The Daily Mail Reefer Madness Archive

Originally published on CLEAR, this is a collection of stories published by the Daily Mail about cannabis. It is a summary of 10 years of inaccurate, misleading and distorted information about cannabis in which the Daily Mail has deliberately confused comment, conjecture and fact in its systematic campaign against cannabis and cannabis users.

Its efforts amount to nothing less than a hate campaign against cannabis users, millions of British citizens, most of whom are reasonable, responsible and respectable individuals, many of whom need cannabis as medicine. Perhaps more importantly it demonstrates a sustained campaign of misinformation designed to undermine the cannabis law reform campaign

Try not to go psychotic as you read through this.

2001

Cannabis can cause insanity, scientists warn
Cannabis can drive people temporarily insane, as well as harming the heart, lungs and immune system, scientists warned today.

2002

How cannabis can trigger schizophrenia
Smoking cannabis affects brain chemistry so seriously it can trigger schizophrenia, scientists warn today

The gospel according to Blunkett – Peter Hitchens
This page is too small to detail all the lies told by the pro-cannabis lobby about this dangerous poison.

Britain’s drug haze
Two miles from the Houses of Parliament, children played in the sunshine yesterday beside cannabis users exercising their new-found freedom to puff joints in public

Cannabis rule means children face ‘cancer time bomb’
Relaxing cannabis laws – giving young people freedom to smoke – will create a lung cancer time bomb, according to a new report

Cannabis ‘trebles risk of mental illness’
A new report has revealed smoking cannabis can treble the risk of developing a mental illness such as schizophrenia

The cannabis timebomb
Teenage cannabis-smokers dramatically increase their risk of suffering mental illness in later life, doctors reveal today

How cannabis use can destroy mental skills
Scientists have issued a stark warning about the dangers of cannabis as MPs prepare to debate relaxation of the drugs laws

2003

Britain’s rethink on cannabis ‘threatens health of a generation’
BRITAIN’S ‘softly softly’ approach to cannabis is putting the health of a generation in peril, the United Nations has warned.

Cannabis once a week can hook teens
Teenagers who smoke cannabis once a week risk a one-in-three chance of becoming addicts by the time they’re 21. A study found a third of regular smokers were dependent by their 20s

Health alert for cannabis users
An increase in cannabis smoking could lead to a surge in mental illness, with a four-fold increase in schizophrenia and depression, a leading drugs expert warned today

Is this the Zombie generation?
Relaxed new cannabis laws could create a generation of doped-up layabouts, an expert warns. He said the Government’s ‘softly softly’ approach was putting people at risk

Cannabis: the scientific evidence against it
THE EVIDENCE AGAINST CANNABIS

Drifter gets life for killing stranded woman
A beautiful 20-year-old student stranded in a London snowstorm fell into the hands of a murderer who was hunting for a victim, the Old Bailey heard yesterday (fueled by cannabis and alcohol)

Cannabis ‘kills 30,000 a year’
More than 30,000 cannabis smokers could die every year, doctors warn today. Experts writing in the British Medical Journal say cannabis could be a major contributor to UK deaths

The cannabis timebomb
Cannabis users are seven times more likely to develop mental illness, a report has revealed. Scientists said effects of the drug are so serious, it is one of the major causes of psychosis

Cannabis link to male fertility
Men being warned that smoking cannabis could affect their fertility. Scientists have uncovered new evidence that the drug upsets the male reproductive system

Dope ‘damages male fertility’
Marijuana smokers have been warned that the drug could have a devastating effect on their fertility. Scientists say men who use the substance regularly produce far less sperm

Why are we soft on this killer drug?
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
ACCORDING to the Government, cannabis is no more dangerous than slimming pills or tranquillisers. Last week, under cover of half-term and the sacking of the Tory leader, the Government finally carried out its threat to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C ‘ non-arrestable’ drug.

Top coroner warns on cannabis
The UK’s top coroner says hundreds of people are dying because of prolonged cannabis use. He believes the drug is responsible for many deaths recorded as accidents or suicides

Smoking cannabis ‘damages lungs’
Smoking cannabis even for only a short time damages the lungs of young people, researchers have warned. It was found that cannabis smokers had poorer lung function than those who just smoked cigarettes

2004

Cannabis causes mental illness
Cannabis use is now the biggest single cause of serious mental disorders in the UK, an expert warns. The message comes as the Government prepares to downgrade cannabis

Heads fear for new cannabis laws
Headteachers and lawyers today united to issue a high-profile warning over the Government’s changes to the law on cannabis

Brits believe cannabis is safe
Widespread confusion over new laws governing cannabis means many Britons now wrongly believe it is safe to use. In fact, it is five times more dangerous than cigarettes

Tories would reverse cannabis decision
A future Conservative government would reverse Labour’s downgrading of cannabis from Class B to Class C, Tory leader Michael Howard has said.

Look what they’re smoking at school now
THE COUNSELLOR had her nose in the air, sniffing like an old hound dog. This was in the corridor of a school in Hackney, East London. Teachers were trying to make young kids understand simple things in classrooms on either side. Then the counsellor got a noseful of something and let her taste buds work it out.

I witnessed the real danger of cannabis
By CAROLE CAPLIN
Government moves to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug won’t make this substance any less dangerous or potentially destructive. Probably quite the contrary

Cannabis catastrophe
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
As David Blunkett contemplates the chaos and fury triggered by his decision to downgrade the law on cannabis, he could do worse than consider the case of Dominique Lansdowne. Eleven years ago, when she was 18, the former care assistant from Swansea started smoking cannabis once a week. It very nearly destroyed her.

Evidence that proves cannabis is dangerous
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
Three weeks from now, the reclassification of cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug comes into effect. At that point, it will be officially considered no more dangerous than painkillers, steroids or tranquillisers.

