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Here are a variety of responses I've written to misleading information about cannabis users and cannabis use from different UK media sources.  I have not watermarked these as they're designed to copy and edit as you wish before sending.  Please do try to use them when you see such a post.  The only way we can address ignorance is with education.  Scroll down for the following responses:
- 'Police bust' posts on social media
- 'Drug dealers selling sweets to kids' posts
- Sweets containing synthetic cannabinoids as cannabis
- 'Grass up your neighbour' articles

Example response to 'police bust' posts on social media 

Cannabis is now available on private prescription and is sending people into debt, at hundreds or thousands of pounds per month, yet it is withheld from the NHS. This means that because pharmaceutical medication hasn't worked, sick and disabled people are financially exploited for something that does work, but with supply issues, while all the time we export. For those who don't qualify for a prescription, perhaps if they didn't want to go on synthetic drugs first, those growing and supplying are providing a service. Prohibition has not worked, if it had, why so many busts all the time? No force that cared for the people it's meant to serve would deprive them of the one thing that keeps them well.

Example response to 'Drug Dealers Selling Sweets to Kids' posts (online/ articles)

To Whom it May Concern,

I read your article [insert link to article] entitled [insert title] and wanted to draw attention to some inconsistencies.

Drug dealers do not generally hang around trying to tempt children with innocent looking candy. This is yet another fallacy designed to demonize them, rather than acknowledging that they provide a service, one that has never gone short of demand, despite over 50 years of prohibition. Most dealers will not struggle to find customers. Cannabis flower and oil have been available on prescription since 2018 (albeit almost exclusively on private prescription), so clearly someone doesn’t think it’s all that dangerous:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/753444/letter-with-guidance-on-cannabis-based-products-for-medicinal-use.pdf
Sativex spray (also cannabis based) has been legal for many years more.

Edible cannabis products target adult users who see benefit from eating rather than or alongside smoking or vaping, as the effects are different, but very much medicinal in their own way. Consumed cannabis behaves differently because it’s metabolized. It’s often described as more bodily effects but another major difference is that it’s far longer lasting when eaten.  Children may be targeted by a small minority of bad actors, but this is the result of prohibition and lack of regulation.  It is also noteworthy that another result of prohibition is the emergence of synthetic cannabinoids.  I refer to this as many articles of late (mostly in reference to a 23 year old girl who tragically lost her life after eating sweets she bought through a messaging app) have been misleading in referring to the fatal ingredient as 'Cannabis Spice' or similar.  Spice is a synthetic cannabinoid and carries a multitude of risks that cannabis does not:
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/synthetic-cannabinoids-k2spice)

I would never condone anyone targeting children or adults, but perpetuating outdated, stigmatising content about cannabis is incorrect, harmful and in conflict with current thinking.  Your acknowledgement of this, now and in future posts is sincerely appreciated.

Thank you for your time,


Yours faithfully,

Articles referring to sweets containing synthetic cannabinoids as cannabis


To Whom it May Concern,

I read your article [insert link to article] entitled [insert title].

I’d like to respectfully request that you publish an addition. This post/ article is misleading as it suggests to the reader as thinking that synthetic cannabinoids and cannabis are in some way related, which they are not, or that they carry the same risks, which they do not. Synthetic cannabinoids carry a whole manner of risks: (https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/synthetic-cannabinoids-k2spice)/.

There were no recorded cannabis-related deaths (through toxicity or overdose) until a single case in America in 2019:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9276106/woman-39-killed-by-cannabis-in-first-ever-thc-overdose-after-vaping-marijuana-chemical-coroner-rules/

If you read the above article and/ or do a search for further information that this was disputed by experts in the field as impossible, because the necessary levels of cannabis that would need to be in the system is not believed possible to consume. Given that prohibition has never been effective at stemming cannabis use, it would surely have happened by now.

Cannabis oil and flower has been legal on prescription since 2018 (albeit usually under a woefully inadequate and expensive private prescription system):
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/753444/letter-with-guidance-on-cannabis-based-products-for-medicinal-use.pdf
The cannabis-based sativex spray has been legal on prescription for substantially longer in fact.

Misleading articles like this, whatever the intent, are not just incorrect. They perpetuate stigma and are actively harmful in terms of how cannabis users are viewed, despite many of us using it 100% legally. Synthetic cannabinoids have emerged as a result of prohibition and their potential for evading drug tests for example. Prohibition of real cannabis creates a market for people who will make money by supplying dangerous alternatives like the sweets in the article.

More positive articles about the benefits of cannabis, and to raise awareness of the change in law would indeed be greatly welcomed.

Thank you for your time.

Yours faithfully,

DRAFT LETTER TO LOCAL PUBLICATIONS IN RESPONSE TO ‘GRASS UP YOUR NEIGHBOUR’ ARTICLES



To Whom it May Concern,

I read your article [insert link to article] entitled [insert title]. I’d like to respectfully request that you publish an addition, so as not to mislead your readers with regards to current cannabis laws in the UK in 2022. Whereas I personally do not approve of the concept of ‘grassing up one’s neighbours’ in communities that appear far too divided and lacking in community spirit already, the article gives an altogether false impression that cannabis flower or ‘weed’ is 100% illegal, which is incorrect. Whereas cannabis based products have been available in spray form for many more years, since November 2018, cannabis flower and oil have also been made available on prescription, albeit mostly privately. Here is a government link confirming this: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/753444/letter-with-guidance-on-cannabis-based-products-for-medicinal-use.pdf.

Though there is no denying that it remains illegal to smoke cannabis or grow it without license, prescription holders are advised to consume their product using a dry herb vaporiser and there is the potential that cannabis smell will be produced as a result.

It is worth noting that because of the extremely high costs of private prescriptions, there is certainty that some people will be forced to grow (if they are to effectively manage their health), and as costs increase, this will certainly increase too. I think people in this situation deserve sympathy and support rather than judgement and condemnation, but I appreciate you may not agree.

Irrespective of your views with regards to the morality of the law, please do support the suggested additions, so as not to put those lawfully prescribed cannabis flower at further risk of persecution through misunderstanding and ignorance.

Thank you for your time.

Yours faithfully,