FURTHER to the new cannabis study by Professor Wayne hall of King's College London (Mail), none of us calling for an end to the so-called War On Drugs is suggesting that cannabis (or any other drug) should be made available to adolescents.

I'm equally concerned about the potential harm caused by drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. But the appropriate responses are evidence-based public health interventions and sensible regulation.

Drug policies have neither curbed demand for illicit drugs nor reduced supply. They certainly haven't done anything to eliminate the risks Prof hall has identified. There are no greater obstacles to reducing harm than prohibition and the continued criminalisation of drug users.

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THE day after a Lib Dem vote to soften the law on cannabis comes a devastating analysis of 20 years' research into the drug's dangers, especially to the young.

Collated by Professor Wayne Hall, senior adviser to the World Health Organisation, the study finds that smoking cannabis is highly addictive, while doubling the risk of psychotic disorders, impairing brain function and affecting exam results. The Lib Dems claimed their relaxed approach to the drug was based on the 'latest evidence'. But that was Sunday.

In the light of the most comprehensive research ever, will they now change their minds? Or are they so wedded to the notion that cannabis is oh-so-liberal and trendy that they don't care a damn what damage it does to the young?

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A drug derived from cannabis, which many with multiple sclerosis say helps ease their symptoms, has been ruled too expensive to be used by the NHS in England even though it is approved for Wales.

In new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of people with the disabling disease, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says the price set by the manufacturer of Sativex (nabiximols) is too high for the benefit it gives patients. But the decision opens up the sort of "postcode lottery" that Nice was set up to end, with MS patients in Wales able to use the drug on the NHS while those in England either have to buy it themselves or go without. Some will use the illegal drug instead.

[continues 380 words]

A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe.

Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found.

The paper by Professor Wayne Hall, a drugs advisor to the World Health Organisation, builds a compelling case against those who deny the devastation cannabis wreaks on the brain. Professor Hall found:

One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent on it,

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THE WAR on drugs internationally cannot be won, crime prevention minister Norman Baker warned yesterday as he called for a "more logical and compassionate" approach to tackling the domestic problem.

Instead, he said he was interested in minimising the harm from drugs rather than continuing with a policy based on the "prejudices of yesterday".

The Liberal Democrat told delegates at the party's conference in Glasgow: "Medicinal cannabis is a very sensible objective to take forward.

"Why should people who are ill not have access to medicine which helps them when other medicine doesn't? And more to the point, they are made criminals when they access the cannabis themselves.

[continues 183 words]

THE WAR on drugs is based on "the prejudices of yesterday" and cannot be won, Crime Prevention Minister Norman Baker warned.

The Lib Dem said he was interested in minimising the harm from drugs rather than continuing to prosecute addicts.

The MP told delegates at the party's conference in Glasgow: "Medicinal cannabis is a very sensible objective to take forward.

"Why should people who are ill not have access to medicine which helps them when other medicine doesn't? And more to the point they are made criminals when they access the cannabis themselves.

[continues 93 words]

Those who used marijuana daily before age 17 were less likely to finish school and more likely to abuse other drugs.

LONDON - Teenagers who use marijuana daily run a higher risk of becoming drug-dependent, committing suicide or trying other drugs, and they are less likely to succeed at their studies than those who avoid it, researchers said yesterday.

The scientists analyzed studies on marijuana to determine its long-term health and life effects.

"Our findings are particularly timely, given that several U.S. states and countries in Latin America have made moves to decriminalize or legalize cannabis, raising the possibility the drug might become more accessible to young people," said Richard Mattick, a professor at Australia's National Drug and Alcohol Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who co-led the study.

[continues 205 words]

Daily Smokers Found to Be Less Likely to Finish High School

Teenagers who smoke marijuana daily are more than 60 percent less likely to complete high school than those who never use. They're also 60 percent less likely to graduate from college and seven times as likely to attempt suicide, says a new study of adolescent cannabis use Tuesday in the Lancet Psychiatry, a British journal of health research.

Researchers gathered data on the frequency of cannabis use among 3,725 students from Australia and New Zealand and looked at the students' developmental outcomes up to the age of 30. They found "clear and consistent associations between frequency of cannabis use during adolescence and most young adult outcomes investigated, even after controlling for 53 potential confounding factors including age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, use of other drugs, and mental illness."

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ANTI-DRUGS campaigners last night condemned an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew where speakers will discuss the uses of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The Intoxication Season is open to visitors of any age and displays plants including cannabis, the hallucinogen peyote, and poppies, which are used to make opium.

Professor David Nutt, who was sacked as a Government adviser for his views downplaying the dangers of drugs, will give a keynote speech on the 'chemical underworld of mind-altering plants'.

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Our Inflexible Laws Are Denying MS Patients Access to a Drug That Could Change Their Lives

The letters columns of The Daily Telegraph do not immediately spring to mind as a rallying point for the liberalisation of this country's drugs laws. But two correspondents yesterday drew attention to what must be the most irrational and unjust restriction of all: the ban on the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Just as there is plenty of evidence that cannabis is harmful (as, indeed, are tobacco and alcohol) it also has palliative qualities. People suffering from multiple sclerosis, for instance, find that cannabis, or substances based on the drug, help relieve symptoms. Jacquie Langham, an MS sufferer from Holt in Norfolk, wrote about how she had been forced to buy Sativex, a legal cannabinoid that is administered in spray form, from the internet because two GPs would not prescribe it for her.

