RE: PUSHING THE CASE FOR CANNABIS

Approaching my thirtieth anniversary as a daily dope-smoker, I am one of
many from the hippie generation to have retained my preference for this
life-enhancing herb over all other forms of stimulus, and am convinced that
it has enabled me to avoid the slippery slope into alcohol-dependency that
characterises this back-to-front society of ours.

Recently detained by Wiltshire police after my first arrest in this country
for possession of a small amount of hash, I was visited by the (Asian)
police doctor who chatted to me for three minutes, declined to examine me
or even take my pulse, and pronounced 'You look pretty well on it.' Which I
do.

So I am one of thousands of long-term users who can be accessed to
undermine the wearisome traditional politicians' response to repeated calls
for the decriminilisation, if not the full legalisation, of cannabis: that
there is 'no medical research' to justify such liberalism. Official
research has long been blocked yet you have only to ask and examine
dope-smokers of all ages to discover exactly how beneficial or deleterious
it really is. Compare us with daily boozers of similar longevity, and the
results will show unanswerable proof of dope's superiority.

Two-and-a-half cheers, then, for Charles Kennedy, who has immediately
proved what we have all suspected for years: that somehow a fully rounded
human being has risen to political prominence in this benighted country.
The other half-cheer will be earned when he has sampled the stuff for
himself. I'm off for my first puff of the day. Keep banging the drum.