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Lothar121

Cannabis Father Rollerblade Climb
BBC News | 08/27/2005

A father whose son became schizophrenic after long-term cannabis smoking has rollerbladed up Ben Nevis to raise awareness of the issue.
Terry Hammond, from Southampton, took six hours to climb Britain's 4,406ft (1,344m) highest peak in driving rain and bitter cold on Saturday.

His son Stephen, 27, was diagnosed with schizophrenia six years ago.

Mr Hammond said it was probably the hardest thing he had done, but said the reaction of people he met was great.

"It was really hard work - it took me six hours in absolutely atrocious weather," Mr Hammond said.

"Some people were pretty amused to see someone roller-blading up a mountain.

"My feet hurt now and I can't wait to have a pint of Guinness in an hour or so's time."

Mr Hammond, who works for the mental health charity Rethink, used rough terrain blades with six-inch tyres.

Stephen Hammond began smoking cannabis when he was 17 and by the time he was 20 he was smoking up to 10 joints a night at weekends.

His illness began as extreme lethargy and increasing paranoia, including the belief that people could hear his thoughts.

He then began having auditory hallucinations in which he heard intrusive voices, for which he is now taking medication.

Mr Hammond said his son had identified his heavy use of cannabis as a trigger for the illness.

He told BBC News: "It has pretty well ruined his young life and had a devastating effect on the family.

"I have worked in mental health for 20 years and to see my son develop this illness and not be able to do anything about it has been dreadful.

"Steve himself is adamant that it was triggered by bingeing on cannabis and his doctors agree that it played significant part in someone who was already vulnerable."

Mr Hammond is an experienced rollerblader and previously travelled from London to Paris on rollerblades in aid of Rethink.

His latest challenge has raised £3,000 for the charity so far and he hopes to increase this to a total of £10,000.

Earlier this year, Rethink called for a House of Commons inquiry into a potential link between cannabis and mental illness.

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TheNewGuy

"My feet hurt now and I can't wait to have a pint of Guinness in an hour or so's time."

He should smoke a bowl instead, booze is bad for you.

Stephen Hammond began smoking cannabis when he was 17 and by the time he was 20 he was smoking up to 10 joints a night at weekends.

Holy good God almighty, I wonder if he had an addiction or something? Maybe most people don't smoke TEN JOINTS A NIGHT . How do you even afford that?

I'd also like to point out that nobody likes rollerblading. If he moonwalked the entire way I might give him some props or something...

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"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." ~P.J. O'Rourke

Buzzby

Because one thing happens after another thing does not imply that the first thing caused the second thing. This is a logical fallacy called post hoc ergo propter hoc ("after this therefore because of this").


You'd think that a guy who works in mental health would notice that his son was a drug abuser and try to help him with the problem.


How would he know what triggered it? It's just an assumption.


Scientists have never proved a causal connection between marijuana use and the onset of schizophrenia, only a correlation. There's a world of difference between the two things. Lots, perhaps most, undiagnosed schizophrenics self-medicate with alcohol and other drugs in an attempt to suppress their symptoms. I find it more likely that bingeing on pot was a result of his illness than the other way around.


How coincidental that he happens to work for an organization with an anti-pot agenda.

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lilgrasshoppah

the most i've ever managed was two joints + a bowl (shared between two people). Actually, not so... the most i've ever done is like 2gms of hash all by my self.

I was high for two days.

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reggie_the_dog

when most Europeans smoke "joints" they do not smoke pure cannabis joints like we do in the USA. They put about a bowls worth of weed and mix it with a cigarette of tobacco and call that a joint (if they are lucky enough to get weed). Most joints in Europe are a mix of hash and tobacco. In the UK about half the cannabis market is now flowers but that is recent, within the last 3 years. Before then the market was dominated by soap bar hash, (the UK hash being the most polluted I had ever seen) so this kid was probably smoking about 10 bowls worth of terrible quality hash (hash mixed with downers or ketamin mixed with used tyres, mixed with candle wax, etc.) I had the chance to smoke some of this hash once and after two hits I emptied my bowl and threw the "hash" out.

 

TheNewGuy

used tyres and wax? I'd probably become a Schitzo if I smoked that too...