|
You
are in Activism/Government
on drugs
 |
Know
Cannabis
website and leaflets from the HIT drugs agency based in Liverpool
|
 |
Launched
sometime in December 2004 - some time after it was actually announced
by the Frank "action update" - the HIT website "Know Cannabis"
is aimed at helping you assess your cannabis use, its impact on your life
and how to make changes if you want to. Hit are a highly respected drugs
advice agency based in Liverpool who have a reputation for straight talking
about drugs..
It
contains some good advice, including some advice on how to use cannabis
more safely. However, as always it mixes the health education message
with the legal warnings which somewhat debases the information it gives.
The
website is accompanied by leaflets which give a condensed version of the
information available online and is promoted by the government's Talk
to Frank campaign.
The
website Know
Cannabis is divided into six sections: - we review the information
below.
Cannabis
information
Rather
negative information about what using cannabis can do to you in terms
of dependency, smoking, mental health, debt, relationships and - of course
- the law. Also features a special warning to under 18's in terms of the
law. There is some good advice in here, particularly with regard to smoking.
Tips
and techniques
Some
information on how to smoke cannabis which is fundamentally wrong in places
- and indeed contradicts information given in the information section
to some extent. The information on eating cannabis is very negative and
avoids giving any really useful information. Lastly there's information
to help you cut down or stop. There's almost no harm reduction advice
beyond advising you not to hold smoke in your lungs for along time.
Cannabis
quiz
This
is supposed to help you decide if your cannabis use is becoming a problem.
The quiz is full of holes and questions that are difficult to answer and
seems designed to convince you that your cannabis use is causing you big
problems.
Order
form
So
you can buy stuff from HIT such as posters telling you to cut down and
a guide to how to cut down or stop, not much there likely to appeal...
Links
To
Talk to Frank, NHS anti smoking site, RETHINK mental health charity and
things like that, but of course, not to any legalisation campaign - obviously
... why obviously?
So
- how good is the information on "Know Cannabis"?
Cannabis
information:
The
introduction sets the tone: "This website can help you assess your
cannabis use, its impact on your life and how to make changes if you want
to. Smoking cannabis can cause you problems in different areas of your
life. Some regular cannabis smokers choose to cut down and stop, many
find it easy, others find it hard. Are you in control of your cannabis
use? Read on and then decide for yourself."
Dependency
It
outlines the symptoms of addiction - or dependency - which is fair enough
and adds: "Are you spending too much time, energy and money on weed?
Does a lot of your day revolve around dope? Do those close to you complain
that you're stoned all the time? Cannabis can lead to problems - could
you stop if you wanted to?"
Interestingly
it doesn't mention the addictive nature of tobacco nor give any advice
about smoking without the killer weed. This is a failing the site repeats
later. How many of the symptoms it attributes to cannabis are in fact
due to the tobacco people often smoke it with?
1:
Smoking
Some
good advice here - indeed it talks about tobacco and the dangers of becoming
addicted to it. However, it then comes out with this: "Giving up
tobacco may be more difficult as a result of your cannabis use".
That is as close as it comes to advising tokers not to smoke with tobacco.
So cannabis use leads to tobacco addiction and there's nothing you can
do about it? This withholding of information gets worse later.
It
does advise not to hold smoke in your lungs - doing that won't get you
any more stoned. Good advice as far as it goes.
2:
Mental health advice
It
gives what seems blindingly obvious advice: "If cannabis is affecting
your mental health, stop using it.". However, it's by no means certain
that schizophrenia or bipolar disorder sufferers perceive they experience
negative effects, or suffer them in quite the way HIT describes, so how
useful is the HIT advice actually? Indeed there is evidence to suggest
some sufferers are self medicating - that the cannabis actually makes
them feel better in some way, even though in other ways it complicates
the issue.
However,
having warned of that cannabis can make people feel panicky and so on,
surely the obvious thing to say is "if you find the effects of cannabis
unpleasant, don't use it". After all, many people stop using it because
they find it makes them uneasy for one reason or another.
Although
it mentions the increased risk for young people, it doesn't give the simple
advice "people under 18 are best advised not to get stoned"
as UKCIA does either. To do that, of course, would be a bit like supporting
age limits, something not possible under prohibition.
3:
Debt and relationship problems
Don't
spend too much money on dope and don't spend too much time watching TV.
Otherwise cut down, use less etc
4:
The law
And
of course, cannabis is illegal and the law can really mess your life up,
especially if you're young. Of course, this is presented as a danger of
cannabis, not a danger caused by a stupid law. Interestingly it warns
people under 18 about the higher risk from the law, giving the impression
that young people shouldn't use cannabis for that reason, yet they didn't
give the health advice to young people under the mental health section.
Are young people more likely to not use cannabis because it's illegal
than if they're given honest and genuine health advice?
Probably
the biggest risks from cannabis use come through its illegality - lack
of controls over the supply side (polluted "soap bar", uncertain
strengths, dealing with profit motivated criminals, illegal black markets
and so on - plus of course the harm a criminal record can have on peoples
lives. So why
no warnings about the harm the law can do?