Blunkett’s soft line on cannabis ‘causing chaos‘
David Blunkett has faced a withering attack over his ‘softly-softly’ cannabis policy as a report showed a huge rise in amounts seized and widespread public confusion. Police leaders claimed the Home Secretary’s reforms had left them with ‘the worst of all worlds’

The real reason Labour has gone soft on cannabis
A secret elite lobby has achieved one of the greatest reversals of Government policy in modern history: the decision to relax the laws on cannabis. The reclassification of this drug took place in defiance of logic

2005

Potent cannabis presents even greater dangers
The increased availability of high-strength cannabis is harming the physical and mental health of young people in the UK, an expert has warned. Dr Clare Gerada said the drug can cause psychosis and respiratory illness

Don’t let the drugs lobby tear down our school gates
Where morals and self-restraint are weak, the law becomes much more important. A properly enforced law against cannabis, for instance, would protect many young people from strong peer pressure to try this dangerous and potent narcotic

Cannabis Q&A
Is Cannabis bad for you? Are there any side effects? Read our guide to how the drug affects health

Calls for inquiry into dangers of cannabis
A mental health charity has called for a government inquiry into the effects that cannabis has on users. Charity Rethink is pushing for the inquiry just a year after the Home Office reclassified cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug. They want an investigation into how the drug affects mental health after a series of studies linked it to psychosis

Why cannabis is a greater cancer risk than tobacco
Smoking cannabis is more harmful than cigarettes and more likely to trigger cancer, according to a new report by experts

Cannabis caused a 14-year-old to kill
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
When, at the age of 14, Luke Mitchell murdered his girlfriend Jodi Jones, he tied her up, slit her throat and then mutilated her body. Convicting Mitchell, now 16, at Edinburgh High Court last week, the judge, Lord Nimmo Smith, said it was one of the worst cases of murder he had seen for years…

Time to rethink the cannabis law
Disturbing new research by eminent medical specialists – reported for the first time in the Mail today – reveals just how much damage cannabis can do to young people. The decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug fuelled a popular misconception that it was relatively harmless

Cannabis may double mental illnesses
Smoking cannabis almost doubles the risk of suffering mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, according a new report. The drug causes chemical changes in the brain which make users more likely to experience paranoia, delusions and a loss of touch with reality

Cannabis use soared as Labour softened the law
By STEVE DOUGHTY
The number of people caught with cannabis soared after the Government announced it was making possession of the drug a less serious crime. In just two years, there was an increase of 23.5 per cent as many teenagers assumed the drug had been decriminalised

Government backtrack over cannabis
In an embarrassing Governmental U-turn Home Secretary Charles Clarke has asked his independent advisers to reassess the dangers of cannabis in the light of new medical research. Former home secretary David Blunkett downgraded the drug from Class B to Class C in January last year

Don’t let our dope-friendly politicians dupe us again
By PETER HITCHENS
Do not be doped by the Government’s attempt to seem tough on drugs. Once the Election is over, Labour – and its pro-cannabis friends in the Useless Tory Party – will return to their policy of appeasement and weakness

Man gets life for knife murder
A paranoid schizophrenic was today jailed for life for killing a former banker in a vicious knife attack. John Barrett repeatedly stabbed 50-year-old Denis Finnegan after ambushing him as he cycled through Richmond Park in south west London

2006

Humiliating cannabis U-turn for Clarke
Charles Clarke has paved the way for a humiliating U-turn over downgrading cannabis after finally admitting to ‘serious’ concerns that it causes mental illness. The Home Secretary however was attacked for claiming that evidence of the drug’s potentially devastating side-effects is new.

Clarke stays soft on cannabis
Charles Clarke has resisted demands for cannabis to be re-classified, two years after it was downgraded. He claimed his decision was supported by police and most drug and mental health charities. What do you think of the Government’s view on cannabis? Tell us here

Study shows link between cannabis and crime
More than seven out of 10 teenage criminals have smoked cannabis every day for at least 12 months, a government report has revealed. The findings will reignite the debate over whether the Government was right to downgrade the drug

Political folly, public tragedies
Within 24 hours of the Government’s surreptitious approval of a cannabis free-for-all (slipped out on a hectic news day) comes tragic evidence of its folly. In Liverpool, the racist axe-murderer of teenager Anthony Walker pleads in mitigation that he was ‘consistently under the influence of cannabis’

Cannabis pandemic blamed on soft UK drug policy
By STEVE DOUGHTY
The Government’s downgrading of cannabis has led to confusion among youngsters and helped spread a pandemic of the drug, the United Nations has said. Its drug control chief labelled cannabis is as dangerous as heroin and warned current drug laws expose impressionable young people

Early cannabis abuse ‘leads to heroin addiction’
Taking cannabis as a teenager really does pave the way to heroin addiction in later life, say scientists. Researchers have found that cannabis acts as a ‘gateway’ drug, because exposure during adolescence primes the system to crave the chemical stimulation of hard drugs

Cannabis a ‘gateway to harder drugs’
Teenage pot smokers are much more likely to go on to use harder drugs, such as heroin, claims a new report. Researchers insist they now have scientific proof that cannabis works as a ‘gateway’ drug

Charity demands Government tackles cannabis threat
A leading charity has called on the Government to take action six months to the day after it pledged to launch a high-profile campaign warning of the link between cannabis and mental illness

Massive explosion in cannabis possession
Cannabis crime has exploded since Labour downgraded the seriousness of being caught with the drug. Government figures reveal an alarming 36 per cent increase in possession of cannabis last year

How cannabis turned a bright public shoolboy into a schizophrenic
Mark Watson, a much-loved son from a secure and comfortable background, had a bright future before him. But at 16 his behaviour became erratic and threatening and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The cause – cannabis

Soldier killed friend’s dad while having ‘cannabis-induced delusions’
Cannabis-induced delusions drove a soldier to hack his best friend’s father to death with a pair of garden shears, a court heard today. Laurie Draper wept as he blamed puffs on just a couple of pipes of the drug for the sudden outburst of frenzied violence

Cannabis downgrade coincides with drug deaths rise
Drug deaths spiralled after Labour downgraded cannabis, it has been revealed. The number of people killed by overdoses surged by almost 15 per cent in the next year

Cannabis downgrading blamed for psychotic killer gangs by vicar
Labour’s decision to downgrade cannabis has filled youths with a ‘lawless bravado’ which turns them into potential killers, a senior church figure and police advisor has warned

Review of cannabis laws as drug-fuelled violence spirals
Controversial rules which tell police not to arrest cannabis smokers could be torn-up, it emerged last night. The re-think comes after the ‘softly, softly’ approach was blamed for a senseless murder and an increase in hard drug abuse

Soldier in cannabis frenzy killed father of his best friend
Lance Corporal Laurie Draper hacked his best friend’s father to death with garden shears after smoking the drug. Medical tests found he was suffering from ‘cannabis induced delusions’

8 out of 10 mentally ill patients are heavy cannabis users
By STEVE DOUGHTY
Eight out of ten people who suffer the onset of serious mental illness are heavy cannabis users, claims a scathing report on the effects of the drug

Skunk addict who beat me up is stalking us from jail
A cannabis addict jailed for battering a millionaire music producer has stalked his victim and her daughter from prison. Peter Thomas was sentenced to three years for a ‘horrifically violent’ attack on Lisa Voice

