 Issues Today Volume 2: Cannabis
Editor: Lisa Firth
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £5.95
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 32
ISBN: 978 1 86168 399 1
Published: May 2007
Cannabis is the most widely-used illegal drug in Britain. Although it was reclassified as a Class C drug in 2004, it is still against the law to produce or use cannabis, yet figures show that use by young people is increasing. Could this lead them to try harder drugs such as heroin in the future? In addition, there are worries about potential links between cannabis and mental health. Information in Issues Today: Cannabis looks at all of these issues.
The information comes from a variety of sources, including government reports and statistics, newspaper and magazine articles, surveys and polls, academic research and literature from charities and lobby groups; articles have been tailored to an 11 to 14 age group. Additionally, at the end of each chapter is a page of activities relating to the articles and issues raised in that chapter.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Cannabis Issues
What is cannabis?, The history of cannabis and the law, Cannabis – what are the effects?, YouGov drugs survey results, Cannabis and problem behaviour, The state of the cannabis problem in Europe, The cannabis market – production, Kate’s story, Does cannabis lead to taking other drugs?, Reducing, or stopping, cannabis use, Activities
Chapter Two: Cannabis and the law
Drug laws and licensing, Paying the price for growing cannabis, Drug facts and figures, Cannabis – what we don’t know, Your rights on arrest, Medicinal use and the law, UK ‘too soft on cannabis dangers’, Activities.
Key Facts
Glossary
Acknowledgements
Additional Resources
• Cannabis is considered by many to have beneficial medicinal applications as an appetite stimulant, muscle relaxant, anxiety-reducing drug and pain reliever. (pages 4–5)
• There is still a wide-scale debate raging in the medical community over whether there is any link between lung cancer and smoking cannabis. No overwhelming proof of this link has been discovered and a general conclusion has yet to be reached. (page 7)
• Cannabis is by far the most commonly used illegal substance in Europe. Recent population surveys indicate that between 3% and 31% of adults (aged 15 to 64 years) have tried the substance at least once (lifetime use). (pages 8–9)
• Prosecutors are taking a firm line on the supply of cannabis for pain relief to people with chronically painful conditions such as multiple sclerosis, despite the downgrading of the drug from Class B to Class C. (page 23)
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