Confused by the number of legalisation arguments about cannabis that abound? Don't be - click here for a list of arguments against legalisation written by our drugs education advisor.
November 11 2008
'Afternoon Tea with your MP'.
TAC is secretariat to the new All Party Parliamentary Group on Cannabis and Children, chaired by Graham Brady MP. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 11 November in the House of Commons - 'Afternoon tea with your MP' from 4 pm until 5.30 pm. You are invited to contact your MP to give you an opportunity to discuss the impact of cannabis use on your child or teenager, or maybe you are just concerned about the effect on society as a whole. If you would like an invitation to the meeting please email: Trisha Kelly at t_a_c@btinternet.com. We look forward to meeting you there.
August 2008
Talking About Cannabis is now a registered charity. We received our registration number on August 1st, and we're now looking forward to being able to provide continued support for anyone whose lives have been affected by cannabis abuse. Our first project is to provide a 24/7 Cannabis Support Line - for which we are looking for volunteers to train with us, do get in touch if you think you may be interested. We are also writing educational packages for schools with a strong prevention message, to ensure children learn the truth about cannabis from an early age and therefore are supported to say 'no' to cannabis and all illegal drugs.
July 15 2008
Press release:
PARENTS' ACTION GROUP ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SET UP 24/7 SUPPORT LINE FOR FAMILIES AFFECTED BY CHILDREN'S DRUG ABUSE.
Click to read the press release
July 2008
The Daily Mail ran an article on 3 July titled "Why 'skunk' smokers are 18 TIMES more likely to become psychotic than other cannabis users" written by Fiona Macrae Click HERE to read the article
May 2008 – we are delighted that the Home Secretary Jaqui Smith announced that cannabis will be returned to Class B status, which will help send out the message that down-classification was a mistake and that using cannabis in childhood and teens years is highly dangerous to health.
· The Talking About Cannabis Parental Action Group intends to continue making sure that the truth is told about cannabis: to disseminate the scientific and medical facts about this drug and its potentially damaging effects on the young. Our work is now about delivering this information to the public and providing preventative cannabis education in schools. We are now Secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cannabis and Children, which meets four times a year in the House of Commons. The Chair is Graham Brady MP, and there are three vice chairmen from the three main political parties – cannabis and children is an issue that is uniting politicians.
· The TAC Family Support Line, a 24 hour telephone line run by parents for parents, or any family member, who needs support in coping with the effects of cannabis use on their family. WE ARE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR THIS PROJECT, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET INVOLVED PLEASE CONTACT US. WE’RE ALSO LOOKING FOR FUND-RAISERS.
I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank everyone who has supported us in our attempts to raise awareness over the past few months: parents, politicians, teachers, drugs charities and the press. Every day I get a mail from a parent who is struggling with a child using cannabis. Thanks to everyone who has written to us, and especially those of you who have shared your stories with us and allowed us to publish them on our web-site.
We now have charitable status, but are still run by volunteers, so as yet have no funding. If you would like to make a donation, however small, we'd be grateful to receive it! You can send your cheque made payable to
TALKING ABOUT CANNABIS to
32-36 Loman Street, London, SE1 0EH
Thanks so much to everyone who has sent us a donation.
June 2008
Are you worried your child may be using cannabis? Get the facts, Click here for 'Is my child using cannabis?'
May 2008
Will gives interview to The Observer newspaper 4 May 2008 - click here to read his updated view on cannabis
April 2008
New page - 'Events and Media' where you will find details of upcoming events organised by TAC and, coming soon, video clips of TAC in the news
March 2008
Talking About Cannabis has been accepted as a member of Europe Against Drugs (EURAD) and Debra Bell has been asked to join the Eurad Board.
Debra Bell gave evidence to the ACMD Review of Cannabis on Tuesday 5 Feb
Click to read the presentation and the PowerPoint
January 2008
TAC are going to be secretariat to a new All-Party
Political Group which is being set up imminently in
Westminster to focus specifically on Cannabis and
Children. The aim is to stimulate debate on prevention
cannabis education with an aim of abstinence among
children and teenagers. More news when we have it.
October 2007
Talking About Cannabis Parental Action Group held a Briefing: 'Cannabis and Children - complacency is not an option' in the House of Commons on Tuesday 30 October 2007. It was chaired by Edward Garnier QC MP and the speakers included Professor Robin Murray. Transcripts and speakers' PowerPoint presentations can be downloaded using the links below:
March 2007
At the end of last year I was invited to tea at the House of Lords to meet Baroness Anelay and Lord Howe, to talk about the web-site and the work I was doing to help other families that may be suffering as a result of cannabis misuse. I was particularly interested in their take on the reclassification of cannabis that had taken place in 2004 by the present government.
