A YOUNG man with an inoperable form of bone cancer, who was told he only had a year left to live, claims cannabis oil has given him new hope. Last August, 23-year-old George Blakemore from Torfaen was diagnosed with Stage 2 Chondrosarcoma a rare form of bone cancer arising from the left pubic ramus bone. By October it had spread to his lungs and after undergoing one of the strongest forms of chemotherapy, George was told surgery was no longer an option and he may only have around a year left to live. [continues 757 words]
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, by Johann Hari, is published by Bloomsbury, priced UKP18.99. A DOCTOR hounded from Britain by the establishment has revealed how he slashed heroin addiction and crime by doling out the drug to addicts. Psychiatrist John Marks now works in Vienna. But in 1982 the South Wales Valleys-raised medic was working in Widnes, in the Wirral. In a new book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, he reveals how he became the accidental pioneer of an initiative to give free heroin to addicts and that it worked. [continues 651 words]
MORE Than One In 10 Welsh 15-Year-Olds Use Cannabis, It Can Be Revealed Today The figures - which paint a shocking picture of the state of our nation's youth - are laid bare in a report compiled by the World Health Organisation. According to the statistics - about to be published by prestigious journal The Economist - Wales has the third highest rate number of regular young cannabis users in North America and Europe. The World Health Organisation quizzed more than 200,000 young people in 41 countries and regions across Europe and North America [continues 706 words]
THOUSANDS of pounds is being paid out in compensation to drug addict prisoners being forced to go cold turkey in Welsh jails, a Wales on Sunday investigation has revealed. While many victims of crime receive paltry sums in compensation after the turmoil they have been through, the Prison Service is being forced to pay out to jailbirds having to go without drugs. It followed claims the practice amounts to assault and a breach of human rights. Almost UKP11,500 was paid out to three drug addicts in Cardiff and Parc prisons in the past year alone. [continues 657 words]
I WOULD never take ecstasy or aspirin unless prescribed. However, I'm fed up with ignoramuses like Peter Stoker who has made a career out of talking cp about drugs ('Cop or Clown?', WoS, Jan 6). Brunstrom's comments are slightly misleading, because it's not that simple. However, he is to be congratulated for stating the obvious: that current policies are entirely counter-productive. As long as lying hypocrites can get votes by talking tough on drugs, no progress can be made. CHRIS SMITH Via e-mail [end]
AS a police officer in the US who has worked the trenches of the drug war, I can attest to the absolute futility of making a dent in drug supply or availability. Today, I know that the UK's sworn enemy Al qaeda makes two billion pounds per year, which they use to fund operations such as 7/7. Too many thousands of police officers in the UK are not investigating leads on terrorists, rather they are out breaking into a house with a cannabis growing operation. [continues 57 words]
HANDS up who can name the chief constables of South Wales, Gwent or Dyfed-Powys police forces? And it doesn't count if you work for them. Yet chances are - whether you live in Wrexham, Holyhead, Carmarthen, Newport or over the border in England - you will know the name of the chief constable of North Wales Police. Because no other police chief in Britain has ever so closely courted publicity as Mr Richard Brunstrom, who this month marks six years in charge of the force. [continues 1166 words]
NORTH Wales top cop Richard Brunstrom started the New Year in his usual controversial way by going on Radio 4 to say ecstasy was safer than aspirin, and that all drugs would be legal within a decade. What a plonker. His prohibition argument seems to make sense when he argues that legalising drugs would destroy a major source of organised crime, and that banning substances doesn't actually stop many people from using them. But we all know deep down that legalising drugs would eventually lead to a far greater problem and would be a terrible curse on society. [continues 688 words]
THE full extent to which organised crime gangs will go to set up and conceal cannabis factories can be revealed today. Wales on Sunday understands that more than 100 cannabis factories have been busted in Wales over the last year alone. And that represents a dramatic increase on the previous 12 months as gangs infiltrate quiet suburban areas to set up major drug dens. Our investigation comes in the same week that 350 cannabis plants were uncovered at a three-bedroomed rented terrace house that had been converted into a large-scale dope factory in Newport. [continues 896 words]
A WELSH private detective was murdered because he was about to expose crooked cops involved in a conspiracy to flood Britain with cocaine, police have told Wales on Sunday. The Scotland Yard revelation means that for the first time in their 19-year inquiry, officers have uncovered a motive for the killing. The butchered body of Daniel Morgan - who was brought up in Llanfrechfa, Gwent, and went to agricultural college in Monmouthshire - was found in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, South London, on March 10, 1987. [continues 570 words]
