12/06/2007 00:00:00
Wales: Majority of cannabis home grown
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The majority of cannabis now used in Wales is actually grown here,
according to an investigation by BBC Wales' Week In Week Out programme.
And many cannabis plants have been genetically-modified, to produce a
much stronger drug called super skunk.
Research showed the amount of cannabis being grown is soaring and the
numbers of under-16s using it is also rising.
Some believe the re-classification of cannabis to a Class C drug in 2004
sent out the wrong message to youngsters.
The amount of cannabis grown in Wales has risen from under 10% to 60% in
10 years, according to drugs consultant Liam Watson.
Super skunk
Police raids where cannabis plants have been seized are also on the
increase, with more than 100 estimated to have been carried out in the
last year.
Tests on many of these genetically-modified plants have found they
produce a much stronger drug - known as super skunk - where the main
active ingredient THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is up to six times higher
than cannabis resin.
This can be much more dangerous for younger users, who run a higher risk
of developing mental health problems after smoking it.
I would say 99% of people have come across it once in their school life
Tom Davies, former skunk user
Around a quarter of the population are also genetically predisposed to
severe psychological side effects after taking it.
Tom Davies, from Haverfordwest, who was only 13 when he first started
smoking cannabis, said smoking skunk had made him "seriously paranoid"
and he isolated himself from his friends.
He also warned that the drug was easily accessible to children.
He said: "I don't smoke it any more, but I know from still looking
around me that it's everywhere.
"I would say 99% of people have come across it once in their school life."
According to Home Office figures, a third of all children in the UK
under the age of 16 have tried cannabis and they see it as no big deal.
But for former school head boy Matthew White, of Cardiff, drug-taking
led to suicide.
The 18-year-old hanged himself after taking LSD and cannabis in the
woods where he lived with his friends in a make-shift camp.
His mother Colette White said Matthew's personality started to change
drastically the moment he started smoking skunk at the age of 16.
She said: "He didn't miss school, he completed his GCSEs, he got
fantastic results and we were so proud of him.
"And it only took from then, about May or June, until the October, for
it all to unravel. All his previous ambition disappeared."
Mrs White said that lessons should be learned from Matthew's death and
that drugs education needed to start at a young age.
'Wasted lives'
Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, believes a major re-think is needed to
solve the UK's drug problem and has campaigned for the de-criminalising
of cannabis for many years.
He thinks users should be treated as patients rather than criminals.
"We've had this increasing toll of wasted lives, of deaths, worse than
anywhere in Europe, and we've got to say to the politicians, for
goodness sake, be a little courageous, don't go for the easy headline or
the quick vote."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6742933.stm
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12606
Author:
BBC News via UKCIA
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