JUDGE WARNS ON CANNABIS

A BRITISH judge yesterday warned against rash moves to decriminalise
cannabis, just hours after a House of Lords call to legalise the drug for
medical use.

Judge Graham Boal spoke out after hearing how cannabis helped to turn a
Thai-born man into a psychotic killer.

Government officials and doctors have already rejected the Lords committee
proposals, published yesterday morning, which would make cannabis available
on prescription to fight serious illness.

The comment came after Judge Boal heard how 27-year-old Jan Boonprasit, who
smoked the drug heavily on a daily basis, had butchered a young artist with
a kitchen knife in an unprovoked attack outside a London pub.

Boonprasit, who was brought to Britain aged nine and was diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia in 1989, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of
diminished responsibility.

He was placed under a restriction order without a time limit.

Earlier, the Lords Science and Technology committee published their report
calling for immediate action to give cancer patients and multiple sclerosis
sufferers cannabis to combat pain.

Checked-by: Don Beck