CANNABIS - THE REALITY BEHIND THE 'HARMLESS' WEED

A woman whose life has been turned upside down by her grandson's
cannabis addiction backs the Government's U-turn on the drug's
classification. She told Jessica Forster about the family's hell.

Gordon Brown has reclassified cannabis to Class B despite
recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
(ACMD) to leave it as a class C. The Prime Minister acted on his
party's concerns about widespread use and the impact on mental health
of stronger "skunk" varieties.

Shirley Patterson, 56, of Washington, who lives with her 16-year-old
grandson, Michael, agrees and wants people to stop thinking of
cannabis as a soft drug and realise the damage it can do.

She said: "When my grandson started doing a little bit of cannabis, I
thought he wasn't doing any harm as long as he didn't go on to
stronger stuff.

"When he started, three years ago, you couldn't have met a nicer lad
but today there's hell on in my house and it is all down to cannabis.

"He has never taken anything else."

Michael smokes marijuana alone in his bedroom every day, he takes his
grandmother's money to feed his habit and he has eaten her out of
house and home.

He has bouts of paranoia, doesn't like to leave the house and when he
has huge mood swings he smashes things up, kicks down doors and shouts
at Shirley.

ACMD's report acknowledged the effect of cannabis on mental health but
said the associations were weak and the drug was not as harmful as
other Class Bs.

But it urged the Home Office to crack down on the sale of seeds,
paraphernalia and to consider warnings on packets of cigarette papers.

Shirley said: "If you are not supposed to smoke it you shouldn't be
able to buy the things you need to smoke it with.

"It is sending out the wrong message.

"Why can you get cannabis seeds and not have any bother with it? Why
aren't they illegal?

"We need harsher sentences, when Michael was done for possession of
cannabis the police took it off him and he got an absolute discharge.

"They need to be stricter."

Deborah Cameron, of the drug and alcohol treatment charity Addiction,
said changing the classification of cannabis would do nothing to deter
people from smoking it.

She said: "The young people that we see don't think about the
classification of cannabis before they smoke weed.

"They don't understand the system and it doesn't deter
them."

She said GPs, social workers and teachers need more information about
the harm which cannabis can cause so they can help to educate young
people.

* The names in this story have been changed to protect the family's
identity.

Winning the War Against Drug Farmers

THE Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has raised concerns
about the amount of cannabis farms supplying the market and the
involvement of organised criminal networks.

Last year, police in Sunderland seized 1,142 cannabis plants from
farms in city buildings and UKP488,600-worth or resin and herbs.

This year's seizures have already topped that haul with 1,603 plants
already destroyed on top of approximately UKP788,000 worth of the drug.

In February, police raided one for the UK's biggest cannabis farms
when they uncovered UKP500,000-worth of plants at a run-down unit at the
Pearson Industrial Estate, Hetton.Officers from Sunderland Area
Command had been carrying out a long-term surveillance operation at
the premises, previously used as a furniture distribution centre,
before moving in to smash the racket.Detective superintendent Andy
Potts said: "Statistics from the first quarter of 2008 show that we
are maintaining an effective momentum against drug networks and users,
testimony of which is the number of cannabis farms targeted and plants
seized.

"These successful operations are based on information provided by the
public and it is a measure of their effectiveness that the supply of
all types of drugs is being disrupted.

"We continue to appeal for any information the public can provide
which we will use as the basis for future drugs raids.

Anyone with information should contact the police, in confidence, on
03456 043 043.

IN January 2004, under Tony Blair, cannabis was reclassified from a
Class B to a Class C drug, which meant the penalties changed.

Now the Labour Government, under Gordon Brown, has voted for the
reclassification of cannabis from a Class C to a Class B drug.

For supply, dealing, production - including cultivation - and
trafficking the maximum penalty is 14 years imprisonment, the same for
both Class B and C.

For possession, the law for most adults would result in a warning and
confiscation of the drug but if there are aggravating factors, like
smoking in a public place or repeat offending, they may be cause for
arrest and prosecution.

The law for people under 18, for a first offence of cannabis
possession, is arrest and a formal warning or reprimand at the police
station.

Further offences lead to a final warning or charge. The maximum
penalty for cannabis possession is two years imprisonment under Class
C and five under Class B.

Penalties for Possession and Dealing

Class A: drug - Ecstasy, amphetamine (if prepared for injection) LSD,
heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms; possession - up to seven
years in prison or an unlimited fine or both; dealing - up to life in
prison or an unlimited fine or both.

Class B: drug - Amphetamines, Methylphenidate (Ritalin), Pholcodine;
possession - up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine or both;
dealing - up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.

Class C: drug - cannabis, tranquillisers, some painkillers, GHB,
Ketamine; possession - up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine
or both; dealing - up to 14 years in prison or an unlimted fine or
both.