Text only version UKCIA Newsblog Reefer Madness from a self apponted "expert" transmitted by BBC Radio 4 "You and Yours" 2005 (mp3) Marjorie Wallace of SANE Cannabis videos on the web A new and growing collection of cannabis related videos here Transform Drug Policy foundation BEEN BUSTED? NEED HELP? The Independent Drug Monitoring Unit (IDMU) has legal advice and a find a solicitor service. IDMU IDMU drug use survey   UKCIA Newsblog News and comment on the unfolding story of cannabis law reform - back after the summer break! Newsblog here 17th August - Cannabis use down, class A use up and it’s all “pointless”. Yet another voice is added to the growing chorus against prohibition and official figures show our drugs policy has failed again. Libdems try to make seeds illegal The stated policy of the Libdems is to stop the prosecution of cannabis growers and ultimatly to leglaise cannabis. Strange then that Libbdem MP Tom Brake - MP for Carshalton in Surrey - is trying to outlaw seeds with a 10 minute rule bill in Parliament. If you were thniknig of supporting the Libdems because of their drugs policy (which is by far the most intellegent of the main parties), maybe you need to think again - and tell them Libdem MP Tom Brake - one reason not to vote Libdem. MP Tom Brake seen dealing in his favourite recreational drug Previous blog entries 3rd August - The UK Drug Policy Commission report “Tackling Drug Markets and Distribution Networks in the UK” 6th July - The future of the cannabis law reform movement 2 22nd June - The new abstentionists Vs Industrial substitution 15th June - The press, recovery, prison and politicians, all in one week. 8th June - Two more bits of cannabis / brain research and the story of Gazza. 1st June - Recovery, harm reduction or just better regulation? 25th May - A review of drug harms? 18th May - BBC Radio 4 "The Cannabis Trade" Drugs, your community, your say - the consultation con Cannabinoid combination affects cannabis-linked psychological symptoms Contamination - now its lead UKCIA has been warning about contaminated cannabis for over a year now. Back in December 2006 we were a alerted to the “Grit weed” problem - herbal cannabis containing microscopic glass beads. Things, it seems, have just taken a turn for the worse - much worse. The New England Journal of Medicine has reported that herbal cannabis in Europe has been found to be contaminated with lead shot which has produced casualties. Read more here Newsblog The ACMD report on the classification of cannabis is online here.(Home Office website). The government decided to ignore the main recommendation and is to return cannabis to class B. Warning: Using cannabis makes you listen to loud music, wear jeans and hoodies and grow long hair! OK, so what are the real risks? Remember the government's consultation on the future of its drugs policy? It was billed as being one of the biggest consultations ever held. The consultation, Drugs: Our Community, Your Say was launched on 25th July 2007 and communicated through the Home Office website. The full consultation document contained 52 questions with free-response text boxes. 5,000 copies of this document were issued to key stakeholders throughout the country. In addition to the full document, a shorter set of seven questions was published in leaflet form, aimed at a more general public audience. 300,000 leaflets were printed and distributed through outlets such as doctors’ surgeries, libraries and police stations. All this, including online submissions, produced a stunning 1,020 responses. Yep, just 1,020 from a UK population of nearly 60,000,000. Unbelievable, well done HMG, you really caught the public imagination there. Sorry for the sarcasm. When it happened UKCIA called it a sham, seems we were right. The IPSOS - Mori evaluation of this massive public consultation excercise is here (1M PDF) August 13th - Drugs policy "cannot work" Ex-government drugs director of the Anti-Drug Co-ordination Unit, Julian Critchley, has gone public in admiring that the drugs policy of prohibition cannot work, saying he now believes legalisation is the only way forward. This is yet another bombshell against our failed drugs policy He said: "wishing drug use away was "folly" and that there was "no doubt" there would be a fall in crime as a result of legalisation. "The argument always put forward against this is that there would be a commensurate increase in drug use as a result of legalisation," he said. "This, it seems to me, is a bogus point: tobacco is a legal drug, whose use is declining, and precisely because it is legal, its users are far more amenable to government control, education programmes and taxation than they would be were it illegal." BBC News story The UK Drug Policy Commission report “Tackling Drug Markets and Distribution Networks in the UK” The latest official report into the total failure of prohibition, this one makes depressing reading for anyone who still thinks there is a future for the war on drugs UKDPC report online