Welcome to ‘Talking About Cannabis’ This is the support and information-sharing website for everyone whose lives have been affected by cannabis.

I am a freelance writer, living in London, UK, with my husband. We have three boys who are now 21, 19 and 15. Our eldest son, William, began smoking cannabis as a teenager, with school friends. He was 14 then, and by 16 was suffering severe personality changes – and as a family we were reeling. We were confused for a long time, not knowing whether what was happening to him was as a result of normal adolescent changes, or something more insidious. You can read more by clicking ‘My Story’ below.

I began to write an on-line Diary for this web-site, which described our family’s experience of seeing our son sink into cannabis addiction. ‘The Cannabis Diaries – tough love in action’, by Debra Bell, with a foreword by Will Bell, is now being published by Hammersmith Press, due February 2010. For more details click here.

After extracts from the Cannabis Diaries were published in the Guardian and the Daily Mail in Spring 2007, thousands of people got in touch to say that our family’s story was also theirs. The Talking About Cannabis Parental Action Group was formed immediately. A campaign was launched to raise awareness about cannabis use among the young, and the devastating impact on families. We urged Government to change the law and restore cannabis to Class B, (which took place in January 2009). In 2008, the TAC parents’ group became a limited company, and a registered charity, of which I was Director up until April 2009.

New for 2009 – ‘The Cannabis Diaries Part 2’ now on line. After distancing ourselves from our son for over a year, tough love indeed, these new Diaries take up the story as we begin to have some contact with him again.

You can also read William’s views of cannabis by clicking here and watch interviews with him as he talks about the experience of being an early cannabis user on our media page.

February 2009

·         Videos from Debra and Will's interview on This Morning have been added to the media page.
Click HERE to view

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Thanks so much to everyone who has contacted Talking About Cannabis over the  past two years since we began. So many people have talked about how alone and ashamed they have felt with little support or information. We did too, but there are millions of people worldwide struggling with family members who use cannabis and that is what this site is all about. Some of the things included here:

·       Facts about Cannabis, including advice for parents – vital information based on scientific and medical evidence. Today’s drug is not the stuff you smoked at college - it's generally 'skunk' that is sold now, which is significantly stronger, and blows the circuits of young brains in particular, leading to very serious consequences for mental health. And behind every addict is a family in the background.

·         Do you think your child may be smoking cannabis? Click here for a quick, useful guide.

·        TALKING ABOUT CANNABIS CONSULTANTS Ltd, specialises in supporting cannabis-affected families. We believe that by supporting parents and carers of children and teens using cannabis, the users are also helped. You don't need to struggle on alone as a family. We offer confidential, one to one consultations in  Central London, and also telephone consultations. We also have close links with addiction specialists to offer a complete package of help. Contact us for more details on 07840 080424 or send us an email.

·        Join our mailing list so we can keep you up to date, and download ‘Tips for Parents of weed-smoking teenagers’.

·         Local Networking - get in touch with other parents in your area through this site, send us your contact details and we can put them on the site. Let’s get things moving to help each other!  Click HERE to go to the Local Networking page

·       Send us your story - we'd love you to share your experiences with us. Your story could really help others, personal stories are very powerful healing tools. More often than not just writing about what’s going helps in itself – try it. Click below.

View previous news articles in our News Archive section

We look forward to hearing from you. With best wishes, Debra

Debra Bell
June 2009
Contact us by email or phone 07840 080424
 

‘In all of history, no young people have ever taken marijuana regularly on a mass scale. Therefore our youngsters are in effect, making themselves guinea-pigs in a tragic experiment. Thus far our research clearly suggests that we will see horrendous results’.
Dr Robert Dupont, National Institute for Drug Abuse, USA.

Talking About Cannabis has no affiliation to any political party, religious organisation or sect