Pubdate: Sun, 10 Apr 2005
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/454
Author: Mary Kenny
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

PASS THAT REEFER - GRANDMA

SHOULD 66-year-old grandmothers who bake cannabis cakes be punished by
the law? I think not. And Mrs Patricia Tabram, from Northumberland,
who makes such cakes (and casseroles, and soups), and supplied them to
her neighbours, has duly been given a suspended sentence because the
judge decided that she should not be a martyr to the cause of weed.
Mrs Tabram is unrepentant, and says that cannabis helps with elderly
aches and pains, so why not?

As it happens, this is a good argument for cannabis: that it has some
medicinal application. As does heroin -- based on opium, it remains
the greatest of all painkillers. But I would also suggest that the
question of cannabis presents a strong case for age
discrimination.

The medical evidence seems to be that cannabis, taken in moderation,
does not necessarily have a destructive impact on older people. It
might make them a little senile, a little earlier, if they overdo it,
but it is unlikely to cause them to harm themselves or society by
developing schizophrenia.

The health dangers of cannabis are much greater for the young,
particularly those under 18 -- or worse, under 16 -- as the researches
of Professor Robin Murray of the Institute of Psychiatry in London
have indicated.

The brains of teenagers are still under construction, and are likely
to be much more vulnerable to mind-altering substances. Certain young
people, vulnerable to schizophrenic episodes, may have such
schizophrenia (or other mental disorders) triggered by marijuana.

Alarmingly, some psychiatrists are saying that we are facing a serious
epidemic of mental illness because very young people are using
cannabis, and it is disturbing their brains. The age at which cannabis
is first smoked (or ingested) is the crucial factor in subsequent
psychosis triggered by the drug.

It is difficult to make a law that proclaims that something is
acceptable at 66 but is not acceptable at 16, although we do have
alcohol regulations which depend upon age qualifications. But as a
matter of health education, it should be made known that a cannabis
cookie baked by your hippy grandma is not half as harmful, if eaten by
her peers, as it would be if taken by vulnerable teenagers whose own
brains are not yet finished being baked.

Here, at last, is an authentic case for oldies saying "do as I say,
not as I do".
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MAP posted-by: Derek