'sunday times' report on mental health and cannabis was a “distortion and factually wrong” says Addaction.

LAST WEEKEND'S extremely worrying 'Sunday Times' story “Mental Health Problems Soar Among Children Using Cannabis” (Sep 18th), was "entirely misleading" says a statement published on the website of 'Addaction', a leading UK drug and alcohol treatment charity.

Rosie Brocklehurst, Director of Communications at Addaction is quoted: “This report on Page 7 of the paper was a distortion and factually wrong. We have therefore written a letter of complaint to the Sunday Times asking for clarification as to how this story came to appear in the form in which it was published, and to ensure that the truth is given in a correction of the original story.

"We suspect the story was influenced by the 'Sunday Times' wish to write a piece before the imminent deliberations by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs"

“If Addaction had such evidence we would have been sure to let the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs know about it, “ said Rosie Brocklehurst. “If we had such evidence as the paper claims, it would have made the front pages of every national newspaper in the country. But we do not have such evidence.”

The Advisory Council is reviewing the scientific evidence on cannabis use and misuse, and will be making recommendations to the Government in the light of those deliberations in the near future.

They could ignore the fears of senior policemen, reported in the 'Guardian' today, and advise a return to 'Class B' for cannabis as a whole, or 'skunk' in particular. These are both unworkable and 'psychotic' ideas being propergated by the prohibitionists and their corporate dinosaur allies who control large sections of the media.

Many fear the Advisory Council could be swayed by widely circulated distortions of research data, and of the truth, by some large media organisations, who have been fanning a wave of exaggerated scare stories about mental health and cannabis in recent months.

Meanwhile research published recently by the UK government confirms what many cannabis reform campaigners predicted would occur: teenage use of cannabis DECREASED in the year following the reclassification of cannabis to 'Class C' in Britain. Download official report (pdf).

'News of the Weed' says: "What we need is some cannabis sanity, and to end cannabis prohibition by putting it in 'Class 0'. That way, everyone can be a winner."