My thanks to Drug Data Update, which brought my attention to a report from the Institute for Criminal Policy Research on young people cannabis use and anti-social beaviour.
Amongst the findings were:
- Most of the sixty-one young people questioned acknowledged the potential for harm posed by cannabis, but felt capable of making rational and informed decisions about its use.
- Most young people, and around half of the eighty community respondents, knew that cannabis had been reclassified from a Class B to a Class C drug. Two in three professionals opposed the decision to reclassify.
- Most of the nineteen professionals interviewed felt that young people smoking cannabis in public caused problems for local residents. However, less than half of young people saw this as anti-social, and two-thirds of residents said they were unaffected by this behaviour.
- Almost all young people believed that their age group was routinely accused of acting in an anti-social way, even when they had not been.
- Young people believed ASB could be reduced if there were more opportunities and facilities for them. Respondents to the community survey also thought under-investment in local facilities had exacerbated the area’s problems.
Looking in a bit more depth they say:
Most of the participating professionals agreed that it was appropriate to treat young people differently to adults when it came to dealing with cannabis possession. These respondents tended to emphasise the need for appropriate education rather than a reliance on punishment and deterrence.
That view was supported by the young people the reseachers spoke to as well. The quotes that are provided suggest that this group didn’t see Frank’s cannabis campaign as being credible:
“More adverts on TV telling you the effect and what it means. The brain ad on FRANK is useless.”
“Stop over-rating it. Stop saying that if you have [a] spliff you’re gonna be mentally ill for the rest of your life.”
In terms of those giving an input into their education they, like a lot of other young people, favour hearing from ex-users and drug workers. They also suggest that education needs to be more engaging and for it to start in primary schools.
And amongst the recommendations are:
Credible campaigns offering education and advice about cannabis need to be introduced. Any such plans would benefit from the involvement and regular input from a range of professionals and perhaps young people themselves.
Strategies should be developed to reduce the negative perceptions that press stories create in the public’s mind about young people. If promoted by local agencies working together, this may have the added benefit of promoting the type of integrated services that some respondents felt was lacking in Burngreave.
Young people’s alcohol use needs further examination. In particular work needs to be undertaken which examines the problems young people experience with their use and any links their alcohol use has to anti-social behaviour and offending.
Professionals working with young people need to be provided with up-to-date accurate information about the legal status and health effects of cannabis if they are to provide young people with credible information.
Offering young people information on the medical effects of drug use (as opposed to the criminal consequences that can result from it) has the potential to provide young people with informed choices rather than criminal records.
Filed under: cannabis, research , Institute for Criminal Policy Research
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have known my ex-partner for approximately 17 years (since we were teenagers) and have slowly, over the years, watched him change and become a different person,…..not unfortunately NOT simply from growing into an adult I believe, but from his increasing addiction to cannabis or in particular Skunk, Cheese, Big Bud, Northern Lights, Purple Haze (or basically any extra strength weed), I have written a short story, trying to outline these changes as I see it and trying to show the damaging effects on families of long term cannabis smoking from my point of view. I don’t know if you can find any use for this in trying to encourage young people not to think cannabis is harmless, but I enclose it for your perusal. I would appreciate any advice that you may have on an organisation that might be able to make use of it. Many thanks……………………………….
………………………………………..
Herb heart
CHAPTER 1 – The Bridge
He stood on the edge of the bridge looking down….down into the murky green water! Most of his life had been a lie and he had made it that way, even wanted it that way..! He took a step back from the edge and jumped down off the ledge…on steady ground again. He began to walk towards the trees, towards the faint smell of moss and earth and the natural smell of mother nature. Into the forest the noise of twigs cracking beneath his feet, he sat down and pulled a small package of silver foil from his pocket and a creased up tobacco pouch, if only everything was as simple in life he thought as he spread a generous amount of weed from the silver foil and a small amount of tobacco from the pouch into a cigarette paper, he rolled it quickly, lit it and puffed on the heavenly herb. He began to feel remotely relaxed, he breathed the smoke deeply into his lungs and exhaled with complete gratification….if only life was this simple…..this pleasant…..this easy, his eyes began to close and he lay down on the forest floor, complete and relaxed.
He awoke with a start, his body chilled to the bone, the moon was large and round, far above the trees, sending out its bright white light. How long he had slept he didn’t know but it was long enough. He pulled out his tobacco and made another spliff as quick as he could with cold, stiff fingers. Then he made his way out of the trees towards the road, towards civilization, he was thirsty and only alcohol would do….. any alcohol he thought with a smile.
