(The News – Portsmouth, UK) The parents of a young musician who killed himself on a railway line have been left questioning whether cannabis caused their son’s mental illness.

Ben Gregory, a talented trombonist, was prone to stress when he started using the Class B drug when he was 18 years old.

But after starting university studies, he began showing signs of paranoia and was diagnosed with psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia after suffering from night frights, depression and hearing voices in his head.

OK, what exactly do we mean by “prone to stress”?  Is it possible that by age 18, his psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia began to manifest and he sought cannabis to get some relief?

The 25-year-old, who lived in Wisteria Gardens, Havant, was given medication and received counselling. But he died after stepping out in front of a train at Warblington Railway Station in Havant on June 8 last year.

OK, what exactly do we mean by “given medication”?  Could he have been given one of the anti-depressants that have been shown to double the suicide risk in young people aged 18-25?

An inquest in Petersfield heard Ben didn’t have any alcohol or drugs in his system when he died. But his parents still don’t know whether cannabis caused their son to develop his mental illness.

His father, Raymond, said: ‘The medics couldn’t tell us for certain. But we know cannabis can cause psychosis in about one per cent of young men.

No, Raymond, schizophrenia and psychosis are suffered by about 1% of young men, period.  Whether they use cannabis or not.

‘Stress can also be a trigger. He was finding it difficult to cope with his university course and family problems and his grandfather died in the middle of this.’

Ben’s mum, Pamela Parry-Jones, said: ‘He dabbled with cannabis when he was 18. He had difficulties all through his life. He found it difficult through school and college, and he found our divorce difficult.’

So, then, a young man having trouble in school, grieving over his parent’s divorce and grandfather’s death, who has been “prone to stress” since adolescence and was taking brain medications committed suicide.  It sounds to me like using cannabis probably kept the young man alive and able to cope for seven years.

(Guardian UK) Release is taking legal action against the British Transport Police (BTP) to determine if the use of sniffer dogs to detect drugs is lawful. If we are successful, the case will require the police to stop using sniffer dogs for this purpose.

The case was sparked by an incident in which Release’s executive director, Sebastian Saville was searched last year by the BTP at Camden Town underground station following a positive indication by a sniffer dog. Saville had no illegal drugs in his possession.

…The use of sniffer dogs to identify people carrying drugs as they make their way through London’s transport system is not only wrong in principle, but it is also ineffective in practice.

Australian research has found that in 74% of searches following an indication by a police dog no drugs were found. No equivalent comprehensive research has been conducted in the UK; however preliminary inquiries via freedom of information requests indicate that the deployment of police dogs here produces similar results. During Operation Shelter, conducted by the British Transport Police during Latitude festival in Ipswich in 2008, only 12% of searches conducted as a result of “tells” by police dogs located illegal drugs.

Sniffer dogs are not about catching drug dealers. The dogs lack the sophistication to distinguish between someone who has been in contact with drugs and someone who’s actually carrying them, let alone to determine what kind of quantity that person is carrying, and what they intend to do with it. Mr Hot Shot Dealer does not travel the tube with his stash. These dogs are not used to protect the public. They cannot be compared to metal detectors or dogs trained to identify bombs or knives, since drugs are not used as a weapon against the public. So the argument that the ends justify the means – used to defend searching thousands of visitors entering a venue on the grounds of protecting the public from an act of violence – cannot apply in the context of personal possession of drugs.

A dog is not an infallible and precise scientific measurement instrument, but police would like you to think they are.  Drug K-9′s often alert just to appease their masters who are looking for an excuse to search a suspect without his or her permission.  Dan Monnat gave an excellent presentation on this phenomenon at our 2008 Aspen Legal Conference.

The report looked at four potential scenarios, ranging from no increase in drugs use to a 100% rise as they become more readily available.

“The conclusion is that regulating the drugs market is a dramatically more cost-effective policy than prohibition and that moving from prohibition to regulated drugs markets in England and Wales would provide a net saving to taxpayers, victims of crime, communities, the criminal justice system and drug users of somewhere within the range of, for the four scenarios, £13.9bn, £10.8bn, £7.7bn, £4.6bn.”

Titled a Comparison of the Cost-effectiveness of the Prohibition and Regulation of Drugs, the report uses government figures on the costs of crime to assess the potential benefits and disadvantages of change. The document, co-written by Steve Rolles, head of research at Transform, uses home office and No 10 strategy unit reports to form its conclusions.