Rugby player died after eating ‘pot cake’ to boost sex drive
Rugby player died in a police cell after eating a marijuana ‘space cake’ to boost his sex drive, an inquest heard. Father-of-two Malcolm Flockton turned blue, collapsed and died after eating the cake

Teenager jailed for stabbing friend during alcohol and cannabis binge
A 15-year-old schoolboy was jailed for life yesterday for stabbing his teenage friend through the heart with a kitchen knife while high on drink and cannabis. Luke Rychter was said to have a “fascination” with knives, and it was this obsession which triggered the unprovoked attack on Grant Douglass

Magistrates call for U-turn over cannabis
Magistrates have demanded that ministers reverse the decision to downgrade cannabis. They said children as young as 12 are ending up in court after stealing to feed their habit

2007

‘Half of all young people arrested are revealed to have smoked cannabis’
Half of all crime suspects, especially young offenders, arrested by police admit to recently smoking cannabis, astonishing Government research reveals

Driver of speedboat that killed toddler had taken cannabis
The driver of a boat that killed a two-year-old boy on holiday in the Bahamas tested positive for cannabis, according to a police report. The findings have prompted calls for driver James Bain to be tried for manslaughter

‘Weaknesses’ in care of schizophrenic who killed friends
A schizophrenic who stabbed two of his friends to death could have received better care, according to a report published today. Sean Crone, 26, was detained indefinitely after he stabbed 25-year-old Ian Lawson 24 times, then hours later slashed

Escaped prisoner killed man while high on ‘skunk’ cannabis
A cyclist was run down and killed by an escaped prisoner in a stolen van. Cobbler Naqibullah Aman, 25, died instantly when he was hit at 60mph by Malachi Adam-Smith, 20, who had been smoking skunk cannabis

Under-18s are given a licence to smoke dope
Police have been told they should no longer automatically arrest children caught smoking cannabis, it has been revealed. The new guidelines – another dramatic softening in Labour’s attitude to the drug – provoked anger from experts

Killer was a cannabis smoking ‘prisoner in his own bedroom’
Gulf War veteran David Bradley was a loner who spent hours locked away in his bedroom smoking cannabis and hoarding a deadly arsenal of weapons. He would while the days away by watching television and DVDs and reading his collection of military magazines

‘I just thought I’d have to kill them’ – ex-soldier
Ex-soldier David Bradley, 41, methodically executed four members of his family after years of heavy cannabis abuse wrecked his mental health

Cannabis the ‘soft’ drug led to my son’s hanging
A mother demanded last night to know why cannabis was downgraded to the status of a soft drug after it set her talented son on the road to his death. Former head boy Matthew White, 18, who dropped out of his A-levels when he started smoking cannabis, has been found hanged after progressing to mind-bending LSD

Cannabis now ten times stronger than in the 1980s
Cannabis smoked today is ten or even 20 times stronger than when David Cameron was a teenager in the 1980s – hugely increasing the danger it poses

Like Cameron, my son smoked his first joint as a teenager. Ten years later, he was close to death
Like David Cameron, Reverend George Hargreaves’ son Nicky smoked his first joint as a teenager. Unlike Cameron, he ended up 10 years later trying to kill himself in a drug-induced state of paranoia. The reason? White Widow – a particularly vicious strain of the drug

Soft drug laws have caused untold harm, warns police chief
One of the country’s top black police officers has spoken out about the dangerous consequences of Labour’s decision to relax cannabis laws. Superintendent Leroy Logan said reclassification of the drug had led to ‘extensive and expansive’ use

How my life was destroyed by cannabis
Just a single joint set this pampered middle-class girl on a path that led to heroin addiction and selling her body. So how can ANYONE still claim that cannabis is harmless?

Teen who butchered two friends was addicted to skunk cannabis
By SAM GREENHILL
Cannabis helped drive a teenager to hack his two friends to death with a hunting knife, a court has heard. Thomas Palmer virtually beheaded 16-year-old Steven Bayliss and stabbed Twood Nadault, 14, in a quiet woodland clearing near their homes in Wokingham, Berkshire

Cannabis addiction soars as drug gets stronger
By LIZ HULL
Record numbers of young people are undergoing drug treatment after becoming addicted to super-strength cannabis more dangerous than LSD and ecstasy, new research has revealed. The number of teenagers under 18 being treated for smoking skunk doubled in just 12 months to almost 10,000 last year

Killer’s mental state ‘worsened by cannabis addiction’
Tom Palmer first tried cannabis at the age of 14 and by the time he reached his 15th birthday he was smoking it every day. He told prison doctors after his arrest that it had worsened his symptoms of anxiety and he had tried to stop, but failed

Cannabis killer’s brutal end to an afternoon with friends
Tom Palmer and T-Wood Nadauld were so close that friends who telephoned one would often find the other not far away. There was nothing unusual about that afternoon in September 2005, when the pair decided to meet other friends

Life for cannabis addict who murdered two friends in frenzied knife attack
A knife-obsessed cannabis addict was jailed for life today for the brutal murders of two school friends. Tom Palmer, 20, butchered Steven Bayliss, 16, and Nuttawut Nadauld, 14, with a hunting knife on a leafy footpath

The cannabis diaries of a mum whose family was torn apart by addiction
When her son became addicted to cannabis barrister’s wife Debra Bell began an online diart of the nightmare it plunged her family into. As a police chief attacks the downgrading of the drug it makes terrifying reading

Why did the judge pass such a ridiculous sentence for my son’s killer?
The grieving father of a teenage boy hacked to death by a cannabis addict spoke of his outrage at the ‘ridiculous’ sentence handed out by a judge. David Bayliss is furious after hearing his son’s killer could be freed in 18 years

Boy on skunk cannabis butchered a grandmother
A teenager who was crazed by high-strength cannabis butchered a grandmother after ‘voices in his head’ told him to stab a woman. Ezekiel Maxwell, a paranoid schizophrenic, launched the horrific attack after years of smoking

Reverse cannabis law blunder, pleads head
A leading public school headmaster has made an impassioned plea to ministers to reverse the relaxation of the cannabis laws because the drug is ‘wrecking lives’ and schools are finding it tougher to enforce a zero tolerance line

Even a small amount of cannabis ‘triggers psychotic episodes’ warn doctors
Cannabis triggers temporary psychotic symptoms in some people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, according to new medical research

Student’s cannabis rampage emulates ultra-violent computer game
A student re-enacted an ultra-violent video game by slashing his wrists and going on a rampage wielding a kitchen knife through a city after smoking cannabis. Dominic Anderson terrified onlookers as he threw himself onto cars and attacked police officers with the blade