Cars steamed passed lights bright, no body seemed to be on foot, perhaps that was the cold, or perhaps it was later then he thought. He reached the off licence and it was open, he breathed a sigh of relief, it couldn’t be that late then. He bought a few cans of strong lager and a large bottle of cheap cider, he knew it wouldn’t taste very pleasant but at least he could get pissed from it….and that was the whole point, wasn’t it! He stepped out of the shop back into the cold air, trying not to think about anything apart from the alcohol right now. As he made his way down the back alleyways towards the flat, his mind flashed…’to them’, wondering what they were doing on this cold night, at home, in the warm probably…….then he pushed the thought from his mind, opened the cider and glugged hard on the bottle, that’s better he thought as he felt the liquid cool his throat, this is the life he thought. He unlocked the door and stepped into the flat.
The smell wasn’t pleasant, sweat, ashtrays and fried food. He switched on the light and glanced around, the thick dark curtains that he had pinned over the windows looked crap but at least they kept everyone out and him in! He went into the kitchen putting the beers in the otherwise empty fridge and went back into the main room stepping over the blackened tin foil on the floor, an image of his brother chasing the dragon the night before flashing in his mind. He would finish the Cider have another spliff and then he’d tidy up he thought sitting down on the couch…..home sweet home he thought bitterly…home sweet home!.
……….He suddenly became alert and looked around I must have been dazing out for ages he thought……..he makes another spliff….hastily… and leans back on the couch inhaling it in, not knowing how long he has actually been sat there for, but knowing it seemed like a life time!
He had come to the conclusion that no one was ever going to understand him, he was far to in depth for anyone else…..or was he…or was she right he thought briefly am I “losing it”! He shrugged this thought off angrily and finished the rest of the bottle of cider. At the end of the day people who don’t smoke don’t understand, he thought, they just don’t see the bigger picture!
The cider was finished so he opened a can and his mind began to drift back…back to “her” …..her….saying that “all he cared about was the weed….why couldn’t he see what was happening to them…..”The stupid cow, he thought…why can’t everyone see how pathetic women are…only interested in being loved….always wanting to fucking talk….talk about what….what could possibly matter enough to talk about….unless its green and smells of cat piss!!! He laughed to himself at his own joke and glugged down the can. Life is what you make of it he thinks looking around at the barren room…..and life is “green”…he chuckles and builds yet another spliff, bigger than the last this time to take away the stupid memories.
He felt vaguely conscious now…..his mind jelly like……why couldn’t she see the tiny boy within still trying to come to terms with his childhood…his life…his being…why did she have to keep pushing him…wanting him to be “good to her, to treat her with respect, to love her” who the fuck did she think she was….to get preferential treatment over his mom and dad……fair enough she had been there for most of the time, put up with his moods…for most of the time, but she had fucked him about…the selfish cow!! He felt himself tensing up all over and pulled his mobile from his pocket, fuck this he thought and dialed his brothers number.
CHAPTER TWO – The birds
She stared out into the garden the blue tits were hopping lightly from branch to branch, and pecking at the breadcrumbs. Why did it have to be this way she thought, why did it have to end this way…..through there childhood she had accepted that there relationship had never been made in heaven…far from it…but she had thought…..just for a short time…these last few years that they were getting somewhere, that things had changed, she knew he would always be a weed head, but there was a lot worse in this life…wasn’t there? She had thought that they could leave the past behind them where it belonged, they were both children then after all, but she hadn’t realized that his mind was still child like (well at least she had not realized the extent of it…his mind seemed to have stayed the same way since he was 18 years old, very little in his brain had developed or changed since then), that he would keep bringing up old disputed, ordeals and occasions that she had thought had long been resolved or at least accepted between them. She had almost encouraged his smoking in the last year, as the times when he wasn’t smoking (because he couldn’t score or didn’t have the money), he had been horrible, to her and their daughters, so miserable and moody that she just couldn’t stand it, it was a far nicer life to help him get it, if he needed money or a lift. But the last time had been much worse than any of the times previously, when he had stopped smoking the weed this time , she had seen who he really was…or at least who he and the weed had made him….this selfish, miserable, spiteful, bitter, hurtful man, who couldn’t seem to hear what she said anymore, who didn’t care to hear what she said, who didn’t care how she felt……it was all gone, 16 years of believing in something…in someone (or at least the optimistic, idealism of someone)…gone….and now she had to come to terms with that. She breathed a heavy sigh of loss and frustration, but not sadness,…wasn’t love supposed to be nice she thought….weren’t you supposed to find a man fall in love and everything be roses, she laughed at how pathetic she sounded, she closed her eyes…he wasn’t worth thinking about.
