Greetings from north London! Thank you for your letter! I hope both you and Grandpa Hippy are well! How are things in Denver?
I am still very envious of the legal cannabis market in Colorado, you and Grandpa Hippy are very lucky! I’ve read how legal cannabis has been embraced by by senior citizens, but I was still surprised to read how much Grandpa has been benefitting from it. And your state has so much revenue from the taxes on it. They have taken in over a billion dollars in tax, in 5 years. That could pay for so much!
And you, Grandma, getting into edibles, I am very impressed you are enjoying them so much. I live in a dry country. While we do have an extensive unregulated cannabis market here in the UK, we lack the choice, quality and safety of your legal, regulated cannabis products.
I dream of day, in the very near future, when cannabis becomes legal and regulated here in the United Kingdom. It’s not like we would be creating a new market, but taking the existing market and legitimising it. Imagine quality checks, potency testing and labelling, a variety of products to suit all tolerances and requirements, some could even be certified organic! The possibilities are endless, as are the opportunities, if only we had a properly pro-business government. And cannabis businesses are some of the fastest growing businesses in the world right now, in a sector that is already worth billions. It is a shame the politicians here ignore all the evidence and cling to silly, discredited thinking about cannabis. “Reefer Madness” never died here in good ol’ Blighty. It is alive and well, and still seeing people put in jail for possession. We are still in the dark ages here.
And as bad as all that sounds, it’s actually even worse because the UK is the world’s number one exporter of medicinal cannabis. That should be good news, well, it is for the people who profit from it, but it does nothing for UK citizens, whose access to medicinal cannabis is so limited as to be described as still having no access to it, at all.
Check out this hypocrisy… either the UK government believes cannabis has medicinal properties, but lies about to its citizens, while allowing its export OR the UK government genuinely thinks cannabis has no medicinal value, but still allows companies to export it, effectively endorsing snake oil. Neither view is particularly flattering. For what it is worth, I subscribe to the former, while if the government could endorse one view, they would prefer the latter. Either way, it’s a terrible situation here, that needs urgently to change.
Thank you again for the invitation to move to Denver to live with you and Grandpa Hippy. Of course, it is tempting, especially with my health and cannabis use, but I think it is more important to stay here in the UK and fight for what is right. And what is right is to insure the people of the United Kingdom have the same access to cannabis, that you have. I know I could move someplace with more suitable cannabis laws, but I think I have a moral responsibility to help change and improve the cannabis laws here.
Write back soon, Grandma. And please send me your medicated brownie recipe! And some shatter! Just kidding, but not kidding, but kidding, but you could try if you want.
With lots of love from your Grandson,
the hippy xx
(In real life, all four of my grandparents have been dead probably longer than you have been alive. But if I did have living grandparents, and they did live in Colorado, or another legal territory, and we did correspond by letter, and I had to send a reply today, this is the letter I would send. Other than imaginary living grandparents, everything in this letter is 100% factually accurate.)
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The northlondonhippy is an anonymous author, online cannabis activist and recreational drug user, who has been writing about drugs and drug use for over 15 years. In real life, the hippy is a senior multimedia journalist with over 30 years experience of working in the industry.
The hippy’s book, ‘Personal Use’ details the hippy’s first 35 years of recreational drug taking, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
“Personal Use” is available as a digital download on all platforms, including Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iBooks and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. The paperback is available from all online retailers and book shops everywhere.
You can also find the northlondonhippy on Twitter: @nthlondonhippy
These are the shocking results of a newly released study linking tea drinking with crime and mental illness: A staggering 98.6% of all murders, rapists, and muggers drink tea! And even more startling, the same percentage of people who develop severe forms of psychosis also consume this pernicious beverage.
This landmark study, funded by ATG (Avoid Tea Group) was conducted over 10 years by a very respected research group based at the King of Fools College in South London and their affiliated organisation, Truly, Madly, Deeply (TMD) Hospital.
(Shhhh, don’t tell anyone, but the ATG is funded by the coffee industry.)
