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UKCIA Newsblog
News and comment on the unfolding story of cannabis law reform

UKCIA is being archived by the British Library UK web Archive project

Latest UKCIA blog - 7th February 2010

The stranglehold the psycho-pharms? What we’re seeing is an interesting development whereby the abstinence movement has picked up on something the cannabis law reform movement has been trying to get across for years: Where we are now, the laws we have and the drugs regime we have is the product of corrupt meddling by powerful industrial concerns and what it actually set out to do was not what it said on the tin.

Prohibition – from the “when in a hole dig faster” school of problem solving. So why is cannabis illegal anyway? A simple question...

Cannabis: Britian's secret farms, a look at the recent BBC 3 documentary, another bit of bad cannabis reporting from the BBC

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Talk to Frank
The government's anti drugs advertising campaign

Talk to Frank answers some questions about its "Cannabis facts" - well, sort of. Read the reply to an e-mail sent two months ago!

Following up on recent observations about the Talk to Frank cannabis information an e-mail was sent to the Home Office Frank team

Talk to Frank gives good, honest information shock horror. The Sunday Telegraph spat blood at Talk to Frank's help line for giving honest advice.

A cost benefit analysis for the war on drugs? The government just says “no”! An examination of the reasons the Home Office gives for not allowing a proper examination of the prohibition policy. In truth, they know that if anyone did such a study, prohibition would be exposed for the sham that it is.

The first casualty of war is the truth - prohibition depends on it.

You may have heard Talk to Frank adverts on radio and TV that claim cannabis will make you sick (puke as they put it). Unless you mix it with alcohol cannabis is very unlikely to do that. The information given by Talk to Frank is highly questionable in many ways, but in this instance it is simply wrong. See information on getting a "whitey" here.

Cannabis information critique. Talk to Frank's latest version of the truth about cannabis - and by far the worst yet it contains claims which are actually wrong.

Cannabis: Mess with your mind. Seen the latest offering from the government's anti drugs advertising agency?

Inaccessible - despite costing the UK tax payer a huge amount, the Talk to Frank website is very badly designed. See how it appears to blind and partially sighted people who use JAWS screen reading software.

The Government on Drugs - talk to Frank if you must

My first joint
Children and cannabis - the failure of prohibition

Skunk panic!

We have a new anti cannabis campaign brewing,

23rd March - The Skunk Panic - the new prohibitionist campaign for class A

The Guardian newspaper hyping the book by Julie Meyerson about her son's use of so-called "skunk" cannabis.

15th March -Skunk panic: The Myerson’s book Vs the need for child protection

More Newsblog highlights

 

You don't have to smoke
to be a class B criminal

Let them eat cake - guide to eating cannabis

Cannabis can be eaten or madeinto a wide range of drinks which avoid all the dangers of smoking, but it's not without its own problems - How to eat cannabis - see here for more info

Be careful:
Illegal drugs are not controlled drugs.
Prohibition kills.

 

the Keele study
Cannabis and mental illness

The Keele university study "Assessing the impact of cannabis use on trends in diagnosed schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005" was paid for by UK taxpayers and carried out for our government as a part of its review of the classification of cannabis in 2008, yet its results were kept very quiet for 18 months.

The study found no link between rates of cannabis use and mental illness undermining the stated reason for moving cannabis back to class B. The government ignored the results of the study and when it did publish the results, did so with as little media awareness as possible.

UKCIA Newsblog comment

Read the Keele study online here (Why Prohibition? website)

 

 

Drug Equality Alliance

Welcome to UKCIA
A website dedicated to the issue of cannabis law reform

Cannabis is a stimulating-hallucinogenic depressant with anti-psychotic properties, it's not your normal run of the mill drug.

UKCIA is a law reform, specifically an "anti prohibition" site. You don't have to be a cannabis user or even like cannabis very much to understand the harm prohibition is causing to individuals and the wider society and to want to do something about it.

Actually, Cannabis is not a drug as such, it's a plant which grows widely all over the world. Some forms of the plant contain a substance known as THC which, together with certain other chemicals contained in the plant, produce an effect on perception known - in the UK - as "getting stoned". THC is rightly called a drug, but cannabis isn't just THC

This property is well known in British society and many millions of us have experienced it, but it is an experience which carries a prison sentence of five years simply for possessing a sample of the plant, trading in cannabis can land you with a 14 year stint inside which is more severe than you can expect for violent assault.

The aim of this law - called prohibition - is to prevent the use of cannabis through a deterrent effect provided by legal sanctions. It doesn't work and the result has been to create an illegal, uncontrolled and unregulated trade which employs hundreds of thousands of people and reaches into every corner of society. The dangers created by prohibition are outlined on this site and they far outweigh anything the plant could do.

Nothing on earth is "safe", especially things we all enjoy doing for fun and cannabis is no exception. But prohibition prevents any rational, informed debate about or study of the real dangers cannabis may or may not be capable of. Instead we are fed a diet of hype, misinformation and downright lies. Even to the extent that this illegal, uncontrolled and unregulated substance is called a "controlled drug" by politicians and police. "Controlled", of course, is the one thing that cannabis is not. Indeed, many of the dangers the law claims to exist to protect us from are caused by the law in the first place.

UKCIA is a website of information. We have a Research Section stuffed with scientific studies and a Library of significant developments in the law reform debate. We have information on the Therapeutic use of cannabis and its Industrial uses - which some argue are the real reason cannabis is illegal. We examine the long history cannabis has and the effects of using it (including the risks) in the Culture section. Lastly, but sadly not the least importantly, we have a section on Politics and Law, the cause of all the problems.

UKCIA is here for you to use. Get informed and when you hear stupid people saying stupid things about cannabis - put them right!

Please use our Forum to talk about issues, or tell us what you think with the Feedback Form.

The message from UKCIA is simple: if you want change, it's up to you to make it happen. The first step is to get informed and that's what this site is here for, please use it.

After the war on Drugs - A blueprint for regulation.

The highly respected drug law campaign Transform have just published their latest report looking at options for the regulation of a legal drugs trade. Worth a look.

More information here (Transform website)

Pragmatism
UKCIA, the what and the why

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

What is UKCIA?


Contact UKCIA

Cannabis - the real risks
Warning: Using cannabis makes you listen to loud music, wear jeans and hoodies and grow long hair!

A cannabis stereotype, but a nice one. Click for the risks section
UKCIA Risks Section - No-nonsense info on the downsides of cannabis use


click the picture of an old radio to hear some reefer madness

 

Reefer Madness
from the BBC

Here is an example of Reefer Madness - ill informed opinionated rubbish - presented as fact by someone who claims to be an expert. This audio file was taken from by BBC Radio4's "You and Yours" programme broadcast in 2005 Listen here (mp3)


Cannabis is illegal

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.


BEEN BUSTED?
NEED HELP?
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The Independent Drug Monitoring Unit (IDMU) has legal advice and a find a solicitor service.

IDMU
IDMU drug use survey

 

Transform drug policy foundation
Transform Drug Policy foundation


Daily Dose - The World's leading drug and alcohol news service
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Cannabis videos on the web
A new and growing collection of cannabis related videos here

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