Lawyer who fell to his death from Tate Modern was driven mad by cannabis
A young lawyer who fell to his death from the top floor of the Tate Modern had undergone years of treatment for cannabis-induced mental illness, an inquest heard

Artist beaten to death by teens high on cannabis in savage happy slap attack
Two schoolboys who killed a talented artist in a so-called ‘happy slapping’ attack are likely to be free in less than a year. Under the early release rules, one of the thugs who singled out Peter Ramsey is due to walk free in eight months and the other in ten

How cannabis made me a monster
This week a father blamed the endemic drugs culture in public schools for the murder of his daughter. Here, one former addict reveals the full, horrifying extent of the problem

Brown ditches disastrous softly-softly policy on cannabis
Gordon Brown has called a halt to Labour’s disastrous ‘softly softly’ policy on cannabis. In a surprise U-turn, the Prime Minister ordered an urgent review of the controversial decision taken three years ago to downgrade the drug from Class B to C

Son twisted by ‘skunk’ knifed father 23 times
A former student suffering delusions blamed on his extreme use of cannabis killed his loving father in a frenzied knife attack after becoming convinced his parents sexually abused him as a child

‘Cannabis crazed man murdered four-year-old’, court hears
A mother accused of the murder of her daughter broke down in tears as she told a court how her boyfriend had smacked and punched the four-year-old girl in a rage because he could not get hold of any cannabis

Rick Stein restaurant worker commits suicide by slashing throat after mind ‘warped’ by cannabis
A young porter at one of celebrity chef Rick Stein’s restaurants died after slashing his own throat when his mental health deteriorated after getting hooked on cannabis an inquest heard

Smoking just one cannabis joint raises danger of mental illness by 40%
A single joint of cannabis raises the risk of schizophrenia by more than 40 per cent, a disturbing study warns. The Government-commissioned report has also found that taking the drug regularly more than doubles the risk of serious mental illness

One cannabis joint ‘harms the lungs as much as five cigarettes’
A single joint of cannabis can damage the lungs as badly as smoking five cigarettes in one go, a study suggests. Cannabis smoke is far more likely to harm a user’s airways and cause wheezing, coughing and lung disease than tobacco smoke, researchers found.

Children hooked on cannabis at 6
Children as young as six have been treated for cannabis addiction, a drugs expert has said. The revelation comes only days after a new study into the effects of cannabis led to calls for the Government to reclassify the drug

Schizophrenic addicted to skunk cannabis killed best friend
They were best friends as children and inseparable as they grew up. But as young men, their lives polarised dramatically. While Carl James started a family with his girlfriend, Michael Harris spiralled into drug abuse

I warned them my cannabis-addicted son would kill
Distraught that her teenage son was addicted to cannabis, Julie pleaded with the authorities to help him. Time and again they ignored her. This week a court heard the horrifying consequences

The cure for dopeheads…Dubai-style fear
By PETER HITCHENS
Even the soppy liberal media, and their flapping, punctured hero David Cameron, now admit that cannabis is a nasty poison. For many shameful years they lied that it was harmless fun. May God forgive them for the many young people condemned to a life of staring into space on the locked ward

Mother blames cannabis for suicide of promising violinist daughter
Talented, bubbly and pretty, Laura Bower-McKnight had it all to live for. A gifted musician, the 22-year-old studied at the prestigious Royal Welsh College of Music and seemed destined for a career in the performing arts

Descent into madness: High flyer who was driven to psychosis by cannabis
As a talented schoolboy, Jason Pegler started smoking cannabis at 15. The drug was to have a devastating effect on his future, triggering severe episodes of manic depression. Jason, now 32, survived but others aren’t so lucky

Going soft on cannabis has filled youth courts say JPs
The courts are full of children turned to a life of crime by the Government’s softly-softly approach to cannabis, magistrates warn

Cannabis use among young offenders rockets by 75 per cent in just three years
The number of young criminals using cannabis has shot up since Labour downgraded the drug’s legal status. Figures suggest that use of cannabis among juvenile offenders has roughly doubled in three years

Deadly skunk ‘accounts for 75 per cent of all cannabis seizures’
Dramatic new evidence of the dangers of cannabis has emerged as government scientists warned that the most harmful ‘skunk’ variety is flooding our streets and now accounts for three-quarters of cannabis seized

Cannabis-smoking satanist admits knifing vicar to death in act of ‘inhuman savagery’
A deranged cannabis smoker who was obsessed with Satanism stabbed a country vicar to death in his churchyard. Father Paul Bennett, 59, was killed in a vicious daylight attack by Geraint Evans as he tried to protect his family

Alarming 14 per cent rise in drug crime will pile on pressure for cannabis rethink
An alarming 14 per cent rise in drug-related crime last night placed Gordon Brown under intense pressure to scrap Labour’s ‘softly softly’ policy

Deranged cannabis smoker obsessed with Satanism stabbed vicar to death
A deranged cannabis smoker who was obsessed with Satanism stabbed a country vicar to death in his churchyard. Father Paul Bennett, 59, was killed in a vicious daylight attack by Geraint Evans as he tried to protect his family

Mental illness rate soars among users of skunk cannabis
A dramatic increase in mental illness cases among cannabis users has intensified pressure on Labour to end its ‘soft’ drugs policy. The rise is being blamed on people smoking the highly potent ‘skunk’ variety of the drug

Campaigners call for tougher cannabis laws
Parents, teachers and politicians will urge the Government to do more to stamp out cannabis abuse today. The Talking About Cannabis Parental Action Group will also call for the reclassification of the drug to class B

2008

Cannabis to be reclassified as more dangerous drug in Government u-turn
Cannabis is set to be reclassified as a class B drug amid fears over its effects on mental health, it was revealed today. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has made clear she intends to reverse her predecessor David Blunkett’s decision in 2004 to downgrade the drug to class C

Number of people treated for cannabis use soars by 50 per cent since the drug was downgraded
The number of adults being treated for cannabis use has risen by 50 per cent since Labour downgraded the drug to Class C. The Government’s decision to reclassify the drug has seen the number of adults seeking medical help for its effects rise to more than 16,500 in the past year

Drug offences soar 21 per cent in a single year
Drug offences have leapt by 21 per cent in just one year, latest figures showed yesterday, piling more pressure on Gordon Brown to reverse the Government’s ‘softly-softly’ stance on cannabis.

