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 b0red5tiff
i deliver the news
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 9,296
Loc: \m/
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 Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed
#8395634 - 05/13/08 07:21 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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A woman whose life has been turned upside down by her grandson's cannabis addiction backs the Government's U-turn on the drug's classification. She told Jessica Forster about the family's hell.
Gordon Brown has reclassified cannabis to Class B despite recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to leave it as a class C.
The Prime Minister acted on his party's concerns about widespread use and the impacton mental health of stronger "skunk" varieties.
Shirley Patterson, 56, of Washington, who lives with her 16-year-old grandson, Michael, agrees and wants people to stop thinking of cannabis as a soft drug and realise the damage it can do.
She said: "When my grandson started doing a little bit of cannabis, I thought he wasn't doing any harm as long as he didn't go on to stronger stuff.
"When he started, three years ago, you couldn't have met a nicer lad but today there's hell on in my house and it is all down to cannabis.
"He has never taken anything else."
Michael smokes marijuana alone in his bedroom every day, he takes his grandmother's money to feed his habit and he has eaten her out of house and home.
He has bouts of paranoia, doesn't like to leave the house and when he has huge mood swings he smashes things up, kicks down doors and shouts at Shirley.
ACMD's report acknowledged the effect of cannabis on mental health but said the associations were weak and the drug was not as harmful as other Class Bs.
But it urged the Home Office to crack down on the sale of seeds, paraphernalia and to consider warnings on packets of cigarette papers.
Shirley said: "If you are not supposed to smoke it you shouldn't be able to buy the things you need to smoke it with.
"It is sending out the wrong message.
"Why can you get cannabis seeds and not have any bother with it? Why aren't they illegal?
"We need harsher sentences, when Michael was done for possession of cannabis the police took it off him and he got an absolute discharge.
"They need to be stricter."
Deborah Cameron, of the drug and alcohol treatment charity Addiction, said changing the classification of cannabis would do nothing to deter people from smoking it.
She said: "The young people that we see don't think about the classification of cannabis before they smoke weed.
"They don't understand the system and it doesn't deter them."
She said GPs, social workers and teachers need more information about the harm which cannabis can cause so they can help to educate young people.
* The names in this story have been changed to protect the family's identity.
Winning the war against drug farmers
THE Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has raised concerns about the amount of cannabis farms supplying the market and the involvement of organised criminal networks.
Last year, police in Sunderland seized 1,142 cannabis plants from farms in city buildings and £488,600-worth or resin and herbs.
This year's seizures have already topped that haul with 1,603 plants already destroyed on top of approximately £788,000 worth of the drug.
In February, police raided one for the UK's biggest cannabis farms when they uncovered £500,000-worth of plants at a run-down unit at the Pearson Industrial Estate, Hetton.Officers from Sunderland Area Command had been carrying out a long-term surveillance operation at the premises, previously used as a furniture distribution centre, before moving in to smash the racket.Detective superintendent Andy Potts said: "Statistics from the first quarter of 2008 show that we are maintaining an effective momentum against drug networks and users, testimony of which is the number of cannabis farms targeted and plants seized.
"These successful operations are based on information provided by the public and it is a measure of their effectiveness that the supply of all types of drugs is being disrupted.
"We continue to appeal for any information the public can provide which we will use as the basis for future drugs raids.
Anyone with information should contact the police, in confidence, on 03456 043 043.
IN January 2004, under Tony Blair, cannabis was reclassified from a Class B to a Class C drug, which meant the penalties changed.
Now the Labour Government, under Gordon Brown, has voted for the reclassification of cannabis from a Class C to a Class B drug.
For supply, dealing, production - including cultivation - and trafficking the maximum penalty is 14 years imprisonment, the same for both Class B and C.
For possession, the law for most adults would result in a warning and confiscation of the drug but if there are aggravating factors, like smoking in a public place or repeat offending, they may be cause for arrest and prosecution.
The law for people under 18, for a first offence of cannabis possession, is arrest and a formal warning or reprimand at the police station.
Further offences lead to a final warning or charge. The maximum penalty for cannabis possession is two years imprisonment under Class C and five under Class B.
Penalties for possession and dealing
Class A: drug - Ecstasy, amphetamine (if prepared for injection) LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms;
possession - up to seven years in prison or an unlimited fine or both; dealing - up to life in prison or an unlimited fine or both.
Class B: drug - Amphetamines, Methylphenidate (Ritalin), Pholcodine; possession - up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine or both; dealing - up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine or both.
Class C: drug - cannabis, tranquillisers, some painkillers, GHB, Ketamine; possession - up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine or both; dealing - up to 14 years in prison or an unlimted fine or both.
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there is no pill, piece, puzzle, solution
pulse, reaction, inhilation, exhale, gag
fall out, retarding, pussyhole theory
you fucking dumb fuck
Get killed
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You know... I've been lying awake at night. I feel... like I'm sleeping... but I'm awake. That's when I hear him. And lately, when I hear him... all at once... I understand. Everything. John, do you remember the last time you were happy?
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 tical41689
keepin' it irie
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: b0red5tiff]
#8395829 - 05/13/08 09:00 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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He has bouts of paranoia, doesn't like to leave the house and when he has huge mood swings he smashes things up, kicks down doors and shouts at Shirley
when i smoke im to geeked to get all raged and break down doors and shit. seems like this kid already had some kind of mental problem. i love it when people dont want to admit someone in their family has a problem so they try to blame it on weed. if she really gave a shit she'd stop speculating and bring his ass to a doctor.
