Talk
to Frank says | UKCIA
comments |
The
effects | |
| Some
people may feel chilled out, relaxed and happy, while others have one puff and
feel sick. | Most
people to be fair either find cannabis to be enjoyable or not. Talk to Frank has
this thing about cannabis making people sick, which is an odd claim to make. |
| Others
get the giggles and may become talkative. | Well,
OK. |
| Hunger
pangs are common and are known as 'getting the munchies'. | Yep |
| Users
may become more aware of their senses or get a feeling of slowing of time, which
are due to its hallucinogenic effects. |
"Users
may be more aware of their senses"? Who writes this stuff? Cannabis
heightens your senses, you become more aware of music, colours etc, you don't
become more aware of the fact you can see! Time
does pass slowly. |
| Clearly
a stronger 'joint' (e.g. skunk or sinsemilla) may have more powerful effects,
but users may moderate this by inhaling and using less. |
Cannabis
comes in many different types or strains - different strains have different ratios
of active chemicals and produce very different effects in the user as a result. Users
may indeed use less strong cannabis than weak cannabis. Because
of prohibition, it;s almost impossible to know what you're buying however. |
| | |
Chances of getting hooked | |
| There
is some psychological dependence with cannabis (where there is a desire to keep
taking the drug even in spite of possible harms) and this occurs in about 10%
of users. There are no physical withdrawal symptoms from cannabis use. | OK |
| If
you've only been using for a short while there should be no problem stopping but
with continued regular use of cannabis, this can become more difficult. You’re
also at risk of getting addicted to nicotine if you roll your spliffs with tobacco. | Ah
yes, the Talk to Frank "stop using" message. Not bad advice though but
it would have been better to warn users not to smoke with tobacco because of the
additional health risks and addiction problems. Talk to Frank still refuses to
give this safer smoking advice. |
The
law | |
| Cannabis
is illegal; it's a Class C drug. | Daft,
isn't it? |
| If
you’re caught with cannabis the police will always take action. | Getting
arrested can cause problems far worse than the drug itself can cause for most
people. Note the amount of space dedicated to warnings about the law: |
| Possession: | |
| If
you’re caught with even a small amount of cannabis on you, you can be arrested.
What the police will do depends on the circumstances and how old you are. | law |
| Usually,
you’ll get a warning and the police will confiscate the drug and if you’re
under 18, your parent or guardian will also be contacted | law |
| The
police are more likely to arrest you if: you are blatantly smoking in public and/or
have been caught with cannabis before. | law |
| If
you continue to break the law, you can end up with a criminal record which could
affect your chances of getting a job. It could also affect whether you can go
on holiday to some countries | law |
| The
maximum penalty for possession is two years in prison plus an unlimited fine. | law |
| Supply: | |
| Dealing
is a very serious offence | law |
| In
the eyes of the law, this includes giving drugs to friends. | law |
| People
who grow cannabis in their homes or carry large amounts on them also risk being
charged with intent to supply. | law |
| The
maximum penalty for supply is 14 years in prison plus an unlimited fine. | law |
| Did
you know? | |
| Drug
driving is as illegal as drink driving. You could go to prison, get a heavy fine
or be disqualified. | law |
| Allowing
people to take cannabis in your house or any other premises is illegal. If the
police catch someone smoking cannabis in a club they can prosecute the landlord,
club owner or person holding the party | law |
| Using
cannabis to relieve pain is also an offence. Possession is illegal whatever you’re
using it for. | Actually
that's not quite true. Cannabis is available legally as "Sativex", a
hugely expensive preparation made from whole cannabis. However, you will be prosecuted
even for using cannabis for pain relief, even if you're terminally ill. |
Appearance and use | |
| Cannabis
comes in different forms. | And
in deferent strains or types. |
| Hash
is a blacky-brown lump made from the resin of the plant and is the commonest form
of cannabis in the UK. It's quite often squidgy. | Hash
isn't "made from the resin", it is the resin which is rubbed, shaken
or otherwise removed from the plant. Hash will always be stronger than the herbal
cannabis it's made from, but it may well come from less potent plants. Hash can
be very, very strong however. |
| Grass
or weed (traditional herbal cannabis) is made from the dried leaves of the plant
and looks like tightly packed dried herbs. Less common is cannabis oil, which
is dark and sticky and comes in a small jar. |
Grass is
not "made from the dried leaves of the plant", it's made from the flowering
heads and the leaves around the flowers. It may contain seeds. Oil
is a chemical extract of the resin. Oil is usually very, very strong and is way
stronger than hash. |
| Recently,
there have been various forms of herbal or grass-type cannabis that are generally
found to be stronger than ordinary ‘weed’, containing on average 2-3
times the amount of the active compound, THC. These include ‘sinsemilla’
(a bud grown in the absence of male plants and which has no seeds), ‘homegrown’,
‘skunk’ (which has a particular strong smell) and ‘netherweed’. |
Talk to
Frank seems very confused about this. Cannabis has long been grown as "Sensi"
- Sensimilla (not "sinse" incidentally), meaning female plants grown
without any males around to fertilise them. This makes the product stronger. It
is not a new technique however. "Homegrown",
or "skunk" or any of the varieties grown by enthusiasts are nearly always
grown as sensi. When
Talk to Frank says the cannabis is stronger, it means it has a higher potency,
ie it produces resin with more THC relative to everything else. That doesn't really
mean it's necessarily stronger. |
| These
are forms of herbal cannabis often grown from selected seeds by intensive indoor
methods (e.g. using hydroponic methods, artificial lighting etc.) to optimise
their potency. | The
potency is determined by the plant grown, ie the seed. Growing in controlled conditions
will make the plant as strong as possible. |
| Most
people mix cannabis with tobacco and smoke it as a spliff or a joint. Some people
put it in a pipe. And others make tea with it or stick it in food like cakes or
‘cannabis cookies’. | True,
but again, no advice not to use tobacco |
Cost | |
| Prices
can vary from region to region. The prices given here are an average of street
prices reported from 20 different parts of England.Grass is usually more expensive
than resin (hash), with stronger forms tending to be more expensive (e.g. ‘skunk’
at £200 per ounce). | Of
course, if you grow it, it's near enough free and you don't have to fund oranised
crime - buying cannabis often involves dealing with organised crime. This of course
is caused by cannabis being illegal. |
Purity
| |
| Some
unsuspecting people have been known to buy blocks of mud, stock cubes and garden
herbs from people pretending to be dealers. | Since
the middle of 2006 there has been a huge contamination problem in the UK. Herbal
cannabis has been seen to contain microscopic glass beads for example and there
have been many other reports of unknown additives. This information is totally
inadequate. |
| The
most impure cannabis is called 'soap bar'. It's contaminated with all sorts of
things. This makes it cheaper but it's often harder to get very stoned. | Ah!
Talk to Frank now uses the word "impure" at last, rather than the awful
"unpure" it used previously. |
| It’s
not actually possible to tell whether a particular sample of 'skunk' or ‘homegrown’
or ‘sinsemilla’ will have a higher potency than an equal amount of 'imported
herbal cannabis' - because the actual potencies of different products overlap
substantially. | In
other worse, there's been no real overall increase in potency over the years. |
| The
potency of herbal cannabis decreases over time in storage and is affected by what
parts of the plant have been included in the product. Hence, a user has little
guarantee about the ‘intensity of the high’. Also, it has been found
the intensity of the smell of skunk appears to be no guide to the actual strength
either. | Being
illegal, there are no quality controls. That, of course, is entirely caused by
the law. |
| |
Non of the
advice above acknowledges the cause of the problems, which is the regime Talk
to Frank exists to defend. No warnings are given about the serious dangers associated
with a market controlled and run in large part by organised crime. It's
very important NEVER to get into debt with a drug dealer. Disputes can not be
settled by recourse to the law. |
The
risks | |
| Even
hardcore smokers can become anxious, panicky and suspicious. | Temporarily,
yes. |
| It
affects your coordination, which is one of the reasons why drug driving is just
as illegal as drink driving. | OK |
| Some
people think cannabis is harmless just because it’s a plant – but it
isn’t harmless. Cannabis, like tobacco, has lots of chemical 'nasties', which
can cause lung disease and cancer with long-term or heavy use, especially as it
is often mixed with tobacco. It can also make asthma worse. |
Well, human
beings have around 5,000 years experience of cannabis and in that time it has
never been identified as a cause of death. But
smoking anything isn't good for you and there is some very basic advice which
Talk to Frank refuses to give for some reason. THC
is thought to impair the growth of some cancers Avoid
mixing cannabis with tobacco It
can make Asthma worse, it can also make it better. |
| Cannabis
is risky for anyone with a heart problem as it increases the heart rate and can
affect blood pressure. | In
a similar way to exercise apparently (according to Talk to Frank's" now withdrawn
"Cannabis Explained" booklet. In fact cannabis causes a temporary increase
in blood pressure, followed by a fall. |
| There’s
also increasing evidence of a link between cannabis and mental health problems
such as schizophrenia. If you’ve a history of mental health problems, depression
or are experiencing paranoia, then taking this drug is not a good idea. |
Cannabis
can make existing conditions worse. It's good advice not to smoke cannabis if
you're under 18, at least not very often. Continuous heavy use by young people
might be an indication of an emerging mental health problem. Look after your mates. If
you have a bad reaction from using cannabis (bouts of paranoia etc), treat is
as a warning. That's pretty obvious good advice. |
| Frequent
use of cannabis can cut a man's sperm count and suppress ovulation in women. If
you’re pregnant, smoking cannabis may harm the baby. | Cannabis
does not reduce peoples ability to have children. Taking any drugs when pregnant
is not a good idea. |
| Regular,
heavy use makes it difficult to learn and concentrate. Some people begin to feel
tired all the time and can't seem to get motivated. | Regular,
heavy use of anything will do that. Moderate use is largely problem free however,
but of course, talk to frank can't say that. |
| Some
users may want to buy stronger herbal cannabis to get ‘a bigger high’
but unpleasant reactions can be more powerful when you use stronger strains, and
stronger varieties may lead in time to more severe dependence or more severe mental
health effects | Using
stronger versions of any drug can lead to bigger problems. But again, Talk to
Frank is confusing potency with strength. |