Cannabis link to 80 per cent of new mental cases
Eighty per cent of patients newly-diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses are heavy users of cannabis, scientists have warned ministers

One cannabis joint ‘is the equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes’
Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk, scientists in New Zealand have found, as they warned of an ‘epidemic’ of lung cancers linked to cannabis. They found cannabis contained twice the amount of carcinogens compared to tobacco

Skunk overtakes cannabis resin in British drugs market as experts and police demand ‘softly softly’ U-turn
The health establishment has become ‘complacent’ over the dangers of cannabis, the mental health tsar admitted yesterday. Professor Louis Appleby, national director for mental health, spoke out as it emerged that the streets are awash with ‘skunk’, a highlypotent form of the drug

Judge attacks Government’s ‘foolish’ decision to downgrade cannabis
A judge has attacked the Government’s ‘foolish’ decision to downgrade cannabis to a Class C drug. Judge Brian Lewis said Labour’s ‘softly-softly’ approach had fostered a misunderstanding that the drug was relatively harmless

Mother stabs herself to death after psychotic episode linked to her cannabis habit
Cannabis addict Julie Cross stabbed herself to death with a carving knife after claiming a dog was speaking to her

Home Office U-turn on cannabis as link to mental illness deepens
Youngsters are to be given a stronger warning on the dangers of cannabis following a U-turn in the Home Office. It is to scrap guidance that cannabis should be avoided by those who already suffer mental health problems

Superskunk me: What happened when one woman smoked dope daily for a month for a BBC documentary
A woman smoked strong cannabis every day for a month as part of a BBC documentary. The result? Depression, a ballooning waistline and a terrifying paranoia which convinced her she was in a horror film

Government climb-down as Brown backs re-classification of cannabis
By BENEDICT BROGAN,DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Gordon Brown today indicated his strong support for re-classifying cannabis as a Class B drug. He said he wanted to send a signal that cannabis use was “unacceptable”.

How my perfect son became crazed after smoking cannabis
Debra Bells eldest son William was a model pupil until he started smoking cannabis at 14 with his friends. His mother, a writer, and her barrister husband Guy tried to intervene, but by 16 he was smoking five joints a day and suffering severe personality changes

Cannabis: The deadly habit as easy to pick up as a bag of crisps
By WINIFRED ROBINSON
Cannabis was not a subject I had given much thought until I was sent to report for BBC Radio 4 on a chilling new development in Britain: The killing of young people on our streets by other young teenagers. My investigation took me to Peckham, South London, where last year four young men were murdered within the space of 11 days

You MUST reclassify cannabis: Brown gets message from police chiefs, charities, MPs and victims
Gordon Brown was urged last night to overrule his drugs experts and reclassify cannabis. Advisers are expected to tell him that the drug should remain in Class C and not be moved to the more serious Class B from which it was downgraded in 2004

Children who smoke cannabis are twice as likely to offend
Children who smoke cannabis are twice as likely to get into trouble – both in the classroom and outside the school gates, a four-year study of thousands of pupils aged between 11 and 15 found

Psychiatrist ‘let crazed bodybuilder free to kill and dismember two women,’ tribunal hears
A schizophrenic killed two women after a senior psychiatrist discharged him from hospital against the advice of other doctors and the man’s own family, a medical tribunal heard yesterday. Dr Eric Birchall, 70, released bodybuilder Mark Corner into the community, telling GPs he posed little risk to the public. But less than a year later 29-year-old Corner – who was a cannabis smoker, had a history of violence and harboured murderous thoughts – killed two prostitutes in separate attacks

Teenager high on cannabis stabs girlfriend 32 times during bondage game after being told she had Aids
By ANDREW LEVY
A teenager stabbed his girlfriend 32 times during a frenzied cannabis-fuelled attack after friends wrongly told him she had Aids.

Mental illnesses goes up after cannabis downgrade
The number of people admitted to hospital with mental illness has shot up since the laws on cannabis were relaxed, according to figures released. Cases of schizophrenia and psychosis needing hospital treatment have increased since the criminal status of the drug was downgraded four years ago

Mental illness linked to drug use is up since cannabis downgrade
The number of people admitted to hospital with mental illness has shot up since the laws on cannabis were relaxed, according to new figures.

Prime ditherer: Gordon Brown criticised for delay over cannabis law
The Prime Minister faced allegations of ‘dithering’ over drugs policy last night as he waited for a report before deciding whether to tighten the law on cannabis. Mr Brown signalled when he took office last July that he wanted to reverse the 2004 downgrading of cannabis from Class B to Class C

Cannabis ‘is making teenagers impotent’, say doctors
Growing numbers of teenage boys are being treated for impotence after smoking cannabis for several years. Doctors have reported a large rise in cases of young men seeking advice to combat potential lifelong impotence

U-turn on cannabis is just the first ste
As the Mail has long argued, one of the most dangerous mistakes of the Blair years was the decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B drug to Class C.

Cannabis: At last a U-turn as Brown admits it was mistake to go soft on drug
By BENEDICT BROGAN,JAMES SLACK
Gordon Brown is to take personal responsibility for toughening the law on cannabis. He will over-rule a panel of experts to announce that he wants it to return to Class B status.

Cannabis U-turn: Four years on, Brown concedes it was a mistake to go soft on drug
Gordon Brown is to take personal responsibility for toughening the law on cannabis.The Prime Minister will over-rule the Government’s panel of experts to announce next week that he wants it to return to Class B status

Mother of goth student kicked to death by binge drinking teens attacks rise of ‘skunk’ cannabis
The mother of a goth student kicked to death by a ‘feral’ gang has attacked the rise of ‘skunk’. Sylvia Lancaster, whose daughter Sophie was murdered last August, claims more young people than ever are taking the powerful drug without realising the consequences

U-turn on cannabis is just the first step
As the Mail has long argued, one of the most dangerous mistakes of the Blair years was the decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B drug to Class C. We warned at the time of the lethal damage done by powerful new forms of the drug – and the folly of sending out a signal that it was comparatively harmless

Police will not enforce Brown’s new ‘tougher’ cannabis policy
Labour’s promise to toughen the law on cannabis was descending into a ‘ shambles’ last night after police vowed to continue letting offenders off with a slap on the wrist

Cannabis upgrade made official after Labour ignores drug advisers
Jacqui Smith today defied the Government’s own drugs advisers by confirming that cannabis is to be reclassified as a class B substance. The Home Secretary told MPs that the reform was intended to send a message to the public amid concern about the drug’s links to mental illness

My dear son would still be alive if they hadn’t gone soft on cannabis
The Government announced yesterday that cannabis is to be upgraded to a Class B drug, four years after it was reclassified. But it has come too late for one mother, Colette White, whose son Matthew, 18, hanged himself after becoming hooked on the drug. Colette, 50, a nurse, and her electrician husband Chris, 52, live in Cardiff with their sons Christopher, 22, and Martin, 16

A brave and justified decision on cannabis
By DAILY MAIL COMMENT
Gordon Brown’s decision to reclassify cannabis as a dangerous Class B drug is both brave and right. It is brave, because it takes guts to admit a mistake (albeit one made under his predecessor). It takes moral courage, too, to overrule the so-called ‘experts’ on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs

Only 10 per cent of those caught with cannabis are taken to court
By JAMES SLACK
More than nine out of ten cannabis users are escaping prosecution after being found with the drug, a Daily Mail survey has found

‘Mentally ill’ cannabis mother released by social services to stab to death her two-year-old daughter
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
An Old Bailey judge today criticised social workers after a mother stabbed her young daughter to death days after a police doctor raised questions over her mental health.

