Archive for the ‘television’ Category
Cameron On Cannabis Part 6
Cameron On Cannabis Part 5 is here.
David Cameron’s mistakes about university places, immigration and cannabis have been on my mind over the Easter holiday. Given the huge resources he has to ensure that his information is correct, it’s not really acceptable for our prime minister to be so error prone. If the problem is that his attempts at spin are not working and he’s deliberately telling untruths but being caught out, well perhaps that’s even more worrying.
Whichever may be the case, and I’m ready to give Mr Cameron the benefit of the doubt about his sincerity, we are entitled to call him to account. I decided to give him another prod about the errors and mistakes he’s making about cannabis.
Dear Mr Cameron,
I refer to my last letter of 5th April 2011.
The statements you made about cannabis in your Al Jazeera YouTube interview were inaccurate and misleading. Please will you now correct them?
“Incredibly damaging…very, very toxic…leads to, in many cases, huge mental health problems”
This is simply not true Mr Cameron. Professor Les Iversen, chair of the ACMD, your chief drugs advisor, is on the record, repeatedly, stating that cannabis is very, very low in toxicity and relatively safe. Furthermore, all the experts agree that the risks to mental health are very, very small, certainly much less than alcohol or tobacco.
On the medicinal use of cannabis you said:
“…the science and medical authorities…are free to make independent determinations about that.”
This is also untrue Mr Cameron. The Home Office stands obstinately in the way of medicinal use despite overwhelming, peer reviewed scientific evidence. It denies the relief of a safe and inexpensive medicine to thousands who are trapped in pain, suffering and disability. This is a cruel policy and a disgraceful shame on our nation.
Please will you now correct these untruths Mr Cameron? They were your words. You were not advised by the Home Office. CLEAR represents the interests of at least six million regular users of cannabis in Britain, thousands of whom use it as medicine. We are reasonable, responsible, respectable citizens and taxpayers and we are entitled to insist that our prime minister speaks the truth
Recently, you also spoke misleading words about cannabis and mental health on “Jamie’s Dream School” and you said that “…if you legalise drugs you will make them even more prevalent than they are”, yet this too is contradicted by all the evidence in Portugal, Holland and the USA. Even the No 10 Strategy Unit Drugs Policy Project reported in 2003 that “There is no causal relationship between availability and incidence…problematic drug use is not driven by changes in availability or price.”
This time though you were talking directly to young people, those who your government says it is most important to send the correct message to. Mr Cameron, the only message that government consistently sends to young people is that it does not tell them the truth about drugs.
Please Mr Cameron, we are entitled to expect that you tell the truth and that you correct errors when they are made. These statements were not matters of opinion nor of interpretation, They are determined by scientific evidence. Will you please now correct them?
Yours sincerely,
Peter Reynolds
Cameron On Cannabis Part 5
You can see the previous instalment here: Cameron On Cannabis Part 4.
I am still waiting for a further reply from Mr Cameron.
In the meantime, the subject of cannabis cropped up again on “Jamie’s Dream School” a Channel 4 programme in which a group of young people are given a second chance at education. Mr Cameron was challenged by the inspirational, 17 year old Henry Gatehouse, who proposed legalisation and a £1 per gram cannabis tax.
Oh Yes?
Mr Cameron responded:
“We concluded it would be wrong to make cannabis legal for two, I think, quite good reasons. One is, there is a link between that and mental health issues so it’s not harmless. And I think the second thing is that if you legalise drugs you will make them even more prevalent than they are. So I don’t think legalising is a good idea.”
Another inaccurate and misleading statement from Mr Cameron. This time though I think we should be even more concerned. Successive governments have stated that their main concern about drugs policy is children and young people and that they must be careful to “send the right messages”.
Nobody's Fool
In fact, the only message that governments have successfully delivered to young people again and again is that they never tell the truth about drugs. While the Home Office throws millions every year at the Talk To Frank campaign, the only thing it achieves is for ministers to pat themselves on the back and for the self-serving drug support industry to soak up more public money. Frank is held in complete contempt by young people. The misinformation and untruths told about, in particular, cannabis, ecstasy and mephedrone are a scandal and a grave disservice to young people.
Of course, for children and young people, the use of any psychoactive substance in a still-developing brain has the potential for harm. Cannabis should only be used by adults. Cameron is distorting the truth though. The links between cannabis and mental health are trivial compared to those with alcohol, cigarettes or even energy drinks. It is dishonest and irresponsible to give such a misleading answer to a young man who has clearly done his research and knows the truth.
Cameron’s second reason though has no basis in fact at all. All the evidence is that where a system of regulation of drugs is introduced, use goes down. This is clearly proven in Holland, Portugal and the USA. Cameron’s assertion is entirely false and, I regret to say, he must know that it is. In Britain, which now has one of the most repressive drug policies in the world, young people’s consumption of drugs is one of the highest anywhere.
Once again, Cameron reveals the dishonesty at the heart of his government’s drugs policy. This time though he is misleading and misinforming our young people. What greater mistake can he make?
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
Clearing The Smoke: The Science Of Cannabis
This excellent new documentary from MontanaPBS features Dr Lester Grinspoon, Dr. Igor Grant, Director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Dr. Eric Voth, Drug Policy Advisor to Presidents Reagan, Bush Senior, Clinton and Bush Junior.
You can watch the film here.
Peter Reynolds 