Lead researcher, Dr. I.H. Atedope, has dedicated his life to proving the link between mental illness, violence, crime and the consumption of home brewed, street tea, said this at the launch of this report,
“The link between severe mental illness, violent crime and home brewed tea has been confirmed by this research. Nearly every person we have studied in the last 10 years, has consumed tea. And I am talking about street tea. English Breakfast, Earl Grey, or Oolong, it is known by many names, but its effect on behaviour is profound.
We have seen a sharp increase in street tea consumption in the last several decades, and while rates of violent crime and levels of psychosis have remained steady, we are certain that street tea drinking is behind the fact that the United Kingdom has one of the highest rates of mental illness in all of Western Europe. Coupled with the recent alarming rise in violent crime, the obvious connection between tea and everything bad, is undeniable.
Poverty, austerity, and a lack of opportunity have nothing to do with this. Trust us, we’re scientists! It’s the tea!
(Pointing at slide projected on screen behind him) Look, it’s on a pie chart, you can’t be any clearer than that.”
It should, because this is practically word for word, what ends up on the front pages of our national newspapers, a few times a year, only substitute the word cannabis for tea.
Think about your reaction, reading all of that, about tea. But, but, but, you say, you’ve been drinking tea your entire life, with no ill effects, so this is not even remotely, slightly true. nor could it be.
Guess what? That’s exactly how experienced cannabis consumers react when we read made-up scare stories about cannabis causing psychosis.
Cannabis does not cause psychosis any more than drinking tea could.
Cannabis, or rather certain strains or components, are actually beneficial to many health conditions, including psychosis and other mental illnesses, but because of decades of silly, pointless prohibition, science is falling behind the truth.
There is an institutional bias against cannabis, especially from certain groups and organisations, which means they decide the direction and result of their studies in the planning stages, and interpret the data, to support their predetermined conclusions.
It is a unique obsession here in the UK, but they are trying to spread this nonsense around the world. And it is working, as prohibitionists point to cannabis studies done in the UK as evidence that cannabis causes psychosis.
British drug expert supreme, Professor David Nutt, explains that cannabis use is misrepresented in the UK, saying
Professor David Nutt is a hero
“This fear of cannabis-induced psychosis is a particularly British one, largely because it has received significant support from UK academics. However, the evidential base is weak…”
I have no doubt that there is a a correlation between cannabis and mental illness, as I know from my own personal experience that cannabis is extraordinarily beneficial to relieving many of the symptoms.
But correlation does not equal causation, as noted drug experts, Dr. Carl Hart and Dr. Charles Ksir, are at pains to point out repeatedly. Here’s a long extract from a piece they contributed to the Guardian in January 2019:
“Does marijuana cause psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, and do associated symptoms like paranoia lead to violent crimes?
As scientists with a combined 70-plus years of drug education and research on psychoactive substances, we find [these] assertions to be misinformed and reckless.
It is true that people diagnosed with psychosis are more likely to report current or prior use of marijuana than people without psychosis. The easy conclusion to draw from that is that marijuana use caused an increased risk of psychosis, and it is that easy answer that [prohibitionists have] seized upon. However, this ignores evidence that psychotic behaviour is also associated with higher rates of tobacco use, and with the use of stimulants and opioids. Do all these things “cause” psychosis, or is there another, more likely answer? In our many decades of college teaching, one of the most important things we have tried to impart to our students is the distinction between correlation (two things are statistically associated) and causation (one thing causes another). For example, the wearing of light clothing is more likely during the same months as higher sales of ice-cream, but we do not believe that either causes the other.
In our extensive 2016 review of the literature we concluded that those individuals who are susceptible to developing psychosis (which usually does not appear until around the age of 20) are also susceptible to other forms of problem behaviour, including poor school performance, lying, stealing and early and heavy use of various substances, including marijuana. Many of these behaviours appear earlier in development, but the fact that one thing occurs before another also is not proof of causation. (One of the standard logical fallacies taught in logic classes: after this, therefore because of this.) It is also worth noting that 10-fold increases in marijuana use in the UK from the 1970s to the 2000s were not associated with an increase in rates of psychosis over this same period, further evidence that changes in cannabis use in the general population are unlikely to contribute to changes in psychosis.”
Yet, in the face of this evidence, these false claims about cannabis continue to be newspaper headlines that dominate the news and people’s consciousnesses.
At best, the science is unclear, and I am being extremely generous with the truth in saying that. But at the worst, all of this is being exaggerated and misrepresented so that users can continue to be demonised and criminalised for absolutely no good reason. It is a tragedy that flawed 20th century thinking is being dragged into the 21st century to cause more misery for millions.
Cannabis isn’t for everyone. Luckily, there is no mandatory programme to force anyone to use it. Thank god, because that means there’s more for me.
It also means if it doesn’t agree with you, you don’t need to have any. But for the sweet love of god, let the people who do need it, or enjoy it, to do so, safely and without the threat of arrest.
I started smoking weed when I was 18 years old. I didn’t know it at the time, but my use was medicinal, even then. I’ve used it effectively to treat my anxiety and depression for nearly 40 years. It’s helped me with back pain, it’s helped me with other ailments. It is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. That’s not a quote from me, but from a former DEA judge in America. You can find the full quote in my book, “Personal Use”, which is available from all good retailers online and in real life. (This has been a promotional message from the northlondonhippy.)
One of the biggest problems is trying to fight decades of misinformation and lies. People have been force-fed bullshit about weed their entire lives, so when presented with the truth, many don’t know what to believe.
My authority comes from my own personal experience, nearly four decades of personal use of this wonderful plant. I’ve grown it, smoked it, vaped it, ate it, and written about it extensively for over 15 years. Once I even I plugged it up my butt. OK, that last one is a total lie, but the rest, hand on heart, is true.
Cannabis is not the problem. Cannabis is the solution. Whether you’re denying epileptic children their medicine, or stopping responsible adults from having a choice of relaxing intoxicants, the prohibition of cannabis, which was built on a foundation of lies. is a cruel, uncaring policy, that needs to change.
So let’s change it!
The public support a change in our archaic drug laws, science and medicine support a change in the laws too. Even the police would like to see a sensible change to the law. It is only our impotent politicians who are preventing this sensible move.
From creating a new legal industry, with many new jobs, to helping our nation become healthier, legalising cannabis is a win/win for everyone, but it is especially a win for people who are being needlessly criminalised because they consume a plant.
The case for decriminalising and/or legalising is crystal clear. However, the forces of evil that are aligned to keep it prohibited won’t give up easily. Neither will we. Those of us who fight tirelessly to “free the weed” won’t give up either. And unlike the other side, we have all that is right, moral and good behind us. And because of that, we will prevail!
UPDATE:
Just as I was putting the finishing touches on this piece, this story popped up:
Study: Cannabis Use Not Independently Associated With Psychosis In Young People
Thursday, 02 May 2019
Logroño, Spain: Adolescents’ cannabis use history is not an independent predictor of an elevated risk of psychosis, according to data published in the journal Adicciones.
Investigators affiliated with the University of La Rioja in Spain explored the relationship between psychotic-like experiences and cannabis use in a representative sample of over 1,500 Spanish adolescents.
They reported that initially identified associations between cannabis use and psychosis were no longer present once researchers controlled for confounding variables, such as socioeconomic status, alcohol use, tobacco smoking, and comorbid psychopathology.
Authors concluded, “In this study, it was found that after controlling for the effect of the multiple relevant co-variables, the use of cannabis was not related to the frequency and distress associated with psychotic experiences reported by adolescents. … These results suggest that the relationships established between psychotic-like experiences and cannabis are complex and mediated by relevant variables.”
The northlondonhippy is an anonymous author, online cannabis activist and recreational drug user, who has been writing about drugs and drug use for over 15 years. In real life, the hippy is a multimedia journalist with over 30 years experience of working in the industry.
The hippy’s book, ‘Personal Use’ details the hippy’s first 35 years of recreational drug taking, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
“Personal Use” is available as a digital download on all platforms, including Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iBooks and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. The paperback is available from all online retailers and book shops everywhere.
You can also find the northlondonhippy on Twitter: @nthlondonhippy – follow him and receive a free gift*)
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have caught that I’ve been writing a book.
