Archive for the ‘Science’ Category
The Future Of Cannabis In Britain Is CLEAR
Last Thursday, 24th March 2011, the latest ballot of the membership of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance closed. By a two-thirds to one-third majority the members voted to adopt a new constitution and to change the party’s name. From that moment on we are known as Cannabis Law Reform or CLEAR.
We have moved away from the use of the word “legalise” because it is interpreted as meaning a free for all. It scares people, particularly politicians and the media and we, as a party, now understand that these are the people we need to influence if we are to advance our cause.
We have also refined and sharpened our aims and objectives. They are now simple, direct and clear:
- To end the prohibition of cannabis.
- To promote as a matter of urgency and compassion the prescription of medicinal cannabis by doctors.
- To introduce a system of regulation for the production and supply of cannabis based on facts and evidence.
- To encourage the production and use of industrial hemp.
- To educate and inform about the uses and benefits of cannabis.
Medicinal cannabis is our spearhead. We seek an end to prohibition for everyone but we demand immediate provision for those who need cannabis as medicine. It is an obscene and evil shame on our nation that so many who suffer are in fear of arrest and prison for using a medicine that transforms their lives.
We will build a new and effective brand and campaign. We are reasonable, responsible, respectable members of society from all walks of life and professions. We are discriminated against by an irrational and absurd policy. Cannabis is a wonderful thing. It is relatively harmless but it is a psychoactive substance and needs to be respected. It’s medicinal value is unparalleled but it also offers wonderful recreational, spiritual and creative nourishment. The relatively young science of cannabinoids now explains why cannabis has been treasured and used by mankind since the dawn of time. Prohibition is a ridiculous policy. The truth about cannabis is clear.
We intend to build a substantial membership. Annual subscriptions have been cut to £5.00 and for concessions £1.00. We ask everyone to make a payment of £10 towards campaign funding but money will not be an obstacle to anyone joining. Please show your support for our campaign and join CLEAR. Within the next few days we will launch a membership drive with the simplest way to sign up being payment by text message.
We will be fielding candidates in council and parliamentary elections all over the UK. We do not expect to win many seats but we intend our campaign to be given the respect and attention it deserves. We will seek electoral pacts with other parties who are prepared to sign up to our aims. If you would like to stand as a candidate, please get in touch. We also need voluntary workers all over the country.
We have exciting campaigns on the way that communicate the scientific truth about cannabis and demolish the scare stories and prejudice that is so widespread. We will never let another ridiculous tabloid story pass without challenging it. We will not allow our political leaders to get away with untruths and propaganda without calling them to account.
We will campaign for an end to the ludicrous waste of law enforcement resources on cannabis and for a regulated system of production that will exclude organised crime and the evils of violence and human trafficking that prohibition causes. We will educate users about cannabinoid content, different strains, varieties and methods of use. We will promote regulation to ensure quality, safety and restriction of sales to adults only.
We already have solid data that proves a tax and regulate regime in Britain would produce a net gain to the economy of at least £6 billion per annum, freeing up police to concentrate on real crime and massively reducing the harms caused by prohibition.
Despite the fact that most people in Britain have used cannabis to no ill effect and that between two and ten million people have it as a regular part of their lives, the cannabis campaign has failed to make any real progress. Now is when that changes. The future of cannabis in Britain is CLEAR.
We will release more details about our campaign in the near future.
The truth about cannabis is CLEAR.
Cameron On Cannabis Part 3
This is part three of the story but, in a way, it’s just the beginning.
The story is our prime minister, David Cameron, the leader of our country and his recent interview about cannabis. It was on Al Jazeera in association with YouTube and is one of a series of interviews with world leaders. You can watch the video and read the previous parts here:
Mr Cameron, It’s You Who Needs Education About Cannabis
Don’t Let Cameron Get Away With His Untruths About Cannabis. Write A Letter!
So I wrote to Mr Cameron asking for a meeting about several factual inaccuracies in his answers. I know that many of you wrote in support.
There are four crucial issues involved:
Mr Cameron said that cannabis is:
1.”incredibly damaging”
2. “very, very toxic”
3. “and leads to, in many cases, huge mental health problems”
And then, with regard to medicinal cannabis, he said:
4. “That is a matter for the science and medical authorities to determine and they are free to make independent determinations about that.”
Now these are all inaccurate and false statements. Mr Cameron is, at the very least, misinformed. Clearly, there is an absolute obligation on him to correct these errors and to do so immediately.
When I hadn’t received a reply after about a week, on 9th March 2011 I wrote again:
Dear Mr Cameron,
I wrote to you just over a week ago (copy attached) asking for a meeting concerning your Al Jazeera YouTube interview about cannabis.
I represent a very substantial body of opinion in Britain which is deeply concerned at how inaccurate and misleading your words were. I know that you will have received many letters supporting my request for a meeting with you.
I still have faith that you do want to take account of public opinion and promote a policy that is fact and evidence based as well as having the consent of the majority. Please will you now agree to see me?
Personally, I am very worried when I see my prime minister speaking such untruths about a subject that I know about. It makes me wonder how accurate is your understanding of other issues. I hope that our economic, defence and social policy is being run on the basis of knowledge, rather than the misunderstanding you seem to have about cannabis.
Please can we arrange a meeting?
Yours sincerely,
Peter Reynolds
I had written to Mr Cameron on LCA letterhead showing the LCA headquarters address in Surrey. I was a little surprised then to receive a reply at my home address the following day!
