i know this to be true, and so many teenagers now are smoking it because the government have down graded it, Its another stupid decision made by a stupid government, and we will pay the price, in our young, its not just the drink that is turning them violent, its all the weed that they are smoking, These young minds have been damaged before they have had time to grow, its a disaster, and shame on brighton in not being tough on drug addicts, now even during the day you see them all wandering down western road, and syringes scattered all around the parks, Brighton has become a centre for them all to congregate, and probably most of these started with a bit on cannabis, when they were younger,

liz wrote:
i know this to be true, and so many teenagers now are smoking it because the government have down graded it, Its another stupid decision made by a stupid government, and we will pay the price, in our young, its not just the drink that is turning them violent, its all the weed that they are smoking, These young minds have been damaged before they have had time to grow, its a disaster, and shame on brighton in not being tough on drug addicts, now even during the day you see them all wandering down western road, and syringes scattered all around the parks, Brighton has become a centre for them all to congregate, and probably most of these started with a bit on cannabis, when they were younger,

liz i agree with you btn has become very drugey over the years i have smoked weed for 30 years and i seem to be normal apart from my spelling its very sad wot has hapend to this guy but i dont think you can blame cannabis .

it's nothing to do with 'brighton' being druggie, drugs are everywhere in every town in the uk.
the prob is the stronger plant being grown called skunk. it is now 20 times stronger than the hardened solid cannabis.
years ago it was a treat to get some skunk once in a while, but nowadays, its all the kids smoke! now that is bad, and must be having an effect on their brains. to me its obvious, that stuff is really strong.

May Daniel Rosen RIP.

To blame cannabis for sending someone mad is absolute rubbish.

I am not sure I like the term mad for someone with mental illness.

I have used cannabis over the years, also worked at the coffee shops in Worthing, and others in the UK.

There is no causative link between mental health and cannabis, the media should be ashamed of themselves for trying to push this point.

The ACMD meeting has not found a link, so who has here?

There has been mention of a link between the media handling of suicide, as with the teenagers around Bridgend.

The media is in kangaroo court at the moment, and it shifts the blame to cannabis.

Winston Matthews wrote:
May Daniel Rosen RIP.

To blame cannabis for sending someone mad is absolute rubbish.

I am not sure I like the term mad for someone with mental illness.

I have used cannabis over the years, also worked at the coffee shops in Worthing, and others in the UK.

There is no causative link between mental health and cannabis, the media should be ashamed of themselves for trying to push this point.

The ACMD meeting has not found a link, so who has here?

There has been mention of a link between the media handling of suicide, as with the teenagers around Bridgend.

The media is in kangaroo court at the moment, and it shifts the blame to cannabis.

i disagree with you, because i have first hand experience, my daughter was 14 when she first smoked cannabis, within 2 weeks it changed her personality over night, it made her aggressive and moody, and she is now bi-polar, maybe it did not affect you, and many others, but it DOES trigger mental illness if someone is more prone to this. SO Please do not tell me that you dont agreed, because if you had to go through what i am going through then you would change your mind, IT all started from one little smoke, and i know that some of her friends are also experiencing problems to, You maybe a lot older, but start looking at the young today, and you will be surprised. If this letter stops 1 person from having to deal with this for the rest of there lives then i will be happy

dc you are just plain wrong as the Advisory Council on Drugs showed only a fortnight ago Cannabis now is at most 2 to 3 times stronger yet the majority seized is the same strength our mP's smoked in the 70's. To blame cannabis for this tragic death is not only wrong but dangerous as it precludes us looking for the real reasons.This man didn't take his presciption medications and as the University of cologne and Kings College London reported in May many Cannabis users use it to self medicate as the CDB's in Cannabis are potently ANTI psychotic. It would be possible to grow Cannabis high in CBD's that may have been useful for this man to use at the moment this is not allowed. He was probably using street Cannabis possibly with high levels of organo phospates/artificial fertilisers and low CBD's and other adulterants contained within cannabis grown by criminals.Remember the risk of mental health problems is far greater from alcohol in fact it makes those supposed to be caused by cannabis look like a drop in the Ocean.126,000 in long term care wiht mental health problems caused by alcohol in 06/07 plus 8324 directly killed by alcohol lets get some perspective on this issue please.Although any death is a tragedy we cansee that the far greater misery is cased by alcohol than will ever be caused by cannabis.Legalise regulate and control Cannabis for our kids sake.