HOWARD Marks' ex-wife last night revealed how she fell out of love with the world's most notorious marijuana smuggler when he went straight. Speaking for the first time since she split with the 61-year-old Welsh criminal mastermind, Judy Marks claimed her former husband's love of the spotlight as a celebrity ex-con drove them to divorce rather than the extreme highs and lows of their life on the run. The Bridgend man - who penned his autobiography Mr Nice - seduced her when she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl. The couple ended up juggling a multi-million pound trafficking empire with marriage and children. [continues 1040 words]
AN ALARMING number of schoolchildren have been arrested for drug-dealing in Wales, we can reveal. At least 64 under-15s have been quizzed by cops in the past two years for supplying narcotics from cannabis to heroin in our villages, towns and cities. The real picture is almost certainly more shocking because just three of the four Welsh police forces could provide Wales on Sunday with figures. Between April 2003 and March 2005, South Wales Police arrested 43 youths for peddling drugs. Dyfed Powys had the second highest number, arresting 18 children under 15. Gwent arrested three under-15-year-olds. North Wales Police could not provide figures. [continues 551 words]
A FORMER councillor who is battling prostate cancer and diabetes last night told how a spoonful of cannabis makes his medicine go down. Pensioner Glyn Williams, 74, says cannabis is the best thing he has ever taken to combat the pain from his crippling illnesses which have left him wheelchair-bound. The former Delyn borough councillor was forced to step down as a community leader in 1983 after he was struck down by multiple sclerosis. Mr Williams, of The Square, Caerwys, says he was forced to break the law after his health took a turn for the worse. [continues 137 words]
Cannabis was downgraded from a Class B to a Class C drug last year. Despite re-classification, it is still illegal in the UK. Home Secretary Charles Clarke has ordered a review of the decision to downgrade cannabis, as new studies suggest a strong link between the drug and mental illness. Cannabis has been used medicinally for over 5,000 years. A Labour government banned its medical use in 1971. There are 88,000 MS sufferers in the UK, many have used or use cannabis for its therapeutic effects. [end]
POLICE say cannabis users and dealers will feel the force of the law even if they use it for medicinal purposes. Last night, a spokeswoman for North Wales Police said: "We enforce the law as it currently stands." And South Wales Police said: "At the end of the day, if people are growing or buying cannabis for medicinal reasons they are breaking the law. "There is no way we could negotiate with that." [end]
NHS Direct Wales says cannabis is effective at tackling pain relief but patients must decide themselves whether to break the law. Wales on Sunday called the free 24-hour confidential health helpline to find out whether health chiefs would recommend the drug for arthritis relief. Despite it being illegal, a nurse said cannabis has proved effective in helping people with muscle pain. She told us: "It is illegal to possess cannabis and it can never be prescribed by a doctor. "However, some people find that cannabis can help. There have been many studies to show that it helps people and can ease muscle and leg pain. "Some people find it helps and some, including doctors, have found it does not. We can't recommend it. "The choice is down to the patient. I would read all the information possible before making an informed decision." [end]
A WELSHMAN left disabled following a car crash says cannabis helps to target his crippling kidney pain. Fifty-two-year-old Chris from Abergavenny lost the use of his lower legs after a horror road smash when he was 22. Today, he battles against spinal pain and kidney trouble which leaves him reeling in pain. "I have been using cannabis for five years and my doctor supports me," said Chris. "I inhale the drug through a chamber and it helps to relieve my kidney pain. [continues 67 words]
Bud Buddies Supplies Cannabis To Its "Patients" In A Variety Of Forms. The group supplies capsules, made using high quality cannabis and organic olive oil, cream for instant pain relief for leg, spinal and muscular pain and in its natural state. Arthritis sufferers and people suffering from joint pain report that the cream is best applied in the morning and evening. [end]
CANNABIS campaigning MP Paul Flynn last night applauded the Cardiff cannabis gran, saying: "Good on her!" The Newport West politician, who is vice chairman of the All-Party Drugs Misuse Group and believes cannabis should be legalised, said: "Adults should be able to choose the medication of their choice and make their own decisions. Cannabis is obviously prolonging this lady's life. "Like all drugs, cannabis has its dangers but so long as people don't smoke it, it is a very sensible way of pain relief. Cannabis is one of the world's most ancient medicines. People should be allowed to use it freely and have access to markets instead of those operated by criminals." [end]
Today We Reveal The "Respectable" Face Of Cannabis Use In Wales. The illegal drug may be linked with teenagers hanging round street corners smoking joints. But there is a secret community of cannabis users in Wales - pensioners and people plagued with illness who use the drug for comfort and pain relief. Among them are a frail 92-year-old pensioner in Cardiff, a former county borough councillor in Swansea and Denbigh and a wheelchair-bound paraplegic. All three spoke out last night to tell how they are willing to break the law to help make their lives a little easier. [continues 552 words]