Baroness Anelay is the Conservative Home Affairs spokesperson, and Lord Howe is Health spokesperson. Never having voted Tory in my life, nor having met close up any live Tories before, I was really surprised by how absolutely charming both peers were, and how genuine they were in their concern over the impact drugs is having on families in the UK. Over Earl Grey and cream cakes in the House of Lords tea-room, I talked about my son, and how our all our lives had been turned upside down by something that at first we considered to be innocuous – cannabis smoking by our eldest son. The only tricky moment was when Baroness Anelay led me out of the room, putting her hand out to push what appeared to be a perfectly formed part of the wallpapered wall, to find that her hand went right through. I was a little alarmed at this, but happy to be able to go through the wall too, Harry Potter-like, to reach a corridor behind.
The Conservatives are in the process of re-defining their drugs policy. Baroness Anelay thought she may be able to use my story, without referring to our family by name, when talking about the problem of cannabis and its increased use among the young. She told me that the Tories will almost certainly reclassify cannabis back to being a ‘B’ class drug if they are elected to form the next Government. It looks likely, too, that this policy could form an important part of their manifesto. Lord Howe gave me the contact name of another mother who had set up an action campaign after her son had become an addict.
Baroness Anelay also passed me a report that had been written by Humfrey Malins MP, which was later published by the Bow Group in January this year, entitled ‘Crackpot’. I was invited to meet Mr Malins in his office at Westminster in the first week of December. He spent eight years as Front Bench opposition shadow Home Office Minister, and is a judge in the criminal courts. He is also one of the nicest people I have ever met. After listening to my story, Mr Malins talked to me about a recent trip to Sweden where he was told by their Drugs Minister that ‘A society should be judged on the basis of its ability to take care of its most vulnerable citizens’.
He went on to say that among Britain’s most vulnerable are those many thousands – some very young – who are addicted to drugs, and whose lives lie in tatters. Virtually all addicts turn to crime to fund their habit. When writing his report Mr Malins drew on his experience of sitting as a judge in the criminal courts and having to deal with drug-addicted criminals day after day. He believes that:
· Much of current and recent court sentencing practice is completely ineffective in dealing with the drug addict criminal.
· Treatment- based punishment is more often than not the best way to deal with offenders.
· There is a scandalous lack of provision of one of the most useful and successful sentencing options – a residential drug rehabilitation bed. Only by increasing this provision will sense and decency be brought into sentencing and help to reduce drug-related crime.
Mr Malins’ report includes a lot of detail about cannabis abuse.
‘Cannabis is a drug with mind-altering properties. It influences thoughts, emotions, and affects almost every part of the brain. It is the most widely used illicit drug in the world today. The most important mind-altering component of the cannabis plant is Delta-9-Tetrahydrocanabinol (THC). Studies have confirmed that most of the cannabis of today contains higher concentrations than cannabis of twenty or thirty years ago. In the early sixties, the average amount of THC…was 5% or lower, but today particularly potent versions of the drug can contain up to 20% of THC. We are not dealing with the same drug, and in the UK cannabis is not considered dangerous by sufficient numbers of people. In Sweden 45% perceive cannabis to be very dangerous, here in the UK only 17% do. ……the more people regard cannabis as relatively harmless the more likely they are to take it. Cannabis is a gateway drug – something confirmed by the vast majority of the judiciary with whom I talk.
Cannabis (particularly modern strong forms) …is very dangerous, and everyone, especially young people, needs to know this fact. The courts must intervene early – a community order, with a requirement to attend in one’s spare time a short but intensive ‘dangers of cannabis’ course, with group sessions and help from drug workers, with an option of 2 weeks imprisonment if one does not consent to this…seems to me the best approach.
A zero tolerance approach is important and I suggest that a rapid transfer of the drug back to a Class B is an important step…..it would send the right message. The use of cannabis for medicinal purposes (for example to help sufferers from Multiple Sclerosis) is something of which I greatly approve.’ (my bold type).
I am delighted that the Conservatives are almost certainly going to make it part of their election manifesto that they will reclassify cannabis, to return it to a Class B drug.
‘Talking about Cannabis’, though, hopes not only to see a reclassification of the drug, but also aims to raise awareness of just how harmful the new forms of cannabis (skunk) can be, that the stuff on the market now is not what was being smoked in the 60s, and that for the young it can lead to serious mental illness. What we should like to see is a Government health education campaign concerning the dangers of cannabis, like the one that was launched in France – so far we have not had this and this is sorely needed. At the time of reclassification Charles Clarke promised that there would be ‘a massive health education campaign’. It’s been three years now, where is it?
© Debra Bell 2007