Use and abuse
Cannabis stories
Cannabis and the law
Cannabis and mental health

'I smoke about 20 cigarettes per day, smoke marijuana on a daily basis and drink very little alcohol. I take cocaine very infrequently and smoke crack very occasionally – perhaps once a year. I took ecstasy on a regular basis for about six months about a year and a half ago. I have also taken other random drugs on a couple of occasions over the past five years, including speed, ketamine, acid, opium and ‘yaba’ [methamphetamine].

'I've been a heavy marijuana smoker since the age of 14, and this has always been my drug of preference, way above alcohol, given its ability to make you relax and the smaller impact it has the following day! I smoke it at home by myself and with friends and at friends' houses.

'I'm addicted to nicotine and I'd say that I'm psychologically addicted to cannabis. I have gone through periods of high use of more addictive substances, such as cocaine, but, thankfully not over a long enough period to result in a proper addiction. Aside from marijuana, drugs have generally been a weekend indulgence for me.

'I take drugs as a relief from reality and boredom, in a nutshell. It seems to me they allow you to be less introspective in many ways. I personally find it quite difficult to really relax, which to be honest I find disturbing in itself. Drugs allow you to forget about any current problems that you may have. That's not to say I've had dreadful events in my life which I need to 'hide' from, but everyone has issues.

'I think drugs have a lot of negative side-effects, but what doesn't? The financial one is obvious, and this can become even more serious if one gets involved with seriously addictive drugs. Come-downs are another, but a lot of this is the result of drugs being illegal – so many of them are cut. The two drugs that I would say have the worst side-effects (and which I personally believe to be the most dangerous drugs) are acid and ecstasy. One of the most appropriate statements that I have ever heard about acid (which I think also relates to ecstasy to a lesser extent) is by Robert Pirsig in his cult book Lila, where he says that acid allows you to walk through the door to an alternate reality, but most people have no idea how to walk back through.

'Perhaps the biggest drug-related problem for me, or rather for those around me, involved being expelled from school for smoking cannabis. This had a very bad impact on my family. I'm not excusing my actions, but I do feel that most of the problems that occurred were caused by people's naive views about cannabis.

'Though I feel bad about the problems this incident caused my family, I don't feel that I have ever directly hurt anyone as a result of my drug-taking and do not see it as something to feel guilty about.

'I have severe problems with the drug laws. I think, without a doubt, cannabis should be legalised immediately and the government should stop wasting so much time and money on prosecuting people who have been involved with it.'

Jamie's story

'I started smoking resin when I was fifteen and almost immediately I became paranoid. Over the next few years, as the amount and quality of what I smoked increased so did the intensity of my symptoms. I became completely delusional, building elaborate ideas for what was happening in the world around me and began having frightening hallucinations.

'My schooling suffered and while I passed my GCSE's I made numerous unsuccessful and very bizarre attempts to complete college courses. I lost all my friends due to paranoia. My relationship with my family was destroyed and I was kicked out of home. I pretty much lost everything there is to lose apart from my life and I was very close to losing that due to extraordinary stunts in cars and my habit of not eating anything.

'Cannabis is very addictive and those that say it's not physically addictive are totally misguided. Resin often has crap added to make you dependant. I spent many night sweating and shaking without a joint. Throwing up nothing into the toilet as I needed whatever was in the rubbish I smoked. Grass was even worse though. Upon quitting resin, I smoked only grass and when I had none it was hell. My mind would race and my heart would pound, I couldn't concentrate on anything, the slightest sound would startle me and the dimmest light would dazzle my eyes. Needless to say, I smoked a lot to combat this.

'The drug was the cause of my illness. Many dispute that but the chemistry is all there for the reading. The first thing I did after being diagnosed as psychotic was get on the internet and find out exactly how cannabis affects the brain. The information was there albeit filed away on obscure scientific websites. I was so angry that it was not in the public domain but at least I knew the cause and I knew I could recover.

'If I had been aware of the dangers then I would not have smoked like I did. Cannabis had no danger in my mind, not even a hint of anything sinister. After numerous arrests due to cannabis I eventually got referred to a drug counsellor whose only qualm was that I was spending a lot of money on it! I even saw doctors during my illness that said not to worry about the cannabis and misdiagnosed me with depression. There was no knowledge out there about the risks but over the last few years the issue has become topical.

'The government's decision to re-grade cannabis to Class C was probably wise. A lot of time and public money was wasted on police officers having to write up kids for carrying a tenth of resin, no doubt there are more serious crimes. The problem was the way the media handled the issue. Cannabis was on the front page of every paper, all over the TV, the message being sent out was that cannabis was harmless. Now there are talks of reclassification, while this may counter act some of the positive publicity it once more places a strain on the police. I believe the only way forward is a widespread well-funded public information campaign. If kids are getting taught the risks then at least they have the chance to make the stupid choice!

'Quitting the grass was not hard for me, I had clear evidence that it was having a profoundly bad effect and I had mind and body numbing medication to cover any withdrawal symptoms. Without either it probably would have been impossible. It's a tricky one to quit as the desire to stop is counteracted by the belief that it is supposedly harmless but please believe me, you may never become psychotic through cannabis but you will definitely be negatively affected – use Google to search for the words cannabis and dopamine together and have a read.

'Three years after quitting cannabis and a year and a half after coming off medication, I now live with my girlfriend in our own place. I still carry a few remnants of the illness and find some situations very difficult but I have my life and my sanity back. The world can be pretty tough and every time something goes wrong I want to roll a joint and forget about my problems but I know things could be a lot worse then they are and would be a lot worse if I smoked cannabis.'

Can smoking cannabis damage your mental health?

Brat Camp's Josh smoked dope every day and became violent towards his father
www.channel4.com/life/microsites/B/bratcamp/
brat_files/josh.html

Brat Camp's James clashed with his parents over his cannabis use
www.channel4.com/life/microsites/B/
bratcamp04/james.html