STUDENT CUT HIS WRISTS AFTER TAKING CANNABIS

A student slashed his wrists and ran through the streets wielding a
kitchen knife after playing violent computer games and smoking cannabis.

Dominic Anderson threw himself in front of cars and attacked police
officers with the blade during a psychotic episode brought on by the
drug.

Today the 20-year-old warned other teenagers about the dangers of
using cannabis.

The sports science undergraduate said: 'The first thing I remember
was waking up in hospital bed and seeing nurses and police stood around me.

'I couldn't really remember what had happened. It was all a blur.
There were bits I could recall but it was like I had been watching
myself do all these things and I couldn't help it.

'I'd only taken cannabis a couple of times before and thought it was
just a social thing people did to chill out. But in reality it's
completely different and can have horrific consequences.

'People need to be more aware of what can if happen if you take
cannabis and it starts with the government reclassifying it aE" it
should not be seen as a soft drug.

'People need to know that cannabis is not cool.'

In 2004, the then home secretary David Blunkett downgraded the drug's
classification to class C, the lowest, which meant the penalties for
getting caught with it were reduced.

Anderson's father, Clive Anderson, 41, added: 'This has been six
months of hell for Dominic and our family.

'It has shown us the truly horrific effects that cannabis can have on
people.'

When officers tried to restrain Anderson he lunged at them with the
knife. He had to be repeatedly hit with a baton before he was disarmed.

He sustained self-inflicted injuries and needed half a dozen stitches
in each wrist.

He also suffered internal bleeding and was in intensive care after
the incident

which happened at the Bradford Road junction in Portsmouth on
November 13, last year.

Police said Anderson's actions showed a shocking similarity to the
computer game - Saints Row - which he had been playing just before he
slit his wrists.

Drugs intelligence officer Detective Constable Steve Kelly said:
'People don't know the effect a drug can have on them before they
take it. This is an extreme example of what can happen.'

At Portsmouth Crown Court Anderson, of Britannia Road North,
Southsea, was spared an immediate prison sentence.

Instead Judge Graham White imposed a nine-month prison sentence
suspended for two years saying: 'It was your taking of the cannabis
that led to this psychotic episode but for this you would have never
been involved in this kind of behaviour.'

Anderson, who admitted one count of affray, was also ordered to
complete 150 hours community service.