A LOCAL pensioner who suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS) has spoken about how a cannabis-based medicine has changed his life. The 81-year-old former police officer, who lives in a rural part of the Omagh district is understood to be have been the only person in the Western Trust to have been prescribed the drug Sativex. John (not his real name) said the oral spray has changed his life. He has called for the treatment to be funded for other MS sufferers. “It has changed my life considerably. “It definitely worked for me and I recommend it to anybody in the same position.” Made from two different strains of cannabis, Sativex is used to treat spasticity due to multiple sclerosis and is also in development for treating cancer pain.

AN academic who specialises in new psychoactive substances (NPS), also known as legal highs, has warned the Scottish Government and Police Scotland that their campaign may actually encourage drug use.

Campaigner and researcher Kieran Hamilton says that the evidence points to the new campaign neither stopping people who are already taking legal highs, or dissuading those who may be inclined to try. Hamilton also claimed that the initiative would have no positive impact but would “give the illusion that the police are doing something about the problem”.

Over the past couple of years, attitudes towards cannabis have been changing – especially in the US. Colorado and Washington were the first two states to legalise the drug and extensive medical marijuana schemes exist in California. Now that you can buy the drug from your local chemist as opposed to a dark alley or shady street corner, you’d probably expect the product to be more thoroughly tested and safer. However, alarming research indicates that this might not be the case.

Who is to be the new drugs minister?

No word yet from David Cameron. I have been calling the Home Office every day since the election and the answer is always the same – ‘no appointment has been made, it is expected within the coming days’.

Carun UK managing director Michal Takac in the country’s ‘first cannabis pharmacy’

Londoners looking for a solution to ageing skin, body aches and other ailments can add hemp to their bathroom cabinet after the opening of the UK’s “first cannabis pharmacy”.

The store, which sells mainly oils and hand creams rather than medicines, is situated in the affluent southwest London suburb of Twickenham.

Carun Pharmacy, the UK arm of Carun, a Czech company, is not the first in the country to sell hemp health products. The Body Shop launched its hemp range nearly 20 years ago.

According to Carun’s website, a 105ml tub of “all-purpose hemp ointment” costs £16.99, while 200ml of “hemp intimate hygiene gel” sells for £11.99.

An increase in the number of cannabis farms detected by the police in the UK has been attributed to a controversial new daytime TV show on BBC1, ‘Hash in the Attic’. Hosted by Gloria Hunniford and Aled Jones and aimed at students and the unemployed, the programme hopes to raise money for the households they visit by using their lofts to cultivate vast crops of illegal drugs and then sell them at auctions on the street corner.

Psychotropic drugs could be making depression worse

 on 14th May 2015 @ 9.21pm

© Press Peter Gotzsche argues that the long-term affects the use of antidepressants has on us, and in particular the elderly, outweigh the benefits.

The debate over whether antidepressant drugs are safe to use has been circulating for a while now. One leading scientist has made claims that trial designs for almost all psychotropic drugs underplay the harms and overplay the benefits of them. If he is correct is there a suitable alternative out there, or were his results based on biased experiments?

A study by the University of Oxford claimed to reveal last year that smoking marijuana makes you paranoid. But is that just what the government wants you to think?! Are the government claiming cannabis causes paranoia just to make us paranoid?!

Professor Daniel Freeman who led the study was tasked with finding the link between paranoia and THC, the psychoactive element of marijuana.

'The study very convincingly shows that cannabis can cause short-term paranoia in some people,' says Professor Freeman. 'But more importantly it shines a light on the way our mind encourages paranoia. Paranoia is likely to occur when we are worried, think negatively about ourselves, and experience unsettling changes in our perceptions.'

Bad news for drug prohibitionists – a new study has thrown doubt on the idea that smoking cannabis can cause psychosis in teens.

Drug war advocates have repeatedly cited previous research which showed that teenagers who smoked were at a higher risk of psychotic episodes – using it as evidence that dope is making children crazy.

The new study by University of Oxford, University of Leeds and used  4,830 16-year-old twins to rule out genetic factors – and found that both cannabis use and psychotic episodes were triggered by environmental factors, including being poor, or bullying.

In other words, cannabis doesn’t cause the episodes – children who are under stress for other reasons tend to smoke dope, and are also at higher risk of psychotic episodes.

While drug prohibition has benefitted a minority, it has caused considerable harm to so many. Yet tough enforcement on banned substances has continued for five decades. Desperate to end this monstrous drug war and replace it with a drug policy rooted in evidence, experience and reason, should drug reformers embrace any policy improvement and see it as a step in the right direction?