The most widely used illegal drug in Britain. It's a naturally occurring drug made from parts of the cannabis plant.

It's a sedative and mild hallucinogen that makes some people feel chilled out and others feel sick.

Cannabis may be a sedative, but it's one which can be used to enhance such pastimes as dancing (as with "Jiving" - "jive" being a jazz culture term for cannabis). Also, it doesn't produce hallucinations in the way LSD does.

ID: Bhang, black, blast, blow, blunts. Bob Hope, bush, dope, draw, ganja, grass, hash, hashish, hemp, herb, marijuana, pot, puff, Northern Lights, resin, sensi, sensemilla, shit, skunk, smoke, soap, spliff, wacky backy, weed, zero. Some names are based on where it comes from... Afghan, homegrown, Moroccan etc

Cannabis comes in different forms.

Frank has changed this bit of information, he used to say "Less common is sensimilla which a form of Jamaican weed famous for being all bud and no seed"

Most, if not all, homegrown weed is sensimilla, i.e. unfertilised female plants, it's very unlikely you'll get seeds in skunk.

The fact that most people smoke cannabis mixed with tobacco is true and is the biggest health hazard facing users. Sadly nowhere does Frank give harm reduction advice about safer ways to use cannabis.

As we commented last time, cannabis is not water soluble and putting it in tea (i.e. boiling water) won't work. You can however make milk based drinks with it and, indeed you can "stick it in" lots of food. See the ukcia how to eat cannabis section

About £7.50 for a 'teenth' or sixteenth of an ounce.

About £15 for an 'eighth' of an ounce. And about £25 for a 'quarter'.

Frank's prices are for low-grade soap bar, good quality weed costs a little more, perhaps around £10 per teenth.

Increasingly cannabis is being sold by the gram - especially weed. a "teenth" = 1.75grms.

This has now changed to say

Varies widely around the country. Grass is usually more expensive than resin (hash)

Of course, whilst cannabis remains illegal this is a very real problem, but that's the governments fault for having a stupid law which prevents any form of regulation of cannabis sales and which forces the trade into the hands of oganised crime. Of course, Frank can't say that.

A big change here in Franks information. In June, Frank said "Cannabis is not something that dealers mix anything with". UKCIA has been warning for some time that this isn't true and that some forms of street hash - called "Soap bar" can be highly contaminated - see our soapbar warning.

Again, Franks' use of the English language is suspect and can really only be explained because he's not being honest. The word "unpure" in Franks comments actually mean "cut" or "polluted". This, again, is a direct result of prohibition and nothing else.

UKCIA advice - Don't buy soapbar, don't sell soap bar, it may be very dangerous indeed.

Why not tell the truth Frank?

Actually, that is more true for cannabis than with most other drugs. What used to be called 'set and setting' - who you are with and where you are - is very important when you get stoned. That isn't true for all drugs as Frank should know.

As we said last time, where do they get this from? Smoking with tobacco is the easiest way to make people feel sick. To be honest, most people just feel stoned when they smoke cannabis, which is much more than just "feeling happy, relaxed and at peace with the world" - see here

The last bit about face muscles is just stupid and wrong.

Stoned people do not stagger around like drunks, although being very stoned can make movement difficult.

In some ways cannabis can improve concentration and may even help with certain complex tasks, particularly with artistic composition. But it is good advice not to work dangerous machinery when stoned - including driving.

Well, it is fair to warn that eating cannabis does take a while to feel any effect, but as for making the effect stronger and longer lasting, well, that's not a flip side!

Eating or drinking cannabis also avoids the dangers associated with smoking, but of course, Frank can't tell you that.

However, given the unregulated supply side - caused by the law - it is hard to judge the strength of your hash cake. Again though, Frank fails to warn of the actual cause of the problem.

Frank's scrapped another wonderful bit of his GCSE English language grade F style information here: He used to say "If you have been using for a long time, worth you might want to think about counselling. Your local drug agency can offer help and advice".

What he meant was if you do find you have a problem with your cannabis use (a few people do), don't be afraid to ask for help, you won't get busted.

Most problems associated to anything are linked to regular, heavy use, cannabis is no exception to that rule.

Notice how Frank is careful not to say there are few if any risks with moderate use, again, he can't, Talk to Frank is an anti drugs site. This is an example of "spin".

Note the use of the words "may be", this is very open to debate and not proven. Indeed, there is some research which indicates that cannabis may actually inhibit cancer growth

In any case, cannabis smoking is very different in nature to tobacco smoking, which is why regular tobacco smokers buy it in 12grm (1/2 ounce) packs, probably every other day or so.

However, a simple bit of good harm reduction advice is to breath in as little smoke as possible and to filter the smoke. Use a water pipe and smoke small amounts of strong weed for example.

Frank is on very shaky ground here. UKCIA has heard a lot of anecdotal evidence that cannabis is actually good for asthma, although smoking tobacco laden spliffs is going to reduce any potential benefits.

Eating cannabis of course avoids these problems.

"Some research", it's not proof by a long way.

However, if you find cannabis has unpleasant effects - and some people certainly do - don't use it.

The vast majority of people will not suffer in this way of course.

Cannabis can cause a range of mental health problems from short lived and more common problems such as anxiety and paranoid feelings, to less common difficulties with actual psychotic states that may require medical treatment.

This is smoking related advice, not cannabis related. However, it's good advice not to use any kind of drug when pregnant. A reader offered this feedback to UKCIA

"I don't think its advisable to take any drug including alcohol or caffeine when pregnant, surely you shouldn't really be encouraging people to get stoned when they are pregnant if it involves smoking or not"?

Fair enough.

This is actually a cut and paste from the stop smoking tobacco information issued by the government. Frank doesn't understand that cannabis is different to tobacco, to him its all just smoking.

Good advice as far as it goes, but what's the advice if you're not trying to cut down or stop Frank?

"Skunk" is actually the name of a particular strain of cannabis, grown from "skunk" seeds made by skunk plants. Skunk is a cross between Sativa and Indica types of cannabis plant.

However, Frank is right to say the term "skunk" is often used to mean cannabis grown indoors under lights and the illegal nature of the supply side does often mean it's grown intensively.

In fact, a lot of "skunk" - better to call it "bud" - isn't grown from seeds but from cuttings of an older plant. Cuttings are not a new idea for gardeners, they've been doing it for thousands of years. Each plant grown from a cutting is a clone of the original - ie identical in every way. Growing from "cuts" thus produces a very predictable product.

The name did originally come from the smell.

Well, Frank isn't going to tell you. This is information about strength, not purity. "Purity" means does it have contaminants? The straight answer to that question is as long as the plant is grown properly and not fed a diet of toxic chemicals, it will be totally pure.

Of course, because of prohibition, there are no checks to make sure it is always grown in a pure way, but any cannabis you grow yourself will be pure if you do it right. Of course, Frank can't tell you that.

The information about strength comes from the recent European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction here

Frank doesn't mention that different varieties of cannabis have different effects though.

What Franks is trying not to say is the claims that cannabis is now much stronger than it used to be are really not true.

It's because of prohibition that the consumer has no idea of how strong cannabis is, but Frank can't tell you that either.

Uncertain strengths are a direct result of government policy and nothing else.

Frank has to end this on a negative note to keep the government happy.

Most people buy domestically produced cannabis for one reason only - it's way better quality than the imported stuff.

If your dealer knows the grower - or if you grow it yourself of course - you'll also know it's cleaner than imported cannabis.

Also, growing your own or buying from a home-grower avoids contact with the illegal drug dealers, but that's something else Frank can't tell you.

More like £160 per ounce actually, if you do buy it in ounces of course. If you buy in smaller amounts then it's going to cost more.

Of course, if you grow it yourself it's near enough free as long as you don't get caught.

The information Frank is giving is getting better, but very slowly and it's still badly compromised by having to support the policy of prohibition.

The worst omission with this information is that Frank avoids warning that health risks - especially regarding mental health - are mostly concerning children and not adults, certainly not adults who use cannabis in a responsible way. If Frank were to raise this issue, it would fuel demands for age limits on sales, something not possible under prohibition.

Back to the government on drugs