Her mobile phone began to chime, the alarm waking her it was 8am, she was surprised the girls were still asleep! She got up smoothed the bed covers over and got dressed, it was freezing cold and barely light outside, how she hated getting out of bed in winter, after washing her face and starting to try and make her face presentable with her makeup she heard the girls waking up and chattering to each other in there bedroom. She went into there room smiling and opening the curtains “wakey, wakey rise and shine”!! Two sleepy faces smiled back at her……her two daughters were always the most, lovely things to wake up to…even when they were grumpy! “Come on up you get, got to get ready for school, best day of the week FRIDAY!!!” she smiled at them and went to try and tame her hair with the straightners.
CHAPTER 3 – The drugs
He dialed the number walking up and down the flat as he waited for an answer. Trying to sort out a bit of coke was like trying to sort out a fucking million quid lately (basically impossible!). He had tried nearly all his and his brothers contacts and this was his last hope, but he hadn’t even spoken to this particular guy for years! He realized he was holding his breath as he paced up and down waiting for the phone to be answered…………and then the line went dead….shit he’s probably changed his number by now he thought angrily! He felt bitterly disappointed as he sat down on the couch and made a spliff, he had really been looking forward to a bit of coke and a few beers and now he would probably have to make do with the beer and few dried magic mushrooms that his brother had been saving for a special occasion….well this was the special occasion wasn’t it…his first Christmas of freedom in years. Why had he wasted his Christmases with her he thought, oh yea for my kids he thought, that’s the only reason why I wasted my time with her…my kids, a twinge of guilt shot through his mind, but disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared….his mind wandered back…..His brother had been round for Christmas day last year and she had cooked for all of us, kept the kids occupied while he smoked spliffs in the kitchen with his bro, he had been so drunk after cane-in it all day with his brother that he didn’t remember much of it! Oh well it was Christmas, everyone got wrecked at Christmas, that’s what Christmas is for!…………!
His mate had managed to come up with a bit of “B” and normally he would of said no, it always gave him gut ache afterwards, but he was feeling so stressed because of that selfish cow that anything would do right now, he had been sorely tempted to share his brothers bag last night…but had decided to knock himself out with a bottle of vodka instead at the last minute…..He checked the time on his phone and left the flat heading for his mates, not far from the river, only a 15 minute walk from the flat. He had been drinking since he woke up at 10am, but he still couldn’t wait to get properly K O’d!!
It was nearly three o’clock in the morning, he lay down on his bed breathing heavily, was his brother still in the flat?….he didn’t know, he couldn’t remember……….if only he had stopped at the vodka and base, adding the magic mushrooms on top had seriously fried his head………the spliff was the only thing keeping him sane he thought dragging on it….or did he need more alcohol…..yes he thought I need more alcohol to level me out……he reached down the side of the bed picked up the can and drank some beer……but it tasted odd……he put the spliff in the ashtray and tucked his head under his pillow closing his eyes…..this did not feel good!! His mind was racing, thoughts of packing his bags back at the house while she was out with the girls, how pleased he had felt that he was going to walk out on her and she was so up herself that she didn’t even realized what he was doing,….. then the image in his mind changed to himself collecting the rest of his stuff from the front door of the house all packaged up in bin bags, he had still felt pleased at how he had shown her,…. he had shown her what would happen if she didn’t do what she should for him………and then the feeling gripped him……..the feeling that he had done something wrong, what had he done, why had he done it………………she wouldn’t let him back….he had pleaded with her…….and after the pleading had not worked, he had told her what an evil piece of work she was. How dare she not let him move back when he had changed his mind, how fucking dare she…………his thoughts began to drift again bright ultraviolet lights and colours flashing in his mind, his hands and feet felt clammy and hot……hurry up and end he thought, hurry up and end….as his mind was enveloped with roots, mushroom feelers, roots spreading throughout his brain joining the weed roots already feeding off his mind, sucking it slowly dry.