here - PDF document Pragmatism Whatever politicians and the police might try to tell you, cannabis is not really a "controlled drug", prohibition prevents any real controls. A pragmatic approach to law reform challenges this use of doublespeak. Instead it argues that the potential risks should form the basis of the regulatory approach. UKCIA is a pragmatic cannabis law reform campaign for a drugs policy based on proper control and regulation of the commercial supply, coupled with effective harm reduction measures. Cannabis pragmaitism and the case for law reform - Read more     Remember: Cannabis is an illegal substance, it is illegal to have or to supply. A conviction for cannabis can ruin a career and cause many serious problems Though reasonably safe for most people, cannabis is not an inert substance and if you abuse it you can expect to get problems. Cannabis use may make conditions such as schizophrenia worse and may delay the recovery of ill people. Children and young teenagers are best advised not to use drugs of any kind including cannabis. Smoking isn't the only way to use cannabis see here for more info   Cannabis Grit weed Contamination April 2008 New contamination danger - lead - read more. It used to be assumed that herbal cannabis was unlikely to suffer from contamination but this is no longer true, the workings of prohibition have managed to create the economic circumstances which have lead to the mass contamination of supplies. How did this happen? Before summer 2006 cannabis was readily available due to a number of large scale cannabis farms. Operation Keymer, which was widely trumpeted in the press, either busted them, or more likely sent most to ground, creating a shortage virtually over night. It wasn't long before this shortage was filled from another source, only this time the cannabis was contaminated. How dangerous is this contamination? The answer to that is no-one knows, it's a totally unmeasurable unknown. The only sensible advice is really very simple: Don't sell grit weed Don't buy grit weed Don't smoke grit weed The only way to ensure you have pure cannabis is to grow it yourself or to know someone who does. The government's warning is welcome, but of course it doesn't highlight the cause of the problem (their own policy) and tries to use the danger as an argument against cannabis use. Contamination isn't a problem caused by cannabis, it's a problem caused by the law. As contaminated supplies are used as an indication of "success" for the war on drugs, it's clear that the government is happy to deliberately create extra unmeasuarable dangers in its effort to deter use - no other government policy sets out to do that. Yet the health warning was issued because the government accepts it has a duty of care to warn people about the danger it caused. Joined up policy making this isn't! The contamination story Grit weed story on YouTube - ITV Wales report. Part 1 Part 2 Government health warning Department of Health website The government on drugs Talk to Frank if you must Soap Daily Dose is the premiere news service of drug information. Subscribe to the daily e-mail here UKCIA We aim to draw attention to the problems the present policy of prohibition is causing and the nature of the culture it's causing problems for. The core team of UKCIA are a collection of activists - users of cannabis and sympathisers - who all have two things: An Internet connection and a desire to help repeal the cannabis laws because we believe that they are bad laws. The prohibition of cannabis introduces the huge number who use it to an often violent illegal drugs market providing everything from cannabis to crack. It prevents any sort of quality control and treats those it claims to be protecting as the enemy. Used in moderation by adults cannabis is a very safe substance, but we don't claim that its totally safe - few things in life are - and we don't set out to encourage its use. Subjecting cannabis to a regime of prohibition simply imposes new and unnecessary dangers in additition to anything the plant might do   It's our aim to the tell the truth about cannabis, something the government can't do because of it's prohibitionist agenda. That means warts and all. UKCIA supports harm reduction and for this reason we give information on how to use it as safely as possible and what the risks of using it are. Of course, cannabis is also much more than just "dope", the arguments for legalising it go much further than recreational drug control. Cannabis is truly a plant with a huge range of uses. We know that the best weapon against the continued prohibition of cannabis is the truth. So UKCIA sets out to be a store of factual information and you can find out about all aspects of the cannabis plant, its uses and the way its used here. Cannabis legalisation is a major issue and isn't going to go away, the law has already changed because it had to, further change is needed. Contact UKCIA Use this banner to link to UKCIA Page designed and maintained by UKCIA