It finds: “The government specifically claims the benefits of any move away from prohibition towards legal regulation would be outweighed by the costs. No such cost-benefit analysis, or even a proper impact assessment of existing enforcement policy and legislation has ever been carried out here or anywhere else in the world.”

via The Guardian “Legalisation of drugs could save UK £14bn, says study“

[I particularly like that in this study, they hypothesized the drug prohibitionist's most hysterical warnings that legalization would lead to cannabis zombies roaming the streets because use would skyrocket (STRAAIINS!! STRAAIINS!!).  Even if drug use doubled, a 100% increase, they still found they would save £4.6 billion.  Of course, I always say that everyone who wants to smoke pot is already smoking pot; I don't think marijuana usage would rise much at all.  84% of high school seniors already say they can access pot fairly easily.  I think adult usage may rise, but that teen use may fall to counteract that as marijuana moves into adults-only stores that check IDs for age 21 and over.  We've seen teen tobacco rates fall as states raise their tobacco age from 18 to 19 and as others more strictly enforce age 18 tobacco laws. -- "R"R]

I love reading the British news.  Such odd little differences between American and British English, like “legalization” vs. “legalisation”, what we call a “truck” they call a “lorry”, and what we call a “marijuana grow house” they call a “cannabis factory”.

Twenty-nine forces said they had uncovered more of the drug being grown, including Gwent which detected no factories in 2004 but 151 last year.

The largest force in the UK, London’s Metropolitan Police, reported an increase from 206 to 654, while West Midlands saw a rise from 174 to 672.

New guidance has been drawn up by the National Policing Improvement Agency to tackle the burgeoning problem of cannabis cultivation.

A national cannabis coordinator has also been appointed to share information and best practice between forces, a Home Office spokesman said.

via Number of cannabis factories found by police rises sharply – Telegraph.

See what I mean?  What they call a “national cannabis coordinator” we call a “drug czar”.

Words are important.  “Cannabis factory” conjures “industrial”, “dirty”, “high volume”, “manufacturing”, and “business”.  A “marijuana grow house” isn’t as scary.  It’s a house where marijuana grows.  “Houses” belong in neighborhoods, even if the house is being misused.  “Factories” don’t belong in neighborhoods and can only be used for business.

Reefer Madness is a universal language, it just has different dialects from country to country.

Watch the UK’s latest ‘Talk to Frank’ cannabis ad, where “Simon” is just a typical young male Briton about to light up a joint.  He’s happy, because he knows his “Giggles”, “Munchies”, “Happy”, “Dr. Chill”, and “Talkative” personalities will emerge from smoking the reefer.  But he really doesn’t want to invite in “Memory Loss”, “Panic Attacks”, “Paranoia, “Pukey”, and “Lazy”.  This ad also reminds the viewer that cannabis has been recently upgraded to a scary Class B drug.

I’m waiting for the UK ad with “Pip”, the young male Briton about to quaff a Guiness Stout.  Bring on “Happy”, “Outgoing”, “Obnoxious”, “Weepy”, “Confrontational”, “Violent”, “Pukey”, “Mr. Auto Crash”, “Addicted”, “Unconscious”, and “Cirrhosis”.

Spice, as it is known on the street and in school playgrounds, has already been banned by at least four European nations including the Netherlands, where smoking small amounts of cannabis is tolerated.

Spice contains JWH-018, a synthetic psychoactive substance which gives what the Royal Society of Chemistry has described as a “marijuana-like high”.

JWH-018, a cannabinoid receptor, was created by an American academic purely for research purposes in 1995.

Last month Christian Steup from THC Pharm, a German company that makes legal painkillers from cannabis, detected JWH-018 in several packets of Spice, according to the RSC’s Chemistry World magazine.

He said the substance was four to five times more potent than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive substance in cannabis.

Organic chemist John W Huffman, who discovered the compound and lent his name to it, said he did not think it was toxic but admitted that he did not know.

via Teens in Britain getting legally high on synthetic cannabis banned across Europe – Telegraph.

Oh no!  There is a new synthetic pot that’s claimed to be 4 to 5 times stronger than the deadly skunk, which itself has been claimed to be 7 to 400 times stronger than regular old marijuana!  And since regular old marijuana is considered to be a Schedule I drug, the most dangerous category of drugs that have no medical purporse, like PCP, LSD, and heroin, then this “Spice” must be super-duper dangerous!