Teenage cannabis smokers face bigger risk of full-blown mental illness
By JENNY HOPE
Teenage cannabis users are more likely to suffer psychotic symptoms that raise the risk of full-blown mental illness in later life, claim researchers.

Health fears grow for cannabis users as report warns ‘marijuana potency is stronger than ever’
By DAVID GARDNER
The strength of marijuana being sold on the streets has more than doubled over the last 25 years, U.S. government experts warned last night.

Mental illness in under-16s soared after cannabis laws were relaxed
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
The number of under-16s being treated for mental illness has shot up since the laws on cannabis were relaxed, according to figures obtained by MPs.

Why ‘skunk’ smokers are 18 TIMES more likely to become psychotic than other cannabis users
By FIONA MACRAE
People who smoke super-strength cannabis, known as skunk, are 18 times more likely to develop psychosis than those who smoke milder forms of cannabis

Cannabis addict jailed for life after stabbing Good Samaritan to death as he tried to protect elderly neighbour
By CHARLOTTE GILL
A cannabis-crazed maniac stabbed a Good Samaritan 100 times with scissors and knives as he tried to protect his elderly neighbour. Rafiq Kashmiri, 50, launched a frenzied attack on Jon Cooper-Taylor.

Cannabis users warned as high-strength skunk floods market
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Cannabis users are increasingly opting for high-strength skunk because weaker varieties of the drug have been frozen out of the market, campaigners warned today.

‘Drugs drove my son insane’: Patrick Cockburn on the horror of seeing cannabis tip his son into schizophrenia
By PATRICK COCKBURN
Patrick Cockburn describes the agony of dealing with his son Henry’s schizophrenia. Henry also describes what he’s endured.

Teacher’s son ‘stabbed his girlfriend to death after being driven mad by 10 years of cannabis abuse’
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A teacher’s son murdered his girlfriend after being driven mad by ten years of smoking cannabis, a court has heard.

Going soft on cannabis is the worst thing I’ve seen in 28 years’ policing, says stab horror officer
By ANDREW LEVY
A cannabis abuser who stabbed his girlfriend to death in a paranoid attack brought on by the drug has been jailed for life.

Cannabis-addicted boy aged just 14 raped 58-year-old woman at knifepoint in her home
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A teenager who has been hooked on cannabis since he was 10 has been locked up indefinitely after raping a 58-year-old woman in her own home.

Cannabis addict’s student career wrecked after being jailed for robbing elderly shop assistant
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A man whose university career was wrecked by cannabis has been jailed after his craving for the drug led him to rob an elderly shop assistant.

Cannabis-smoking schizophrenic butchered his gran on Christmas Day after wishing her a ‘merry Christmas’
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A heavy cannabis smoker stabbed his grandmother to death on Christmas Day after cheerily wishing her a ‘merry Christmas’.

On-the-spot fines for cannabis users put on hold after Government U-turn
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A government on cannabis is in disarray today after ministers made a U-turn over plans to downgrade 20 crimes so they would be punished by on-the-spot fines.

2009

Smoking cannabis ‘increases the risk of aggressive testicular cancer’
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Smoking cannabis puts men at increased risk of the most aggressive type of testicular cancer, say scientists.

Julie Myerson: I HAD to throw my son out – he was a violent drug addict
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
The novelist who threw out her son because of his cannabis addiction insists the decision was necessary to protect her family.

The dope-smoking teenager and a disturbing rehearsal of the past
By ANGELLA JOHNSON, MAIL ON SUNDAY FEATURE WRITER,LAURA COLLINS, MAIL ON SUNDAY FEATURE WRITER
Novelist Julie Myerson and her son spent all last week publicly blaming each other for the fall-out of her new ‘novel’ – but is their war of words merely a grim echo of her own past…

Schizophrenic cannabis user ‘felt good’ about stabbing police officer to death in busy street
By ARTHUR MARTIN
A schizophrenic cannabis user who stabbed a policeman to death told detectives later he ‘felt good’ about it, a court has heard.

Cannabis addict gripped by paranoia stabbed a stranger to death in the street
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Imran Khan admitted the manslaughter of Devoe Roach, 17, but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

MAIL COMMENT: The cost of cannabis
By DAILY MAIL COMMENT
It’s profoundly depressing, but hardly surprising that the number of people treated for the effects of cannabis misuse doubled in the three years after the laws against taking the drug were relaxed.

Cannabis downgrade sees health toll double
By DANIEL MARTIN,MATTHEW HICKLEY
The number of patients receiving Health Service treatment for cannabis misuse doubled in the three years after Labour relaxed laws against the drug.

PETER HITCHENS: They rave about the peril of sunbeds… then let us fry our brains on cannabis
By PETER HITCHENS
The great puzzle of our time is why some pleasures are official sins, while others are smirkingly condoned by authority.

Cannabis-smoking mother stabbed two young sons to death after begging social services to collect her children
By JAMES TOZER
Jael Mullings, 22, had smoked large amounts of strong ‘skunk’ cannabis and begun suffering religious delusions in the days before the killings, a court heard today.

Labour’s ‘phoney war on drugs is a costly flop’
By MATTHEW HICKLEY
Labour has waged a ‘phoney war’ on the drug problem by squandering billions on ineffective treatment while presiding over Europe’s most liberal drug regime, a report claims.

Cannabis crisis: ‘We have to take a stand against skunk’
By CATHERINE O’ BRIEN
Psychotherapist and author Julie Lynn Evans is on the front line of a war against skunk which, she says, risks turning today’s teenage users into psychotic wrecks.

Cannabis ‘is not harmless’ warns coroner after drug use triggers teenager’s fatal fit
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A coroner has condemned claims that smoking cannabis is ‘harmless’ after hearing how it triggered the death of a teenager who had given up smoking the drug.

