Cannabis - Fact & Fiction
Pot Night - The Book, Channel 4 Television, 1995
The world of cannabis is a weird and inconsistent one.
In Sweden, you can be arrested simply on the suspicion of police that you've used the drug, whereas in Holland you can buy and smoke it openly in cafes. Even in Britain, where cannabis seizures rose by a fifth between 1992 and 1993, you were five times more likely to get off with just a caution if you have been arrested with cannabis in Kent as opposed to West Yorkshire.
And you wouldn't believe the myths and misunderstandings that surround cannabis use. I've heard it said that you won't get arrested if you're growing a cannabis plant in your own home as long as you rip off the flowers. That's nonsense: you could end up in jail for three months, even for a first offence. Others maintain that, if you have even one puff on a joint, you'll end up taking heroin or cocaine - even though there's no hard medical or statistical evidence. They even say Queen Victoria was a frequent user...
Channel 4's Pot Night, like this booklet, will penetrate the smoke screen that surrounds the weed. It will seperate fact from fiction, relate the history of cannabis, tell you about its medical properties as well as its economic potential. There'll be trips to the wilder shores of pot culture, a visit to Amsterdam... and a debate about that burning question - should cannabis be legalised?
Peter Salmon
Controller Of Factual Programmes, Channel 4 Television