Right.  Nowhere in the article does anyone point out any known toxicity or proven dangers of JWH-018, but there is a speculation that since cannabis has those terrible links to depression, schizophrenia, and psychosis, that use of “Spice” will lead to an epidemic of mental health issues.

Except that these supposed links from cannabis to depression, schizophrenia, and psychosis are wildly overblown and mostly non-existent and that JWH-018 is not chemically similar to THC, so it’s a stretch to speculate that they would affect the mind similarly.

That said, we’ve done decades of research on THC and next to nothing on JWH-018.  I wouldn’t recommend being the beta tester for any new untested synthetic chemical.  Let’s let the unbiased scientists study this “Spice” and until we know the facts, stick to nature.

The reclassification of cannabis as a Class B drug has come into effect in England and Wales amid complaints the new laws are “illogical”.

Plans to introduce a “three strikes” system for cannabis possession start with a warning, then an £80 spot fine for a second offence. Scotland and Northern Ireland have opted out of this penalties arrangement for England and Wales, retaining the former system for class B drugs.

Only when a third offence is committed, will the person be liable to arrest and prosecution.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith decided to reclassify cannabis despite an Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ review – commissioned by Gordon Brown – saying it should remain Class C.

Ms Smith said stronger “skunk” varieties account for 80% of the cannabis seized on the streets, and that the drug is nearly three times stronger than in 1995.

The advisory council’s report, Cannabis: Classification and Public Health, described the drug as a “significant public health issue”.

But it said it should still remain a Class C drug, saying the risks were not as serious as those of Class B substances such as amphetamines and barbiturates.

Britain and America are so much alike when it comes to marijuana policy.  Both have commissioned independent reviews of cannabis policy, both have had these reviews recommend decriminalization, both have ignored the scientists and the pollsters and the doctors and the people in continuing to punish people for their responsible use of cannabis.

PENALTIES FOR DRUG DEALING AND POSSESSION

Drug class	Type of drug	Possession	Dealing
Class A	Ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms, amphetamines (if prepared for injection).	Up to seven years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.	Up to life in prison or an unlimited fine or both.
Class B	Cannabis, amphetamines, Methylphenidate (Ritalin), Pholcodine.	Up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.	Up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.
Class C	Tranquilisers, some painkillers, Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), Ketamine.	Up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.	Up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine or both

Source: Home Offfice

via BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Cannabis law change ‘illogical’.

Milkman who supplied cannabis to elderly faces jail
A milkman who supplied cannabis to elderly customers to ward off their “aches and pains” is facing a possible jail term in Britain.

Robert Holding, 72, pleaded guilty in Burnley Crown Court to two counts of supplying and possessing the drug, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

The court in Lancashire, north-west England, heard that Holding supplied cannabis to 17 households when residents left hand-written requests out with their empty milk bottles.

Defence lawyer Phil Holden said Holding had told police the drug was for “elderly people with aches and pains”.

“Those who he supplied, and there were not many, were through word-of-mouth and his customers were all of a certain age,” The Daily Mail quoted Holden as saying.

Adjourning the case for a pre-sentence report, Judge Beverley Lunt flagged a likely prison term.

“You must understand these are serious offences and in my judgment the likely outcome is an immediate custodial sentence,” she said.

Thought #1 – the milkman who delivers weed is named “Holding”?  File this one in the Dr. Mitch Earleywine Appropriate Names File*.  And then his defense lawyer is “Holden”?  Really?

Thought #2 – I didn’t know there really were still milkmen in the world, much less those who will deliver cannabis.  I thought these days milkmen only existed as plot devices in pornography.  So I’m told.

Thought #3 – A 72-year-old man is delivering cannabis to other elderly people and you want to throw him in jail?  Because, what, stoned geriatrics are a threat to society and a drain on productivity?  Because smoking pot is a serious danger to their health and longevity?  I think when you reach a certain age (let’s say the average life expectancy at your birth, like 72 or so) you should be allowed to use any drug you like.  That’s your final age to wait for — 16 for driving, 18 for smokes, 21 for booze, 35 for President, 55 for AARP, 65 to retire, then, finally at 72, you get to smoke, drink, snort, shoot, and eat whatever you like.

Thought #4 – Keith Stroup has made a point about growing older and the aches and pains that come with it and that use of cannabis at a certain age is by definition medical.  I agree with him, although I think I set the age at about 22.

