Last updated at 15:48, Thursday, 22 May 2008

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COCKERMOUTH mother Jenny Martin has seen firsthand how a drug like cannabis can affect a young person’s mind.

Her 19-year-old son Andrew died just over a year ago from a heroin overdose. She strongly believes that it was his prolonged use of cannabis that caused his schizophrenia and led him to harder drugs. 

She believes the change of law sent out the wrong signals to drug users and has long been calling for cannabis to be reclassified... 

A FEW YEARS ago David Blunkett wrote an article in which he described his own personal nightmare regarding his love child. 

I wish I was able to tell him now what a true nightmare is.

A nightmare is watching the person you love more than life itself, slowly killing themselves every day. A nightmare is watching that person change, from a beautiful bright being to someone you can’t reach, no matter how hard you try. A nightmare is getting that dreaded knock on the door. 

My youngest son died last year of a heroin overdose. He was 19 years old and had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

In the early days Andrew was sensitive, loving and bright, but at around the age of 11 he became withdrawn and depressed, with, I believe, the early symptoms of mental illness.

Despite all the support available at the time, Andrew started to self medicate by smoking cannabis. There is no doubt that this exacerbated his illness, resulting in schizophrenia.

I will always remember that day in 2004 when all my support and advice about the dangers of using cannabis went out of the window when Andrew announced that David Blunkett had declassified cannabis and that it was ‘almost’ legal

After all, he said, the Government would hardly do that if it was as dangerous as I said it was. This was the confused message conveyed to my vulnerable son and many others.

I was dismayed and disgusted when the Advisory Council committee (the same body of people who declassified Cannabis in 2004) decided to advise the Government that there should be no change in the classification of cannabis, based on the lack of evidence.

You could ask what evidence do they have to justify not reclassifying cannabis other than an unpublished study written by a member of their own committee? 

The use of cannabis can cause and does exacerbate mental illness and is certainly the gateway to harder drugs, as it was with my son and many others. There is a wealth of evidence from charities, campaigners and professionals all of who support this. 

What is so dangerous about the law as it stands at the moment is that cannabis is too easily available illegal on the street and contains a much higher content of skunk, which can be lethal for young vulnerable brains and can create effects not unlike those obtained by taking LSD or magic mushrooms, of which, are all in class A.

I find it quite ironic that a government which states that prevention is better than treatment could turn a blind eye away from an epidemic which is billowing out of control and causing so much anguish for our future generations.

This is not to mention the pressure on the police, charities, mental health, hospitals, schools and GPs. Whether it be alcohol or drugs, there is confusion regarding the law which needs to be addressed now.

Cannabis needs to be reclassified to class B to protect our loved ones,

To do nothing, I believe, is not an option nor one that we can afford to take. 

I look back at the last few months of Andrew’s life as a gift, he was turning that corner and I was seeing the true person again, that sensitive, intelligent and beautiful young man.

On more than one occasion he told me that the biggest mistake he made in his life was smoking cannabis. 

I would like to send his message to all families and their loved ones, but especially to Gordon Brown to whom I implore to do the right thing and go ahead with the reclassification now.

Cumbria’s public health boss John Ashton says he is against drugs, yet he does not believe tougher penalties are the answer.

Instead he is controversially calling for the cannabis to be sold over the counter, a move he believes will bring its use out into the open and allow the government to tackle it in a very different way...

•  Read a health chief's argument to sell cannabis over the counter here

First published at 10:55, Saturday, 17 May 2008
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk