Pubdate: Wed, 28 Sep 2005
Source: Evening Chronicle (UK)
Copyright: 2005 Trinity Mirror Plc
Contact:  http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/eveningchronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3668
Authors: Patricia Tabram, John Fisher
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Patricia+Tabram
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

SHOULD CANNABIS BE LEGALISED?

Cannabis use is back in the news with a police raid on gran Patricia
Tabram's Northumberland home. Today she defends the drug, while John
Fisher, whose son was killed by a drug driver, explains why cannabis
should be banned.

YES - CAMPAIGNING OAP, PATRICIA TABRAM, Who Uses Cannabis For
Medicinal Reasons

I use cannabis for medication.

I used prescription medication, but by doing so I contracted 11 other
illnesses from the side-effects - and I do not want this happening to
anyone else.

I discovered the medicinal benefits of cannabis because I was told you
could cook with it. After all, it is a herb and so I discovered that
it covers a whole list of illnesses by masking the pain for up to five
hours per dose.

I do not supply other people with cannabis or food, but some people do
buy their own ingredients and, because they are infirm, they have
asked me in the past to go to their home and cook their food, because
they are too ill to do so - and this is a result of them realising
that prescription medication does not work, and does not kill their
pain, nor do the sleeping tablets allow them a good night's sleep.

Many pensioners are taking between 42 to 75 tablets per day from their
doctors. It is killing them and has taken away their quality of life.

Cannabis relieves the pain, 24 hours per day, and allows them a full
night's sleep as well. On average, I use just over a level teaspoon of
cannabis bud which is powdered in an electric mixer then soaked in a
collection of mediums such as butter, cream, oil, milk or yoghurt for
up to 24 hours. With five meals and snacks per day they have 24 hours
of pain relief.

I believe the powers-that-be have undergone lapses in common sense
making a big issue of the cannabis debate, because their argument is
always aimed at 13- to 17- year-olds, which is less than 5% of the
population of the people who use it. And in any case, 13-17-year-olds
abuse cigarettes, alcohol, sex, junk food and love to do anything they
shouldn't.

If cannabis was legalised, they would not want to know. In Australia
and a few other countries, plus 12 states in America, people are
allowed to grow between three to five plants per family for their own
use but they are a very difficult plant to grow and children would not
have the patience to do it, so would find something else illegal to
do.

Alcohol causes aggression and death by drunken driving. Heroin causes
deaths. Cocaine causes deaths.

Ecstasy causes deaths. Amphetamines cause deaths. Cigarettes cause
deaths - yet the Government does not ban cigarettes and alcohol.

There have been no recorded deaths by cannabis since it was first
banned by the Americans in the 1920s.

I medicate with cannabis, as an adult, in a safe manner, I do not get
a high. That only happens to the people who smoke it.

Prohibition did not work with alcohol. They had to decriminalise it in
the end.

The same will be true of cannabis but how many people will die through
prescription medication before that happens? At least I can be
pain-free for the rest of my life if I am allowed to medicate with
cannabis. But without it my spinal injuries will make my life a living
hell.

- -----

NO - JOHN FISHER, Whose Son Was Killed by a Driver Under The
Influence of Cannabis

I have been following Granny Tabram and her dealings with cannabis,
which has made her a bit of a celebrity. It's unbelievable the amount
of people you hear say good for her. Where's the harm in taking a bit
of cannabis?

Well I can tell you first hand where the harm is. I don't want to
preach to people about the rights and wrongs of taking drugs but I
would like to give them first hand knowledge of driving while under
the influence of drugs.

I have heard many people going on about how cannabis does no-one any
harm. In fact, some people say the plus side of taking it is that it
relieves pain in certain people who are ill with, say multiple
sclerosis. I cannot comment on that even though I have multiple
sclerosis and through my MS I know what pain is, but it's not a patch
on the pain my family and I have suffered since a police officer
knocked on our door on February 24, 2001, to tell us our youngest son
George was in Newcastle General Hospital fighting for his life after
he'd been knocked over by driver Mark Featherstone, who had been
smoking cannabis.

I can't explain about the pain we went through while we sat and held
our son's hand for six days while he lay on a life support machine
fighting for his life, then the pain of watching him fighting for
breath on March 1, 2001, when doctors decided to turn his machine off.
He was only 24.

They told us they could not stop the swelling to our son's brain as
his head had been so badly damaged and his spine broken in a number of
places by the impact of the car and the wall he had been thrown into.

The pain of going to your child's funeral is something no parent
should have to go through. Also the pain of living life without him,
or going upstairs and finding your wife in pieces because she can't
cope with life without him.

I could go on and on but I just wanted to get the message across.
There are a lot more minuses in taking drugs then plusses, especially
if you are thinking of getting into and driving a car while high on
them.

I have know doubt that if the driver who killed George had not used
cannabis and then driven, I would not be writing this - as I'm sure
our son would still be alive.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake