Bowen said. "My own view about it is that for schoolchildren who wouldn't normally be smoking ordinary cigarettes to be smoking cannabis is a great pity." He said health problems resulting from smoking cannabis at an early age were also a concern. Cllr Bowen, who has lived in the town since 1982, said he has never seen anyone smoking cannabis in the town but believes the drug problem is linked to wider anti-social behaviour issues. "What I have been concerned about with anti-social behaviour is that we do not have any police community support officers in Bradford on Avon," he said.
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