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 Sporusfolklorus
Sporusfolklorus
Registered: 09/11/07
Posts: 17
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: tical41689]
#8395881 - 05/13/08 09:23 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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This story is *perfect*...as long as it's followed up in a couple of years after Michael quits smoking so they will see that all this temper-tantrum bullshit as well as Michael's other problems are due to *Michael* and not the pot. Some people do get paranoid, but those people tend to do what? They QUIT smoking it, that's what. And as far as Michael "eating her out of house and home"...there's so many holes in that statement I don't even know where to start; suffice to say that when Michael's doing the same exact thing at age 32 or whatever and he hasn't smoked for years, well then they will know....OR WILL THEY??
OF COURSE NOT!!! Then we can all guess *exactly* what they will say: "Poor Michael was PERMANENTLY DAMAGED by the pot"...of friggin *course* he was, pooooorrrrrr little Michael...
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I think you get it, Art
-Terrence McKenna
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nepalnt21
12tnlapen
Registered: 09/14/06
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: Sporusfolklorus]
#8395938 - 05/13/08 09:44 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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fuck that guy
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Psychiatrist
Stranger
Registered: 11/17/07
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: Sporusfolklorus]
#8395939 - 05/13/08 09:44 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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some people are just angry idiots, I HATE that people blame weed just because 1 out of a million weed smokers are angry and violent. people are fucking stupid and should die who think that weed makes people that way.
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Ophanim
The Molecule'sSpirit
Registered: 10/01/07
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: Sporusfolklorus]
#8395981 - 05/13/08 09:55 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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WTF? He's 16! Of course he's hell.
Fuck these idiots.
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grimR
hippiousmaximous
Registered: 03/29/06
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: b0red5tiff]
#8396168 - 05/13/08 10:41 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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Quote:
b0red5tiff said:
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he takes his grandmother's money to feed his habit and he has eaten her out of house and home.
that part just cracks me up thinking about a hyperactive 16 year old kid running around the house checking purses and then getting high/some killers munchies and eating everything in sight
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- grimR
"Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
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RoosterCogburn
Fearless,one-eyed U.S.Marshall
Registered: 08/25/06
Posts: 4,583
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: grimR]
#8396184 - 05/13/08 10:45 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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Quote:
he takes his grandmother's money to feed his habit and he has eaten her out
ewwwww. 
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John Smith
Solo Voyager
Registered: 05/22/07
Posts: 496
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: RoosterCogburn]
#8396204 - 05/13/08 10:53 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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lies lies lies
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I have no idea what I am talking about but I do know I say things you don't understand and if you do understand what I am saying then you are wrong.
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Penguarky Tunguin
Hugh Jassle
Registered: 08/08/04
Posts: 11,157
Loc: Taint
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: John Smith]
#8396253 - 05/13/08 11:11 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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Quote:
"He has never taken anything else."
So it's not a gateway drug then... 
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Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.
"But the world, mind, is, was and will be writing its own wrunes for ever, man, on all matters that fall under the ban of infrarational senses..."
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tealeaf
Sky was yellowSun was blue
Registered: 09/21/06
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
#8396272 - 05/13/08 11:14 AM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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it is too bad that these situations come up when trying to explain herb. irresponsible people ruin everything. if the kid gets paranoid, duhhhh stop smoking!
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Divided_Sky
Ten ThousandThings
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: tealeaf]
#8396513 - 05/13/08 12:22 PM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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I really thought European countries weren't stupider than the United States. Even G-Dubs doesn't make up this kind of crap.
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1. "After an hour I wasn't feeling anything so I decided to take another..."
2. "We were feeling pretty good so we decided to smoke a few bowls..."
3. "I had to be real quiet because my parents were asleep upstairs..."
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Invisible_Woe
CollectingIntellects AndExhaling SolarSystems
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Posts: 385
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: Divided_Sky]
#8396571 - 05/13/08 12:40 PM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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and EVERY TIME he drinks he gets angry and throws things and hits me and sometimes hits the kids. and he often drives and puts other people in danger. and he is actually addicted to this drugs...see what im getting at here...this story (if it is going to be used to say that pot shouldn't be legal) makes them look like hypocrites when they say it is so bad it should stay illegal...FUCK YOU motherfucking hypocrites earn your shit your kid is a fucking dumb ass who shouldn't even be allowed to smoke weed if this is the things that happen to him................LOGIC?!?!?!
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The world is like a ride at an amusement park and when you choose to go on it you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and it has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud. And it's fun for a while Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question: Is this real? Or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered and they come back to us and they say Hey! Don't worry don't be afraid ever because this is just a ride. And we kill those people.Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Look at my furrows of worry look at my big bank account and my family. This has to be real.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com
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kindadank
Registered: 07/14/03
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: RoosterCogburn]
#8396870 - 05/13/08 01:55 PM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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Quote:
RoosterCogburn said:
Quote:
he takes his grandmother's money to feed his habit and he has eaten her out
ewwwww.
 
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2FiNiTe
ConsideratlyKilling Me
Registered: 06/12/06
Posts: 1,573
Loc: New England
Last seen: 10 days, 9 hours
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Re: Cannabis - the reality behind the 'harmless' weed [Re: b0red5tiff]
#8397157 - 05/13/08 02:59 PM (6 months, 16 days ago) |
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Someone please help me light this women on fire in her sleep. Then we can light our spliffs off her burning corpse. 
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"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living."
General Omar N. Bradley
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