Letter: Smokescreen of scare stories

Sir: In his letter of 22 September, George Rushton of the UK Band of Hope states that 'skunk' should be regarded as a hard drug.

Skunk is just a good-quality variety of cannabis, just as you have good brands of champagne or fine cigars; and, according to Dr David Busch in his forthcoming book Histopathology of Substance Abuse, the use of high-quality cannabis reduces the amount of soot reaching the lungs.

To compare legalisation of cannabis with that of 'joy-riding' is a strange jump of logic. Somebody who is enjoying cannabis is not inflicting pain on anyone. If George Rushton's organisation believes in freedom of choice, he must acknowledge my right to enjoy cannabis in my own home.

We are never going to have a drug-free society. In order to protect the weak and vulnerable, we should not use scare stories but offer advice and concentrate on the reduction of harm. The use of good-quality cannabis, using a water pipe, is one way of reducing any possible harm.

We in the Legalise Cannabis Campaign look forward to a royal commission of inquiry into the use of cannabis. According to the University of Mississippi, hemp is a plant with 50,000 uses other than recreational. It is not going to go away.

Yours sincerely,

GRAEME STONE

Legalise Cannabis Campaign

Galashiels

Borders

22 September