How just one joint could wreck your mental health
By STEVE DOUGHTY
Cannabis causes mental illness and even one-off users show signs of behaviour linked to schizophrenia, pioneering research showed yesterday.

40 per cent of teenagers know someone hurt by cannabis
By STEVE DOUGHTY
Four out of ten teenagers know someone with mental health problems caused by cannabis, a report shows.

MELANIE PHILLIPS: Fatuous, dangerous, utterly irresponsible – the Nutty professor who’s distorting the truth about drugs
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
The sacking of Professor David Nutt as the Government’s chief adviser on drugs has produced an extraordinary reaction.

Joss Stone ignites drug row as she describes cannabis as less harmful than alcohol
By SIMON CABLE
The 22-year-old has enraged anti-drug campaigners after it was suggested she made the comments in a desperate attempt to drum up publicity for her new album.

People who label cannabis harmless are ‘simple’, says judge in veiled attack on Professor David Nutt
By LIZ HULL
Judge Brian Lewis made the comment after hearing how a man brandished a pistol in public while suffering drug-induced paranoia.

AMANDA PLATELL: Shame on Agassi and this Nutty professor
By AMANDA PLATELL
What hope is there of educating children about the dangers of addiction when we have sporting heroes such as Agassi bragging about the illicit thrills?

Schizophrenic who stabbed a vicar to death ‘was not properly assessed’
By DANIEL BATES
A damning report found that the cannabis-crazed psychopath stabbed a vicar to death after a series of blunders by mental health authorities.

Skunk cannabis smokers seven times more likely to suffer from psychosis
By JENNY HOPE
Ultra-potent skunk cannabis is seven times more likely to trigger psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia than traditional hash, a study by the Institute of Psychiatry has warned

2010

‘Cannabis is safe’ professor appointed government’s new drugs chief
By JAMES SLACK
A former Oxford professor has replaced David Nutt as the Government’s chief drugs adviser, Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced today.

BEL MOONEY: I adore my man but his addiction to cannabis is destroying our love
By BEL MOONEY
If it’s impossible for him to understand and respect the strength of your feelings, he cannot love you in the way you need to be loved.

Dear Diary… cannabis has turned my darling son into a despicable thief who steals from his granny: Mother tells how ‘harmless’ drug tore family apart
By DEBRA BELL
Debra Bell’s son Alex was a highly academic, sporty, handsome and popular 14-year-old. But then he started taking drugs and everything changed.

Dear Diary… cannabis has turned my darling son into a despicable thief who steals from his granny: Mother tells how ‘harmless’ drug tore family apart
By DEBRA BELL All By This Author – 06/02/2010 00:42:39
Debra Bell’s son Alex was a highly academic, sporty, handsome and popular 14-year-old. But then he started taking drugs and everything changed.

‘I loved you but you’re dead to me’: Diary of mother who disowned her cannabis addict son to save her family
By DEBRA BELL
On Saturday, I wrote about my teenage son Will’s heartbreaking descent into cannabis addiction. Our academic, sporty boy turned into a monosyllabic nightmare who stole from us to fund his habit

The Cannabis Diaries: I felt so bitter when Mum and Dad disowned me – but now I realise they saved my life
By WILL BELL
His mother Debra Bell told the world how cannabis turned him into a thieving monster. Now, with chilling cogency, 22-year-old Will Bell gives his side of the story.

Cannabis-taking older brother charged with stabbing to death boy, 9
By CHRIS BROOKE
Jack Taylor died after suffering repeated stab wounds to his neck with a kitchen knife.

Care in the community patient with 39 convictions was set free to stab father to death while high on cannabis
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Colin Welsh knifed Elliot Guy (pictured with his baby daughter) four months after walking free from court over another brutal attack. He was today jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 12 years.

Robbie Williams says cannabis is ‘lovely’ – tell that to the parents who’ve suffered the same nightmare as me
By DEBRA BELL
When she first wrote of her son’s drug abuse in the Mail, DEBRA BELL provoked an extraordinary response.

Revealed: How Labour’s new Drugs Tsar is an adviser to a group that wants to legalise mind-altering drugs
By JASON LEWIS
The Government’s new drugs tsar is listed as an adviser to a shadowy foundation run by an aristocrat lobbying to liberalise laws on mind-altering drugs

The Cannabis Countess: Why is eccentric who drilled a hole in head to get high supported by the Government’s drugs czar?
By GEOFFREY LEVY
Amanda Feilding, now 67, is these days the Countess of Wemyss and March, wife of the landowning 13th Earl, and a friend of the Royal Family.

Lib Dems’ secret plan for high street cannabis cafes
By JAMES SLACK
A leaked policy document calls for the decriminalisation of the drug in an approach even more radical than Amsterdam’s.

Drug-addict wife who butchered mother-in-law in frenzied knife attack escapes with THREE-year jail term
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Amra Hartley butchered 77-year-old great grandmother Margaret Hartley last year at her sheltered accommodation home in Wakefield.

Public schoolboy with cannabis habit who stabbed his best friend 13 times and left him for dead is locked up
By CHARLOTTE GILL
The Old Bailey was told 17-year-old Harry Shick (pictured), a student at £20,000-a-year Pangbourne College in Berkshire, had been ‘living in a different world, detached from his feelings’

Schizophrenic man hooked on cannabis stabbed stranger 81 times… after NHS said he ‘posed no danger’
By EMILY ANDREWS
Landscape gardener Daniel Quelch, 33, suffered 81 knife wounds in a frenzied attack after Benjamin Frankum, 25, broke into his parents’ bungalow.

Cannabis use in young people soars by a third as more than 4,000 a year need treatment
By JAMES SLACK
The number of young people needing treatment for mental or other serious problems caused by smoking cannabis has rocketed by a third, experts revealed last night

Why was a drug-abusing schizophrenic left free to kill my son? And why will no one take the blame?
By ANGELLA JOHNSON
After 27 happy years, Barbara Quelch thought she would never have to leave the bungalow in the Berkshire countryside her husband had built. Yet today she can’t bear to go in.

STEPHEN GLOVER: Why doesn’t this dangerous man come clean and admit he wants to legalise drugs?
By STEPHEN GLOVER
Professor David Nutt and colleagues have produced a ­paper which ­argues that alcohol is far more dangerous than Class A drugs such as heroin and crack ­cocaine.

Cannabis-crazed schizophrenic free to murder policeman after care in the community scaled back his treatment
By ANDREW LEVY
Cannabis user Tennyson Obih was jailed for life last March after he was found guilty of murdering PC Jon Henry in Luton in June 2007.