It’s true, although I am no longer writing it. It’s finished now and I will be self-publishing it next month as an eBook.
My book is entitled “Personal Use” and it chronicles in vivid detail, my 35 year history of recreational drug use.
It’s a drug mémoire, if you will.
I’ve been using drugs regularly and responsibly for nearly my entire adult life. I started with tobacco and alcohol as a child, moving on to cannabis and other substances as a young adult.
I am still a daily cannabis smoker and I continue to have an affinity for magic mushrooms. And along the way, I’ve dabbled with mescaline, LSD, cocaine, benzos, prescription opiates, MDMA, and ketamine, to name but a few.
Basically, I’ve taken a lot of drugs over many years and they have enriched my life in countless ways. My experiences with drugs have been overwhelmingly positive. That’s a view you don’t hear often, and one that deserves a much louder voice.
I would like to be that voice.
I’ve worked in the media for 30 years, mainly as a journalist for some of the world’s largest news organisations. I’ve never kept my drug use a secret and just about anyone who knows me in real life, knows I like drugs.
It’s cool, the media is awash with substances, so it has never been an issue.
One of society’s problems with drug use is that the media only ever cover the bad side of drugs and that’s not fair or accurate. Actually, it is more than a bit hypocritical, since many of the people I know, who cover the news, are as prolific as I am when it comes to getting high. I know, because I get high with them sometimes myself.
The majority of people who use drugs are like me, and they also use them responsibly, with no adverse effects on their lives. That’s the most common drug experience of all, and it is given precious little attention. That needs to change.
My hope and aim with this book is to let people know that there should be no stigma attached to drug use. And more importantly, that there should not be any criminal sanctions either.
Our outdated, silly and cruel drug laws are not fit for purpose. Criminalising people for altering their brain chemistry is wrong. Our drug laws cause more harm to society, families and individuals than the actual drugs every could.
My book starts in the late 1970s in America, and goes right up until present day, London, where I am now. I cross the globe more than once and take you with me to such diverse locations as Somalia and Bosnia, along with many others. And yes, I got high everywhere I went.
But it’s not just about taking drugs, it’s also about finding drugs too. An awful lot of time is spent looking for drugs, or waiting for someone to turn up with them. From my very first ever weed dealer, through indoor cannabis gardens in the 90s, right up to the darknet markets of today, I try to explain what it’s like to be a regular consumer of all the good substances that have been foolishly prohibited by law.
I’ve let a few people I know read the rough draft and they have found my book entertaining and informative, but then I would say that, wouldn’t I?
I’d like more people to read it, before it is published next month, so I will be making digital copies available, free of charge, to anyone who wants one. If you would like a copy, just ask. The answer will be ‘yes’.
And when it goes on sale, I will keep the price very low. In the interest of transparency, I’m aiming to make a pound (GB) a copy myself, but I don’t have the final retail price worked out yet. It will be cheap, and the only way I will make any real money is through volume.
I don’t expect to make any real money, my sales expectations are very low. My joke is that I am aiming to sell one million copies. I know I won’t, but that’s the goal.
It’s good to have goals.
I’ll be plastering info on Twitter and Reddit over the coming month, as I will need your help too. I need all the help I can get. I’m useless on Facebook and don’t even have an account, but if you would like to share stuff there, you would be doing me a huge favour. Just let me know if anyone liked it!
As an anonymous and unknown writer, I know it will be an uphill battle to get people interested in my book. But I have faith in the strength of my product. I know that if you read the book’s “Forward”, you will be hooked and you will want to keep on reading. I’m kinda counting on that!
I am hoping to have the final, retail version, in the ePub format, before the end of this month. So if you get a free copy, you can be sure you will be getting the exact same version that will go up for sale.
So that’s it. I’ve set out my stall. And in about a month, there will be one product available on my virtual shelf.
I look forward to bringing you “Personal Use” and I hope everyone who reads it, enjoys it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
Years ago, I had a tag line that I used on my website, that I hope will apply to my book as well:
“The northlondonhippy – he will make you laugh, he will make you think, and he will make you wish you were a hippy too!”
