DUO WARN OF THE DANGERS OF DRUG TAKING

The clear and strong message from two drugs counsellors who have been
visiting prisoners for 17 years is that cannabis is by no means soft.

Gill Bevers and Roland Newman provide counselling and psychotherapy to
inmates in their role as volunteers for the local branch of Mind.

Independent of the Prison Service, Mind - the National Association for
Mental Health - campaigns on behalf of those with mental illness.

They have countless horror stories of the devastating effect drugs
have on people, capturing them in a dangerous trap of poverty.

And they cannot stress strongly enough how they think people should
stay clear of cannabis.

Mr Newman said: "We have been worried for a number of years about the
excessive use of cannabis.

"I would think out of the present prison population, 80 per cent are
there because of drug-related crime.

"We have found that as a rough estimate, 90 per cent of young
offenders have at least two mental health problems. With adult
inmates, that is 70 per cent.

"When we speak to the inmates it turns out virtually every one of them
starts off on cannabis.

"The next question we ask is why.

"The vast majority say it started off with the breakdown of a
relationship.

"The second thing is abuse. We have a great number of children who
have been abused by their fathers or their mothers, both sexually and
physically. With that automatically comes mental abuse.

"They don't go to school. And they don't know there is anyone there
for them.

"Most started smoking at about the age of 12 or 13. And that really is
one of the worst times for young lads to start smoking cannabis.

"They might start off with an occasional spliff - perhaps when they
get up in the morning or go to bed.

"As they progress and smoke more, they can be spending as much as UKP30
or UKP40 a day on cannabis.

"They are then in this sub culture of drugs and they then move on to
harder stuff, such as heroin, crack cocaine or amphetamines.

"To feed their habit they find there is only one way to pay for it,
and that is by doing something illegal such as petty theft.

"By the time the guys come into prison, they are really
ill.

"One of the first questions we ask them is "are you feeling
paranoid?"

"The vast majority are. They think the guys on the landing are talking
about them and that there are people watching them and plotting
against them.

"We then ask 'Do you have a bad temper?' The majority say
yes.

"It is then we worry they are beginning to get a drug-induced
psychosis."

Research published in the Lancet medical journal in July, concluded
that smoking cannabis increases the risk of schizophrenia by at least
40 per cent. The study, which analysed previous research into the
effects of the drug on tens of thousands of people, indicates that
there are at least 800 people suffering serious psychosis in the UK
after smoking cannabis.

Mr Newman added: "The only way to do any good, is to stop taking drugs
and more importantly not to start. And that is our message to young
lads - please don't go down this road.

"The next spliff could be the one which sends them over the
top.

"Once you are there in the drugs scene you do things you would not
otherwise do. The main aim is to get that next fix. Once you get on to
the hard drugs, 20 minutes after you have had the fix you are looking
for ways to get the next one.

"It all starts from the beginning which is one spliff. What happens,
is when they have every day problems like everyone does, they don't
address it, instead they will have a spliff.

"They will have had very little schooling and many of them can't read
or write and so they are virtually unemployable. Then the area of the
workforce they would try and break into is very competitive.

"And then their lives are ruined. It is a horrendous spiral that goes
round and round.

"The lads we see are desperately trying to get out, but it is very
difficult.

"One of the things the lads have got to do is move from the area where
they lived before going into prison. If they do move back to the area,
it is likely they will not know anyone who doesn't use and they will
soon fall back into the lifestyle and habit.

"One of the common things they say to us is "everyone uses it". But
what they mean, is everyone they know uses it."

In 2005, a Danish study found almost half of patients treated for
cannabis-related mental disorder went on to develop schizophrenia.
Mind found the number of people hospitalised with psychotic episodes
had risen since the drug was downgraded to class C.

In 2005, 10,000 11 to 17-year-olds were treated for cannabis use - 10
times the number of a decade ago.

Ms Bever, said: "As young children, they might not have much of a
sense of belonging within their family.

"When they hang around with children a couple of years older than them
and they are all smoking drugs, it might be the first sense of
belonging they have ever had. That is a gang culture."