FESTIVE CHORES NO DRAG WITH POT INGREDIENT

MOTHER Sam Day relaxed with friends over the festive season by tucking into
turkey, figgy pudding and cake - all laced with pot.

Mrs Day, aged 35, gathered 20 friends at her Dorchester home to put on a
spin on normal Christmas Day celebrations.

There was no joint this year but the turkey was stuffed with cannabis, the
Christmas cake was laced with alcohol and pot, and the figgy pudding was
given an unusual twist.

"It has lots of figs, quite a lot of whisky and a bit of weed," she said.

She has written books about cooking with cannabis under the pseudonym Eric.

"I have been working on Christmas recipes. We will have some interesting
stuffing in the turkey. It is a new one," she said prior to her preparations.

"We buy a packet of stuffing and then add the weed to that. Then we cook it
and shove it in the bird. We use half a packet of stuffing and then add
about an eighth of ground-up weed. It is enough to feed eight to ten people."

She could not baste the turkey with juices made with cannabis resin because
the heat would kill its potency.

"The inside of the turkey protects the weed from the heat," she said. "In
bread sauce cannabis is horrible but in stuffing it is perfect."

Her Christmas cake is soaked in alcohol for three days, adding cannabis
afterwards.

"It will feed around 20 people," she said. "I will also have lots of
truffles, fudges and sweets containing cannabis.

"We will finish off with a spliff and a coffee, but no tobacco. It is a lot
healthier and very pleasurable. Then we will fall asleep."

But Mrs Day does not mark the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.

"We celebrate the solstice in this house, the shortest day," she said.
"That's the importance for us.

"I'm not very religious and it gives a bit of meaning to us. We have some
friends round and look back over the year. We sit and chat and drink cups
of tea."

But she draws on parts of the traditional Christmas - her six-year-old son
Kane is told about Santa and given presents.

"For the little one, I will make footprints out of icing sugar to show that
Santa has been," she said.

Mrs Day's books include Cannabis For Lunch and Cooking With Ganja. She sold
1,000 copies this Christmas to as far away as Bulgaria, featuring recipes
for cannabis cookies, flapjacks and fairy bread and ganja candy.

"Cannabis relaxes the person and is good for stimulating an appetite. Most
people just fall asleep."

She claims cannabis can help in the treatment of cancer, epilepsy, multiple
sclerosis, AIDS, arthritis, rheumatism and menstrual cramps.