CANNABIS 'HARMFUL TO PEOPLE'S BRAINS'

The director of the Royal Institution yesterday weighed into the debate
over the legalisation of marijuana, saying it is "harmful to people's brains".

Described as Britain's "top brain scientist" and "a director of the Royal
Institute", Professor Susan Greenfield, a professor of pharmacology at
Oxford University, wrote in the Daily Mail in response to a trend she said
worried her.

With the Conservative party relaxing its position on cannabis and the
substance effectively decriminalised in Lambeth, south London, Professor
Greenfield said too many people have forgotten the drug "could risk causing
enormous damage to users' health and personality".

She reserved particular wrath for "liberalisers" who "get their facts wrong".

In the article, Professor Greenfield claimed cannabis is more damaging to
health than cigarettes.

She said there is no clinical evidence that cannabis is less dangerous than
alcohol, and said "liberalisers" should stop making that claim that it is.

She added the substance clearly demotivated people.

Professor Greenfield said her comments did not stem from a moral
obligation, and confessed: "In my misspent youth, I used to smoke up to 40
cigarettes a day. As a student I tried cannabis, although, like a certain
former US president, I didn't inhale."