Reference
Section The
UKCIA newsblog
Comment
on cannabis current affairs Research
database
Factual
information about cannabis and it's effects on health and society Law
library
The
full text of the most important legislation regarding drugs in the UK Links
Go away here -
sites we found on the way Cannabis
videos
Music, politics and campaigning Media
site
A small
but growing collection of interesting reports and features. Posters
and leaflets
Download
Media
reporting - Examples of bias in reporting BBC
Audio and video libary - cannabis reports
BBC website The
cannabis trade
The BBC at its worst Press
reporting of police raids on grow ops
September 2006 Web
censoring
web filtering is being used in libraries, schools and colleges
to filter websites concerned with illegal drugs BBC
Horizon - Cannabis, the evil weed?
A critique of the programme - was
it a fair and objective report? BBC
Radio 4 - The Report - David Nutt's sacking as chief drugs advisor in late
2009, a critique of the programme.. Cannabis
growing - BBC 3 documentary "Cannabis - Britains secret farms" broadcast
January 2010, a critique of the programme.
 |
The Archers
explaining government cannabis policy and suggesting attitudes normal, hard working
people should have towards it. From March 2004 The
Archers on dope pt1 pt2
pt3 MP3 format |
Contamination
- Grit weed and more2006
started with reports of herbal cannabis containing microscopic glass beads. UKCIA
broke the story which resulted in an alert from the Dept of health, but not much
else. Of course, high levels of contamination are regarded as an indication of
"success" for the prohibition policy
Grit
weed -the story LeadUKCIA
has been warning about contaminated cannabis for over a year now. Back in December
2006 we were a alerted to the “Grit weed” problem - herbal cannabis
containing microscopic glass beads. Things, it seems, have just taken a turn for
the worse - much worse. The New England Journal of Medicine has reported that
herbal cannabis in Europe has been found to be contaminated with lead shot which
has produced casualties. Read more here
Viagra10th
November - Latest cannabis contamination - homosildenafil and thiohomosildenafil
(AKA Viagra). Weed sprayed with a liquid containing these chemicals found in Holland.
Newsblog item Fake
/ low quality hashishContaminated,
polluted product of prohibition.
Soap bar
Strength
/ Potency Strength
Is cananbis 30 times stronger than it used to be?
THC,
CBD and the misleading concept of “Potency”. new research by Dr
Zerrin Atakan and Prof Philip McGuire has thrown some light on the way cannabis
actually works by looking at the effects of THC and CBD - the two principal components
of cannabis.
Mental
health
Cannabis
and psychosis
an examination of the claims that cannabis use is linked
to mental health problems - a part of the "Risks" section of Culture The
Royal College of Psychiatrists "Cannabis and mental health leaflet"-
a critique. Anyone wanting good, honest, professional advice about cannabis and
mental health will be very disappointed with this effort from "RC Psych". Cannabis
and mental illness - the Keele study is finally published.
A large study by Martin Frishera and his team from Keele university looked at
rates of mental illness over the 10 years 1996 - 2005 and found no increase. This
destroys the claims that cannabis causes mental illness and demonstrates that
Gordon Brown not only ignore expert advice, but also hard scientific evidence Preventing
cannabis use will not have much effect on rates of mental illness - study.
Just how many people would you need to prevent getting stoned to have any hope
of reducing the rates of mental illness if the theory of a causal role for cannabis
were true? The answer, it seems, is rather a lot. The
dangers of cannabis: High-potency cannabis and the risk of psychosis Vs contamination.
It's time to take stock of the dangers posed by the present cannabis trade, not
only in terms of the potential role in the development of mental illness, but
also in terms of the contamination issue.
Comment
– High-potency cannabis and the risk of psychosis study. The latest skunk
and mental health paper from The Institute of Psychiatry in London. A bit like
fishing in a bucket... Open
letter to SANE mental health charity from Helen, the parent of a young man
who has schizophrenia |
GovernmentUK
drugs law descends even further into farce
with the government's
rejection of the Ecstasy review. What future for the Misuse of Drugs Act. Do we
even care? The
Government on drugs: alcohol Vs cannabis yet again. Draft Guidance on the
Consumption of Alcohol by Children and Young People - if it's good advice for
alcohol, why not for cannabis? Cannabis
reclassification - impact assessment.
The
government has produced what must be the worst impact assessment ever produced
in order to try to justify the move back to B. Even given the gloss, they accept
it will harm race relations and divert funding from serious drug work, cost £50Million
and much more. Cannabis
classification, a pointless issue that just isn’t going to go away. -
Proffesor Nutt of the ACMD has never forgiven Gordon Brown for ignoring his advice
to keep cannabis as a class C drug and he's been all over thenews today The
ACMD Cannabis Potency Study
Based on bad data this is a flawed study,
but it's about the best we can expect under prohibition. The
UK Drug Policy Commission report “Tackling Drug Markets and Distribution
Networks in the UK”
The latest official report into the total failure
of prohibition, this one makes depressing reading for anyone who still thinks
there is a future for the war on drugs UKDPC
report online here - PDF document The
case of Professor Nutt and the need for political lies - To paraphrase Douglas
Adams of “The hitch hikers guide to the galaxy” fame: The skills needed
to get elected mean that anyone who has the ability to do so is precisely the
sort of person who should never be allowed to. That would seem to describe politicians
only too well as recent events have demonstrated.
ACMD
Sacking
of Prof.David Nutt
The Home Secretary Alan Johnson sacked the head of the ACMD, the committee which
advises the government on drug policy, Prof. David Nutt towards the end of 2009.
Nothing like this has ever happened before and is likely to have serious implications
for the development of UK drugs policy. Newsblog
comment on Prof Nutts sacking (Sunday
November 1st)
An
Audience with David Nutt - recording of the recent meeting at King College London
- UKCIA mediasite Evan
Harris MP blog - critique of why the Home Secretary was wrong, it's devastating
stuff. The
politics of arrogance, faith and denial. Did Home Secretary Alan Johnson realise
the can of worms he was opening when he sacked Professor Nutt? The
interesting case of Professor Nutt - Famously sacked by an ex-postman for
taking an evidence based approach to drugs and telling people about it, his family
slandered by the Sun and who's developing a new wonder drug for people to have
fun with.
Anti
law reform campaigns Prohibition
- the When in a hole dig faster school of problem solving. How the prohibition
of cannabis has changed over the years The
new Talking About Cannabis "Cannabis Helpline". Talking About
Cannabis is a well known prohibition supporting site which is now about to open
a "24/7 helpline"
Libdem
MP Tom Brake The stated policy of the Libdems is to stop the prosecution of
cannabis growers and ultimatly to leglaise cannabis. Strange then that Libbdem
MP Tom Brake - MP for Carshalton in Surrey - tried to outlaw seeds with a 10 minute
rule bill in Parliament. If you were thniknig of supporting the Libdems because
of their drugs policy (which is by far the most intellegent of the main parties),
maybe you need to think again - and tell them
The
campaign archive
Early
law reform arguments
Arguments for law reform from the late 1990's - the
more things change, the more they remain the same Past
events: What you did
Smokey Bears picnics,
Cannabis Carnivals Coffee
Shops
Well,
it was a good try - The story of the British Coffeeshop campaign. This section
has been moved from Activism.
A
political party which ran from 1999 - 2006. Here is an archive of speeches made
at the annual conferences held at the UEA in Norwich. MP3
format - download or listen live Cannabis
Conferences
Independent on Sunday (1997)
Cannabis and mental health
(2004 and 2007)
HIT Liverpool (2005) | 