Click To Enlarge
My response dated 16th March 2011:
Dear Mr Cameron,
Thank you for your reply dated 7th March 2011 which crossed with my letter of 9th March 2011.
With respect, this question is not for the Home Office. It is you who made the inaccurate and misleading statements about cannabis during your YouTube interview. Only you can correct the errors that you made.
In any event, I know what the Home Office will say. I could probably write their response myself so often have I seen the tired, formulaic replies they give to enquirers. I know their phrases off by heart!
Last week during the debate in the House of Lords on a Royal Commission into drug policy, every speaker condemned government policy. It was clear that Baroness Neville-Jones was embarrassed at having to defend what is an absurd and irrational policy that has little support in the country and has no basis in facts or evidence.
It is vital that the government steps back from its bigoted, wasteful and deeply damaging drugs policy. You are wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, creating and supporting organised crime and causing immense harm to our society. Specifically on cannabis, and in direct contradiction to the untruths you told on YouTube, you are denying hundreds of thousands of people access to the medicine they need.
Mr Cameron, we are respectable and responsible citizens who are being persecuted and oppressed by an iniquitous and irrational policy of prohibition. It seems that you can only defend your policy by telling untruths. That cannot be allowed to stand.
Please will you meet with me so that I can explain just how inaccurate your remarks on YouTube were?
Yours sincerely,
Peter Reynolds
“Ignorant, Misleading And Downright Evil Tabloid Headlines”
Baroness Joan Walmsley, LibDem peer, during the House of Lords debate on a Royal Commission on drugs policy, 9th March 2011
My Government, who were elected with 60 per cent of the vote, should have the confidence to defy the tabloid newspapers. They should get the facts and act on them. We should not be afraid of ignorant, misleading and downright evil tabloid headlines. It is the right thing to do. Please let us do it!
Watch the debate here from 19:48 onwards. See the full transcript here.
Brokenshire Resigns. New Drugs Minister Appointed.
James “Broken Britain” Brokenshire has resigned as drugs minister in order to spend more time with his family. The new drugs minister is Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi, a long time friend of the British government, well known for his intelligent and forward thinking policies and a legend amongst freedom loving people throughout the world.
David Cameron, commenting on Brokenshire’s resignation said:
“James has done a wonderful job spreading government propaganda and misinformation. Without his tireless and courageous work we would have been unable to restrain the public outcry against our drugs policy. If it wasn’t for James, thousands of medicinal cannabis users might have found relief from their pain and suffering and strayed away from the poisonous and harmful products that our friends in Big Pharma supply. It was only through James’ personal guidance that I was able recently to dismiss any idea of legalising cannabis during my YouTube interview. James told me the right lies to tell. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
David Oliver, Head of the Drug Strategy Unit at the Home Office, welcomed the new minister saying:
“I look forward to working with Muammar Gaddafi. He has exactly the right experience and personal qualities needed in a British drugs minister. He is a denier of science. He has no interest in the will of the people and he can tell bare faced lies without even blinking. I cannot think of anyone more suitable for the post”
Medicinal Cannabis And Its Impact On Human Health
This is an excellent US documentary featuring three of the most eminent advocates of medicinal cannabis: Dr David Bearman, Dr Donald Tashkin and Dr Donald Abrams. You can watch the film here.
Home Office Drug Strategy Blog – Brokenshire The Buffoon
James Brokenshire introduces the new Home Office drug strategy blog here.
It is difficult to contain the contempt in which I hold this odious and dishonest little man. His brazen cheek in believing that he has anything of honour or relevance to publish on the internet is astounding. Is he really so isolated in his ivory tower that he doen’t realise how much he and his polices are despised and reviled? Does he not know that he is subject to intense ridicule and disrespect at his absurd ideas and propaganda? Doesn’t he know that he is universally regarded as a complete prat – by all his colleagues, doctors, scientists, members of the ACMD, everyone who comes into contact with him?
This is my comment. I did my best to restrain myself and stay polite. I wonder whether it will be published?
There are many, many things wrong with Britain’s drug strategy. We now have one of the most regressive, authoritarian and oppressive drug policies anywhere in the world. Only in places where they execute people for drug possession such as Malaysia or China are there more backwards, unjust and outdated ideas being implemented.
No omission or error is more heinous though than the failure even to mention the medicinal use of cannabis. With the new understanding of the endocannabinoid system and its vital importance to all aspects of human physiology, the power of cannabis as medicine is self-evident. Throughout Europe, doctors are able to prescribe medicinal cannabis to patients. Extraordinary results are achieved in multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain, Crohn’s, cancer, ADHD and many other conditions. Meanwhile the British government continues with what can only be described as its inane response that “there are no medicinal benefits in cannabis”. It is not just a stupid policy. It is cruel. Hundreds of thousands of British citizens are denied access to the medicine that could relieve their pain and suffering. Meanwhile, in virtually every other country in Europe except France, in Israel and in 15 US states, cannabis is being used as medicine and achieving wonderful results.
Those denied their medicine in Britain are humiliated that European patients can bring medicinal cannabis into Britain and use it under the protection of the Schengen Agreement. This is a cruel and unusual punishment for the crime of being resident in Britain.
The British drug strategy is a joke throughout the world except amongst those agencies and drug workers that depend upon it for their living. It is a shame on our great nation and an extreme indictment of our political system which allows such discredited, cruel and self-defeating policies to persist.
The prohibition of medicinal cannabis is perhaps the best example of how utterly useless, out of date and hopeless is current government drugs policy.
Peter Reynolds 