2011

PETER HITCHENS: Professor Nutt, the cannabis propagandist in a scientist’s white coat
By PETER HITCHENS
The Home Office recorded 162,610 cases of cannabis possession in England and Wales in 2009. But what happened next? Savage punishment? Not exactly.

Cannabis ‘raises the risk of cancer and other killer diseases’
By FIONA MACRAE
In experiments, THC, the chemical behind the ‘high’ of cannabis fuelled the production of a flood of cells thought to weaken the body’s inbuilt defences

U.S. teenagers smoke more cannabis than cigarettes, new study reveals
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Some 21% of high school students admitted they had smoked the drug in the last month, compared to just 19% who lit up a regular cigarette.

PETER HITCHENS: The crazed smile that says, it’s the little packets of madness that we really need to fear
By PETER HITCHENS
The link between this drug and serious mental illness grows clearer every day. Wickedly, the dope lobby still tries to deny this and seeks to legalise it.

Schizophrenic stabbed little brother, nine, to death hours after health workers said he was no threat
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Daniel Taylor, 21, attacked nine-year-old Jack at their sister’s house in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in February last year, leaving him with horrific injuries.

Hallelujah! Christian who says family life can beat addiction is new Government drugs adviser
By JAMES SLACK
Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, who takes a hard line against smoking cannabis, has been appointed. He says strong families can help to defeat alcohol and other addictions.

‘My son played Russian roulette with cannabis – and lost’: Patrick and Henry Cockburn tell their story
By PATRICK COCKBURN,HENRY COCKBURN
Award-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn spent years working as a foreign correspondent around the world. Here he tells how his son succumbed to schizophrenia.

I’m victim of PC vendetta, says Christian drug expert as he is sacked from Government advisory panel before he even started
By JAMES SLACK,IAN DRURY
Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, a respected family doctor, was dismissed for holding ‘embarrassing’ views about homosexuality.

Cannabis ‘triggers psychotic illness up to three years earlier in mentally ill’
By JENNY HOPE
A new report confirms that cannabis accelerates the onset of full-blown mental illness, which makes it harder to treat successfully.

Guilty: Heavy cannabis user stabbed millionaire’s wife 12 times with screwdriver as she walked her dog
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Shirley Speare, 50, tried to run from her attacker after she was chased while out taking her dog on a country walk near her Devon home.

Cannabis use ‘doubles risk of psychosis for teenagers’
By JENNY HOPE
And mental health problems persist among those who continue using it compared with those who stop, according to research by an international team of scientists.

PETER HITCHENS: I was wrong on cigarettes but believe me, I’m right on cannabis
By PETER HITCHENS
It is perfectly sensible and justifiable to use the law to try to stop people from harming themselves, unless there are very good reasons for the risk.

MELANIE PHILLIPS: Why we must take the public’s lead… and jail ALL drug dealers
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
The public are particularly upset that imprisonment is now so regularly replaced by community punishments. They want longer and tougher prison sentences instead

Cannabis-smoking youth raped and strangled girl, 16, after social workers said they were ‘powerless’ to intervene
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
20-year-old Zakk Sackett is facing a life sentence today for the murder of Jessie Wright which was the culmination of a sustained reign of terror on the London estate where he lived.

Cannabis-smoking heroin addict almost stabbed millionaire’s wife to death in random attack as she walked her dog
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
33-year-old Nicholas Killen randomly stabbed Shirley Speare in the back as she walked her dog down a country lane in Devon in September 2009

Cannabis use ‘damages the brain in early teens’, frightening new study reveals
By JENNY HOPE
A study of chronic cannabis users found those who started in their early teens struggled with a range of neuropsychological tasks

Luvvies for legalisation: You’re being naive in the extreme, celebrities told after drugs plea to PM
By JACK DOYLE
Actresses Julie Christie, Dame Judi Dench, pictured, and Kathy Burke, director Mike Leigh, singer Sting and Sir Richard Branson criticised drug policy in an open letter.

Judge’s fury as cannabis addict claims £16,000 in benefit – because smoking the drug has made him too depressed to work
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Paul Holland, 21, told a judge in Burnley that the drug made him depressed and unable to work, which meant he was able to claim £60 a week in incapacity benefit.

AMANDA PLATELL: Genius, but Amy’s was not a life to admire
By AMANDA PLATELL
I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Lib Dems move to decriminalise ALL personal drug use and to allow controlled use of cannabis
By TIM SHIPMAN
Party bosses have given the green light for a debate on the controversial proposal which would mean a ‘regulated market’ in marijuana overseen by the Government.

ROSS CLARK: Legalise drugs? Try telling that to the children of junkies
By ROSS CLARK
Next time Jonathan Dimbleby feels like mooting the idea of decriminalising hard drugs, perhaps he should take a walk beneath the stairwells of some of our inner-city housing estates.

Even the Dutch think skunk drives you mad
By DR ROBERT LEFEVER
The Dutch are re-classifying skunk – strong cannabis – as a hard drug alongside cocaine. About time too, says Dr ROBERT LEFEVER.

Smoking cannabis could make you depressed depending on your genes
By CLAIRE BATES
Young people who have a common genetic quirk are more vulnerable to depression if they smoke cannabis, say scientists from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

Three pensioners hospitalised after getting high on cannabis brownies at funeral
By EMMA REYNOLDS
Two 71-year-old women and an 82-year-old man were taken to A&E after eating the marijuana-laced treats at a memorial service in Southern California.

Now drug advisers say heroin should be decriminalised and users be sent on courses to be educated
By JAMES SLACK
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said there was a chance to be ‘more creative’ by sending offenders on awareness courses instead of charging them with a criminal act.

Just ONE cannabis joint ‘can bring on schizophrenia’ as well as damaging memory
By TAMARA COHEN
Researchers at the University of Bristol have, for the first time, looked in detail at the changes in the brains of cannabis users

The Lib Dems are determined to see drugs decriminalised
By KIRSTY WALKER
KIRSTY WALKER on how senior Liberal Democrat MPs have escalated their controversial campaign to force the Government into decriminalising drugs.

Spooks should be neither seen nor heard – least of all on the subject of drugs
By MICHAEL BURLEIGH
MICHAEL BURLEIGH: Ex-MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller want to legalise drugs. You’d think that those who are supposed to guarantee our security would be immune from such spongy liberalism

Drug legalisation? We need it like a hole in the head
By MELANIE PHILLIPS
MELANIE PHILLIPS: Baroness Manningham-Buller believes the current war on drugs is not working. Groan. For the umpteenth time there is no war on drugs in the UK.