Lothar121

"Truth" About Cannabis
ic Teesside.co.uk | 06/03/2005

Cannabis resin is a dangerous drug which, when smoked, can trigger psychotic mental disorders such as schizophrenia in young users whose brains are yet to develop fully.

This has been established repeatedly by large-scale research in several countries. It is cause enough for the Government to rethink the classification of the drug, to send a message to users and dealers alike that it is dangerous.

It is an irony of nature that, if early research being done in Newcastle bears fruit, it could also be the source of a medicine to help sufferers of a quite different but equally devastating mental disorder - manic depression.

Further work in this area is clearly warranted. Extracts of active ingredients found in the cannabis plant offer the potential to provide relief not just in this area but for sufferers of multiple sclerosis, where research is a little further advanced.

This is not just true of the cannabis plant but of many other herbal remedies used by our ancestors and containing medicinal properties which could be better exploited.

The sadness is that the vocal minority who believe the cannabis drug is safe and should be legalised will seize on the Newcastle research to back their cause.

This is a bogus argument: Heroin was developed as a painkiller but no-one would argue its regular and unrestrained use is anything but harmful.

Bogus or not, it is a further headache for parents trying to warn their children of the danger of drug use.

That is why it is so important that the Government pushes ahead with its review of cannabis classification with due speed, to clear up the confusion it has itself created.

After all, you would have to be an idiot to think the latest research means cannabis is harmless or good for you.

But then what kind of person buys drugs off a backstreet dealer in the first place?

Deal not in our best interests

It should be a basic tenet of Government that the good of society comes before profit - but that doesn't seem to cut much ice in Benton.

Newcastle City Council wishes to channel new housing developments into areas where they are needed most and can act as a catalyst for redevelopment.

This is a very good idea. The city would be a better place if the previous administration had done this five years ago.

Now the council finds itself powerless to stop a development that contravenes its own guidelines on Benton Park Road, because the original outline planning permission was granted in 2002.

Fair enough - but what is unusual about the development is the fact that it is on land once owned by the Government.

It was handed over to a private finance contractor working on the nearby civil service complex, who was allowed to auction it to the highest bidder.

The result will be a new housing estate in an area already choked with too many cars and too few facilities.

If the city council can see the problem with this, why didn't the Government officials in Whitehall mean also to act in our best interests?

Or was any consideration of local concerns obscured by a sweet deal for some shiny new buildings?

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