COLORADO GETS HIGH
typically visualise a Cheech and Chongtype character, with eyes barely opened,
grinning inanely and with wreaths of
strange-smelling smoke wafting around
their heads.
Blow, ganja, green, hash, puff, skunk,
sweet leaf, weed… You could almost
construct an A to Z of all the nicknames
cannabis has. Can you think of any other
drug which has as many epithets?
However you refer to it, cannabis has
been demonised for five decades. Only
now, in the first decades of the 21st
century, the cracks in a pandemonic
mindset are showing, and it is being
legalised around the world, including
Colorado, Washington and Mexico.
In the UK, however, the mindless stigma
has stuck, cannabis remains illegal and is
categorised as a ‘Class B’ drug.
According to the Government website
those caught with the drug are subject to
‘up to five years in prison, an unlimited
fine, or both’, while dealers of cannabis
face ‘up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited
fine, or both’.
Also, users are warned, ‘police can issue
a warning, or an on-the-spot fine of £90 if
you’re found with cannabis’.
The 1936 film Reefer Madness
describes marijuana as ‘a violent narcotic’
and ‘unspeakable scourge’ with ‘souldestroying effects’, even claiming that
using it could lead to ‘incurable insanity’.
Despite it being proven in various
studies and in studies such as ‘The
Wootton Report’ of 1969 that marijuana is
innocuous and does not provoke violence
or drastic health problems, paranoia about
the drug is readily instilled into the British
public by the media and authorities.
But there are scientifically proven
medical benefits to the drug. Dr Lester
Not everyone is in favour of legalising cannabis
22•FANFA R E JUNE 2 0 1 4
Frenzy as the media record the first legal sale of cannabis in Colorado
Grinspoon who works at Harvard Medical
School and is author of Marihuana: The
Forbidden Medicine, has found numerous
conditions which cannabis can alleviate:
epilepsy, insomnia, AIDS, post-traumatic
stress disorder.
Multiple sclerosis patients can also use
the drug to alleviate spasms and motor
handicaps.
Dr Grinspoon calls it as “truly a sui
generis substance” which “has a large
and growing number of medical uses”.
Welcome back to the Middle Ages.
The beneficial properties of cannabis for
MS patients are widely known.
“A very good friend of mine, who I met
whilst she was still in her twenties suffered
from multiple sclerosis and alleviated her
symptoms with the use of ‘street-bought’
skunk [high-strength cannabis]”, says
Gary Sheridan, a civil engineer. “The
condition had made her lame in her
left leg and she walked with a cane, the
top of which had a concealed screw-top
compartment, within which she kept her
‘herbal remedy’.
“The very first time I met her we sat on
a bench and talked as she casually went
through the process of ‘skinning-up’ a
joint, which she filled predominantly with
crushed leaf and a little tobacco, managing
to accomplish doing so despite her hands
shaking constantly.
“She smoked it all and described to me
not only the mild state of euphoria, but
also how it alleviated the pain in her left
leg,” recalls Mr Sheridan.
“It was manifestly evident to me that
she was considerately more at ease with
herself having smoked some weed. I was
struck then – as I am now in retelling this
– how dignified and resolute she was in
the face of a devastating condition.
“I lost touch with her, but I know she
died before she reached 30.”
The
Multiple
Sclerosis
Society
acknowledges “some people with MS use
cannabis”, as cannabinoids reduce muscle
spasms and pain.
Currently there is a ‘Sativex’ spray
available to MS patients and contains
cannabis, which (unlike the plant) has
gone through the required trials and
procedures so that it is available on
prescription.
The MS Society advises patients to use
this, as “smoking street cannabis isn’t the
same as using Sativex and as well as being
illegal, it can have harmful side effects”.
Clark French, who suffers from MS, has