I’ve been trying to put something together to post here about the ramping up of the false cannabis hysteria in the last week or so, but the whole goddamn thing has me so fucking fucked off, that I’ve been struggling with putting my thoughts into a sensible and rational form.

Basically, my anger and rage at the lies, misinformation and questionable science has knocked me off balance. I aim to redress that in the next day or in a series of posts I’m already preparing.

I want to get this one right. There’s too much at stake regarding the status and view of weed in UK society and someone has to be the voice of reason.

That someone is going to be me.

Because of my long relationship with cannabis, specifically “skunk” as the media likes to dub any decent, well-grown strain; I am uniquely qualified to comment on this subject.

And that’s the thing, in all of this “debate”, there has been one side of the argument missing; one voice not heard and that’s the views of someone who smokes and enjoys cannabis, regularly and responsibly.

Meet the hippy. That’s me. I’ve smoked cannabis daily for 26 years, around 25 of them, “skunk”. It’s always been available, if you knew where to look.

As well as being a habitual and unapologetic smoker of cannabis for over 2 decades, you’d also find me a mature, charming, intelligent, respectable, useful, gainfully employed, tax-paying member of society. I’m also clever, smart and fun to know. You’ll have to take my word for it.

I’m probably no different from the majority of cannabis smokers. We’re your neighbours, your co-workers, your friends, relatives; we’re a little bit of everybody!

We’re not demons, we’re not monsters, we’re actually a fairly chilled out, relaxed bunch of people, who would prefer to spend an evening reclining on the sofa, watching a good film or reading a good book or lost in deep conversation.

We’re not the sort you’ll find in a city centre at midnight, pissing in alleyways and picking street fights with the old bill.

The problem, with those of us who are both productive members of society and cannabis users is we can’t thrust our hands in the air and declare our admiration of weed, because of its current legal status.

We are all forced to remain underground and in the shadows, for to come out publicly as a dope smoker, would be to invite all manner of criticism and scorn which would threaten your standing in society, personally and professionally.

And that’s just plain wrong.

For me, the situation is different.

Not only am I uniquely qualified to comment on the subject, because of my long association with cannabis, but also because of my nom de plume as the northlondonhippy and this website. I have a forum to express my views as well as share the truth with you all, without fear of retribution. I’ve been doing it already, for a few years now.

That’s why I am putting myself forward as the voice of reason, sanity and experience on all things cannabis related. And I’m not limiting myself to only this website, but I would like to offer my services as a self-proclaimed expert on the subject to other media outlets as well.

That’s right, you clever young researchers who manage to find me, I am available for interview on any cannabis related matter and this offer is open to newspapers, magazines and radio programmes only. I won’t appear on television, so sorry guys, because I will not be identified as anything other than the northlondonhippy.

I’d also be happy to provide comment pieces for newspapers, if you would like to commission something, please feel free to contact me.

But if it is an interview you’re after, here are my simple conditions:

1) My real name and any other identifying facts about me shall remain secret. Your discretion is essential

2) You are free to mention and refer to my website, actually I would encourage that.

3) You can ask me anything you like about cannabis in general and my long-time personal experience with it as well. I will answer some personal questions, but others I will not. And it will be down to my discretion.

4) I’m not looking for payment. My reward will come from telling the truth and correcting the lies, falsehoods and scientific misinformation passed off as proven fact.

5) While short notice requests for interviews may be possible, some notice will be required. I do have a life outside of this blog and weed…well, sort of.

6) Initial contact via email first is recommended and encouraged.

7) For any live media outlets, ie radio, pre-interviews are fine and I promise not to swear or say anything slanderous. I won’t however, get into shouting matches with the irate and ill-informed. I will only participate in civilised, rational debates on the subject.

And here’s a bit of background on me, which you may quote from at will:

“The northlondonhippy is the biggest internet celebrity that you’ve never heard of, until now. He’s media professional by trade and has been blogging under this name for over 3 years.

His blog, www.northlondonhippy.com covers all aspects of his life, but concentrates on the hippy’s long-time love affair with cannabis. The hippy is part philosopher, part media critic and a keen observer of society.

As the debate over cannabis heats up, the hippy has decided to put himself forward as the voice of respectable, decent people who happen to smoke cannabis and don’t believe they deserve to be criminalised for it.”

For more information about me; and my personal views, please feel free to dig deeper into this site. It’s all there, if you look hard enough.

I think I might put out an actual, old-style press release, making this offer and I will target the following media outlets:

- The Guardian newspaper
- The Observer newspaper
- The Independent newspaper
- The Independent on Sunday
- The Times newspaper
- The Sunday Times newspaper
- LBC Talk Radio
- BBC Radio FiveLive

I think that’s a reasonable start. I’m serious, I’ll be sending out a short press release to them all, offering my services and credentials. I want to represent you, my fellow cannabis-smokers. Though we must exist in the shadows, we don’t need to have our views go unnoticed and unheard any more.

If you would like to add your voice to my campaign, please feel free to email me. I’ll be very happy to post your views, here on my site.

And my offer to all of these media outlets is genuine and sincere. If you strive to provide balance, then both sides of the argument deserve to be heard. I’m making it that much easier for you to accomplish this goal.