Cannabis

How it works

Cannabis is mainly the dried leaves (marijuana) or resin (hash) from a plant called Cannabis Sativa. The resin (which is scraped from the plant) looks like hard, greenish Oxo cubes. You can smoke the leaves directly, or crumble a bit of the resin into a roll-up cigarette to make a spliff. Which ever way it’s smoked, Cannabis is really pongy – heavy and sour-sweet, like last week’s footie socks.

The most active chemical in Cannabis (and one of many, many) is called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC for short. Scientists are still trying to figure out just how it works, but it looks like THC mimics some natural chemicals in the brain which soothe you and allow you to forget things. But THC is much stronger so you drift around and forget things you shouldn’t. It’s also got even nastier tars in it than fags (cough, splutter).

Has the law on cannabis changed?

Is it now legal to smoke cannabis?

NO – ABSOLUTELY NOT. CANNABIS IS STILL ILLEGAL.

The police can arrest you if:

• If you are publicly smoking cannabis
• If you repeatedly offend
• If cannabis use is linked to other problems in the area
• If you possess cannabis close to a school.

You WILL be arrested if you are aged 17 or under.

So what has happened about the law and cannabis?

Cannabis has been changed from being a class B drug to a class C drug

O.K – so what does that mean?

Most importantly it means that you can still be arrested.

It also means:

• You can get 2 years in jail plus an unlimited fine for possession of the drug
• You can get 14 year in jail plus an unlimited fine for dealing or supplying the drug.

What will happen to a person found with a small amount of cannabis?

It is not ABSOLUTELY clear but in the majority of cases, when a young person is found with a small amount of cannabis, the cannabis will be taken away and they will be told off (reprimand) or given a formal warning. If they keep on getting caught with small amounts of cannabis; or try and get away with it by not giving the right name or address; or smoke cannabis in public, then they may get arrested and even have to go to court.

What will happen to dealers?

The people selling to young people (dealing) will be considered to have committed a serious offence, and those dealing near schools will receive severe sentences.

What are the good things about cannabis?

• There do appear to be some medical uses for cannabis, like decreasing the feelings of sickness when using very toxic anti-cancer drugs.
• If you use cannabis irregularly, unlike tobacco, it does not appear to be very addictive.
• It makes you feel different, rather detached and lazy, with a what appears to you to be a heightening of the senses – smell, taste etc.
• If you were feeling good before you had the cannabis then it tends to make you feel even better.
• People tend to only smoke the odd spliff and give up after the age of about 24, so that overall you are much less likely to get cancer from smoking spliffs than if you spend a lifetime smoking tobacco.
• Many people die as a result of using alcohol and cigarettes, few die because they use cannabis, because most people stop using it early on.
• Smoking cannabis doesn’t make people violent in the way that alcohol seems to.

What are the bad things about cannabis?

• Three to four cannabis spliffs are equivalent of smoking 20 fags as far as the damage done to your lungs is concerned.
• The concentration of lung cancer causing chemicals is higher in cannabis smoke than it is in tobacco smoke.
• There appears to be an association between cannabis use and schizophrenia.
• Cannabis can precipitate attacks of ‘mad’ (psychotic) behaviour even in those with no previous psychiatric history.
• Regular cannabis use can cause upsets in your attention span and in your understanding of what is going on around you, even after the habit has been stopped.
• All these facts seem to make it very likely that cannabis has a strong, long lasting action on your brain.
• Cannabis chemicals accumulate in your body for days if not for weeks

History factoid:

It’s one of the oldest known drugs.The Romans, ancient Chinese and Indians used the plant as a medicine over 2000 years ago.

Amazing thing about it

The fibres of the plant are called hemp, and they are used worldwide to make ropes, clothing, cooking oil, fuel, fishing nets, cosmetics... however, if you try to smoke hemp you will get nothing but a bad headache!

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