Tips
and techniques section:
1:
Smoking cannabis:
Hit
do say in the info section "If you smoke cannabis with tobacco, you
expose your lungs to two harmful
drugs and this increases the risks." But in the smoking advice they
say "There is as yet no conclusive evidence that methods of inhaling
cannabis that have been promoted as less risky, such as the use of water
pipes and vapouriser, actually do reduce risks overall. The use of vapouriser
has attracted some media focus recently but beware of unexpected effects
such as increased inhalation (including of toxins). Naturally the safest
course of action is to cut down and stop."
All
this is very negative and seems designed to put people off listening to
the advice, but worse it's simply wrong: Pipes, vapourisers etc do not
involve tobacco, they are thus obviously safer/less dangerous than smoking
tobacco filled joints. They avoid the physical addiction and craving produced
by tobacco and vastly reduce the amount of smoke breathed in..
HIT
seem to be implying that there is no point is cutting out tobacco when
using cannabis; why? This information actually seems to be arguing against
safer smoking techniques. It is close to being irresponsible.
Given
that HIT accept tobacco is an additional risk, why no advice to smoke
cannabis pure - especially through devices which cool the smoke and remove
some of the tars?
Surely
as regards smoking the advice is simple - breath in as little smoke as
possible and don't mix cannabis with a known cancer causing addictive
drug.
The
advice on eating is almost entirely negative and no ways to reduce the
risks are given.
This
is followed by advice on how to cut down or quit. Mostly good advice but
of course but again it doesn't advise quitting tobacco with all it's addictive
cravings.
The
Cannabis quiz:
Rather
a lot of comments on the questions in this quiz. The idea is to help you
to see if your cannabis use is causing you a problem and to encourage
you to think about cutting down. However, some of the questions are badly
worded and seem designed to paint a black picture:
Q3:
How often are you stoned:
How
stoned? Very or a little bit? HIT do not define what they mean by "stoned".
A couple of puffs on a pipe might do for most situations, am I stoned?
Or do they mean so hammered you can't move?
Q4: When you smoke cannabis, how often do you light up a second joint
to get extra stoned?
What
if you don't smoke joints? Pipe smoking doesn't work like this. If you
use a pipe, you take as much as you want then leave it go out, maybe have
a bit more later. The profile of use for pipe smokers is different to
joint
smokers and usually far less habitual. Also pipe smokers don't smoke to
satisfy a tobacco urge. Again, the concept of safer smoking techniques
is totally ignored. So how do non-tobacco users answer this question?
Q5: Do you ever smoke cannabis in combination with other substances
such as alcohol, cocaine or ecstasy? Please ignore tobacco when answering
this question.
Why
ignore Tobacco??? Why are HIT avoiding this issue? They seem intent on
propping up the image of cannabis use being entwined with tobacco as a
norm.
Q7: What are the most important reasons why you use cannabis? Click
below three reasons that apply to you.
The
option "To perform or concentrate better" counts against your
score - but it's true, many enjoyable things such as doing recreational
IT work such as webdev, playing music or other artistic pastimes are defiantly
enhanced with a little toke for some people, it does help concentration
in some ways. Including this option adds a point to your score - why?
Q10: How often have you thought to yourself in the past year, 'I should
cut down or stop'?
Now,
if you answer this in any way other than "never" it implies
you didn't follow it up by cutting down and thus have a problem, of course,
it could be a sign that you're keeping an eye on your cannabis use, but
answering "yes" in any way indicates you have a problem
Q11: In the past year, how often has your use of cannabis affected
your performance in your work or studies?
What
do HIT mean by "affected"? For good or bad? What if you've spent
hours in recreational stoned computer abuse and taught yourself IT skills
for example? Not all work skills come through staff development ...
Q12: Do you sometimes put things off because you are stoned?
Hells
teeth yes of course and so you should - don't drive whilst stoned for
a start! That's a loaded question and of course, counts against you if
you answer "yes".
13: Have you ever felt extremely frustrated because you couldn't smoke
cannabis when you wanted to?
Frankly
Yes - in night clubs or at gigs, but this isn't what HIT mean, is it?
When
you've completed the quiz you get a score. If you get 5 or less - the
lowest you can get of course, the advice isn't "OK, you have it under
control", but "This means there is not any immediate reason
for concern since you are an infrequent user. But taking drugs always
carries risks - and of course cannabis is not only harmful but it is still
an illegal drug in the UK. To find out more about cannabis and the law,
click here for information."
Oh
dear, bad losers or what!
It
should be noted that a score of 5 can be obtained even if you answer "every
day" to how often you use, so the "infrequent use" comment
there is a little odd.
It
also states for a low score "No added risk, although taking drugs
always carries risks" Which doesn't really make sense.
Take
the HIT Know Cannabis quiz here
Visit
the Know Cannabis
website
In
conclusion the website and leaflets contain some good information and
HIT do give advice on how to use cannabis in a less risky way, which is
something of a landmark. However, as always the advice they give is compromised
by the need to support government policy and is partial as a result. The
tone of the website is, of course, anti use without any acknowledgment
of the positive aspects of cannabis
Another
wasted opportunity.
UKCIA
January 2005
Warning: include(/home/www/ukciawww/ukciafooter.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/content/u/k/c/ukciawww/html/activism/know_cann_01_05.php on line 343
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/www/ukciawww/ukciafooter.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php') in /home/content/u/k/c/ukciawww/html/activism/know_cann_01_05.php on line 343
|