* I so dubbed this file based on talking with Dr. Mitch Earleywine – a researcher who’s authored many studies on alcohol use.  Earleywine, alcohol, get it?  Then he told me of cocaine research done by a Dr. Blow, LSD research done by Dr. Fried, and he has a grad student who works on his cannabis research named Smoker-Barnwell.  Just this last month the Michigan medical marijuana clinic opened and the ophthalmologist who wrote recommendations for medical cannabis is named Dr. Eisenbud.

Hartlepool mum spared jail after growing cannabis as a painkiller – Gazette Live
A polio victim who built a cannabis factory in her back garden at Hartlepool and then used the drug as a makeshift painkiller has been spared jail.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Michelle Robinson took out a bank loan to have the outhouse constructed and have an electricity supply installed.

Police raided the West View Road property on May 15 and were shown around the house by the 35-year-old defendant.

The mum-of-three handed over four small bags of cannabis and took officers to the outhouse where 41 plants were growing under a system of lights and fans.

The court heard Robinson had been struck down by polio when she was two, and used cannabis as a painkiller as she suffered allergies to some over-the-counter drugs.

Robinson, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to producing a Class C drug.

Judge Tony Briggs said: “It is a very unfortunate business to see someone in your position in front of the Crown Court.

“There is no question of this being a commercial operation. I have seen your medical history, it is unusual but it does appear you have difficulty accessing and are allergic to some of the painkillers for your disability and use cannabis for that purpose.”

The judge gave Robinson an 18-month community order with supervision and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the plants.

So it appears you’re not a drug dealer or a drug addict, just a woman with polio using cannabis for pain relief.  Right then, no jail for you.  Instead, we’ll just destroy your plants and medicine, make sure you suffer in pain without the medicine for at least eighteen months, and splash your name across the headlines, how’s that?

I also like how they’re now “cannabis factories”.  I’ve seen that terminology cropping up in various media reports, or “marijuana factories” here in the states.  A “factory” is so much scarier than a “garden”, isn’t it, boys and girls?

I’m also wondering what a “makeshift painkiller” is.  The way I figure it, something either kills pain or it doesn’t, right?  There can be variations of painkiller – one could be morphine and make you forget about a freshly sawed-off leg, one could be just the aspirin that dulls a throbbing headache – but if they kill the pain, they’re painkillers.  If you took aspirin for the sawed-off leg, it wouldn’t be a “makeshift painkiller”, because it would do little to nothing for the pain.  I say if the woman with polio smoked cannabis and it killed her pain, it’s a “painkiller”, full stop!*

* The British don’t say “period” in that context, they say “full stop”.  The engineer on my radio show is British and I learn the most interesting things.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Peers to vote on cannabis rethink
Peers are being urged to overturn the government’s plan to upgrade cannabis from a class C to a Class B drug.

The change is due to come into force in January, reversing Tony Blair’s 2004 downgrading, and raising a maximum jail sentence for possession to five years.

This is despite the Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommendation that cannabis should remain a class C drug.

The government’s reclassification order was made in October but is not due to come into force until 26 January next year.

A letter to the Guardian newspaper, signed by former government chief scientific advisers David King and Lord Robert May, says the drugs classification system must be “credible” and that changing it again would give an “ambiguous message”.

“Cannabis use has fallen in recent years, especially following its downgrading to class C in 2004, and it is obviously unwise to risk reversing that trend.”

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in June that the drug should return to class B because of “uncertainty” over its impact on mental health.

This would lift the maximum prison sentence for possession from two years to five years.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith needs to review the latest research on cannabis and mental health.  Researchers in Denmark have found no validity to the idea of “cannabis-induced psychosis” and concluded that schizophrenics whose bad reactions to pot preceded their mental illness “would have developed schizophrenia whether or not they used cannabis.”

Since the UK downgraded cannabis from Class B to Class C, they’ve seen cannabis use drop to the lowest levels in a decade.  So, naturally, in the face of such success, they’ve decided to go back to Class B.

Much of this change can be traced to the UK media hyping the threat of “skunk”.  Here in America, they’ll call it “bud” or “Pot 2.0″, but the argument is the same: this new super-pot is nothing like what you smoked at Woodstock – it’s addictive and will ruin your kids’ lives!  It’s not true, of course.  There has always been super-potent pot and potency is irrelevant; if it’s more potent, you just smoke less of it.  Increased potency does not change the effect of the cannabis – you still get high – but it just takes less smoking to get there, which is a good thing if you don’t like smoky lungs.

Wouldn’t it be nice if drug policy was based on science and medical observation instead of tabloid headlines and ignorant politicians?