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It's Confusing and Unfair to Deny Sativex Spray to Those Plagued by Muscle Spasms

I've read with utter frustration news reports over the past week about plans to make Sativex - an oral cannabis-based spray - available on the NHS in Wales but not in other parts of Britain. Cannabis grown for medical use on a farm at a secret location south east of London

Sativex is licensed for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) to alleviate muscle spasms and stiffness, and I'm one of a few thousand people in England who could significantly benefit from taking it; I have secondary progressive MS, experience excruciating muscle spasms and cannot tolerate any other muscle relaxant treatments.

[continues 818 words]

Deaths linked to legal highs could surpass those related to heroin use within just two years, a new report by a think-tank will say. A think-tank says there could soon be more deaths from legal highs than from heroin use

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is to release a report this week calling for more to be done to combat the drugs, known as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), while also calling for a "treatment tax" on alcohol.

Legal highs w ere linked to 97 deaths in 2012 and h ospital admissions rose by 56% between 2009-12, according to new CSJ data. The think-tank estimates that on current trends deaths related to legal highs could be higher than heroin by 2016 - at around 400 deaths a year.

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THE grieving mum of a Wearside man who died of a drug overdose today called for more help to stop young people following the same tragic path.

Cath Wareing's son David Pace, 26, died in April this year following a heroin overdose.

He had intermittently took Valium, cocaine and crack cocaine.

Although his family insist David, who was dad to Josie, three, wasn't an addict, they 
believe he and many other people in the situation he 
found himself in need support quicker to stop their lives being wasted.

[continues 480 words]

Police netted six suspected drug dealers - including a 13-year-old boy - - in a series of early morning raids.

A seventh person, a 31-year-old woman, was also arrested for possession of heroin as teams of officers forced their way into homes around Preston in a co-ordinated swoop codenamed Operation Arrow.

The raids were carried out in St Paul's Road in Deepdale, Villers Street in Plungington, and Fishwick Parade as part of a major attempt to smash organised gangs which are blighting neighbourhoods.

[continues 467 words]

THE number of drug-related deaths in Glasgow has fallen sharply, according to new figures.

Deaths from legal highs rose from 47 to 113 last year

There were 138 deaths in 2013 across the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) area, 49 fewer than the previous year.

In the Glasgow City Council area, the number of drug-related deaths fell from 121 to 103.

A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: "The impact of drug misuse in some of our most deprived communities has enormous consequences for the people who take drugs, their families and the local community.

[continues 254 words]

AN MP has called for a government review into the medicinal use of cannabis.

Drugs Minister Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, wants the Department of Health to consider broadening the range of medical conditions for which cannabis can be used.

The MP wants new laws passed that legalise the widespread use of the plant to relieve symptoms of certain medical conditions - including the side effects of chemotherapy, Crohn's disease and MS.

Mr Baker, who admits to smoking cannabis in the past, said he was uncomfortable that there were "credible people" who use cannabis to relieve their condition but had to break the law to help their health.

[continues 299 words]

As a pharmacist with a special interest in the medical uses of cannabis I am delighted that Norman Baker has spoken out. We are not talking here about the widespread use of cannabis in the community. One particular cannabinoid, CBD, is not psychotropic nor toxic and shows promise as a useful drug in certain conditions. The two active ingredients, THC and CBD, were discovered in Israel.

That much maligned little country is a world leader in research into the medical use of cannabis. Its health service already uses cannabis for certain conditions.

Monty Goldin

London

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Norman Baker MP is calling for liberalised drug laws so that medicinal cannabis can be made available (Minister calls for looser restrictions on cannabis to treat sick, 14 August). People with multiple sclerosis who turn to street cannabis to treat their condition often do so out of desperation. For years they have been told by successive governments to wait for a pharmacological, legal alternative to cannabis as a way of treating their symptoms and pain.

Now one such treatment, Sativex, exists - but the latest draft National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) clinical guideline proposes rejecting it based on a flawed assessment of its cost effectiveness. Just one in 50 people currently have access to this treatment, most of them paying privately. Unless Nice amends the guideline, the majority of people will be left to battle painful symptoms, or face financial strain as a result of funding the licensed treatment themselves.

Sally Hughes

Programme director for policy, MS Society

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SIR - No wonder that the treatment of extreme chronic pain lags so far behind other medical disciplines when cannabisbased medication is denied to patients who could benefit from it (report, August 16).

Today pain management largely relies on derivatives of the willow tree and the poppy and its progeny. The former cannot alleviate excruciating chronic pain and may damage internal organs. The latter require ever-increasing doses, leading to confusion, physical instability, addiction and again, possible organ damage.

Until the NHS is prepared to be more adventurous in the search for new painkillers, possible funders will remain reluctant to invest in this desperately needed branch of medicine.

Erica Barrett

Hastings, East Sussex

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SIR I have had multiple sclerosis for 20 years, and in June I experienced the joy of walking through town without looking at the ground. My right hand, which had been curled and numb, started to straighten, and the fearful muscular pain abated. For the first time I slept soundly without sleeping pills, and was able to watch television without leaning on a chair to cope with spasms.

A dear friend had financed my first online purchase of Sativex, the cannabis-based drug, since two GPs in Shropshire and Norfolk had turned down my request.

I could scream with frustration and desperation, not on my own behalf but on behalf of all MS patients, many of whom are both younger than me and less mobile.

Jacquie Langham

Holt, Norfolk

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