I get confused, sometimes, by all the different, conflicting bits of information offered to me on any given day.

I try to disregard as much of it as I can, but when it comes to the battle over cannabis, my ears prick up, which is markedly better than a prick up your ear.

The current lies being peddled about weed must be confusing to a lot of folks out there. The powers that be are not-so-subtly working hard to shift public perception. They want you to think marijuana is the devil’s weed; that it will turn your children in psychotic killers who are only concerned with where their next fix of dope is coming from.

This portrayal couldn’t be any further from the truth if they tried. Oh wait, they are trying and they are not in remote proximity of even a reflection in a puddle of piss of truth.

Yet, the newspaper headlines scream with outrageous anger and hyperbole over the dangers of cannabis.

Headlines can be wrong. Frequently, they are. It’s easier to parrot some make believe fact, if that fictitious fact creates fear and moral indignation.

Here’s something you won’t be reading in any respectable newspaper, any time soon. A recent study carried out by a respected Dutch university, compared the teenage brains via MRI scans of two groups of teenagers; group A were regular weed smokers, group B never touched the stuff.

Guess what? There was no discernible difference in the results, between the two groups. Or as it says in the headline of the article I’m quoting, “Cannabis not dangerous for young people”.

Could you imagine the front page of the Daily Mail or the Independent on Sunday splashing the same headline across their front page? Neither can I, but a hippy can dream and this hippy does. Far too much.