RIP, poor soul

RIP

However I can't agree with Cannabis causing this. It triggers pre-existing mental health conditions, it causes them to occur quicker but its not the cause. The mental health issues people report Cannabis causing would have happened anyway, albeit later in life. A close friend of mine has had major issues with mental health triggered by smoking a lot of cannabis but the Doctors told him that wasn't the cause and it would have happened anyway.

On the issue of strong Skunk, recent reports quite rightly pointed out that while skunk is now stronger, people put less in a joint. It was found to be pure sensationalism on the 10 - 20x stronger skunk claim, i'm guessing that was the Daily Mail.

Promixate Cause!!!
Was there a big bag of cannabis next to his body?

Had he just stared using cannabis recently?

No and No.

It's like blaming a car wreck in London on the price of fish in New York.

I'm sorry he's dead. May he rest in peace.
I suspect the nearest unusal event, in this case (apparently) a new-found belief in re-incarnation, was the trigger.

But the bald fact is that two thirds of all suicides are caused by alcohol.

"May Daniel Rosen RIP.

To blame cannabis for sending someone mad is absolute rubbish."

Are you the type of person Winston, who starts a sentence with 'with respect' before launching into abusing someone? I suspect so.

You are also oh so typical of all of the pro cannnabis lobby who trawl local and national news websites spouting your propaganda with 'scientific' evidence based on your own experiences. No doubt (like John above) you will next start comparing the figures to alcohol which we all accept is also a nasty drug.

The link between cannabis and mental health issues is plainly there as the families of those who have suffered and the sufferers themselves can and will tell you. I am in that number too and whilst the drug did not necessarily directly cause my illness, it certainly triggered the start of the episodes and I have met many friends who are the same.

Sympathise with this poor family by all means but please people, stop using each story as a platform to start spouting your pro cannabis agenda. If you want to do it, fine. We don't all need to be told its a good thing though, beacuse its not.

freespeechoneeach wrote:
Promixate Cause!!! Was there a big bag of cannabis next to his body? Had he just stared using cannabis recently? No and No. It's like blaming a car wreck in London on the price of fish in New York. I'm sorry he's dead. May he rest in peace. I suspect the nearest unusal event, in this case (apparently) a new-found belief in re-incarnation, was the trigger. But the bald fact is that two thirds of all suicides are caused by alcohol.

What the hell has alcohol and suicides got to do with this story?

If you have nothing positive to say f*** off and stop guessing what caused this poor lad's death because you have no idea.

Daniel was my brother and despite what anyone thinks, his family had no idea about this article. This is the paper trying to campaign not Daniels family. I was mortified to have just read:

oh so it was the dope....and not the fct that he wouldnt take his prescibed meds..
oh ok i see.

a**holes//// i know grief sucks and it must be horrible but ,man.....

what can I say to that....... my family have not said the cause of my brothers death was due to smoking cannabis, however that it did not help his mental state....

please leave us in peace to mourn the death of a very loved friend, son, and brother.

sister wrote:
Daniel was my brother and despite what anyone thinks, his family had no idea about this article. This is the paper trying to campaign not Daniels family. I was mortified to have just read: oh so it was the dope....and not the fct that he wouldnt take his prescibed meds.. oh ok i see. a**holes//// i know grief sucks and it must be horrible but ,man..... what can I say to that....... my family have not said the cause of my brothers death was due to smoking cannabis, however that it did not help his mental state.... please leave us in peace to mourn the death of a very loved friend, son, and brother.

Well said and I suggest you email the Argus and request that they remove the story or at least the ability to comment on it.

Wow, this story and the way it was written had completely touched me this morning. Its so nice to see that this problem is finally getting some press coverage. I know alot of people that occasionally smoke weed and they dont suffer from it, but I also know people that I have thought could take the same path as Daniel. I feel for his family who clearly tried to support him the best they could yet to no avail. My thoughts are with you, and my frustrations with the mental health service of this country!

Genesis 1:29-30 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground?everything that has the breath of life in it?I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God gave us a choice other than alcohol, but the law taketh away. Cannabis helps people like me.

T.Ruth wrote:
Genesis 1:29-30 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground?everything that has the breath of life in it?I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God gave us a choice other than alcohol, but the law taketh away. Cannabis helps people like me.

Did God also say 'make the strongest strains that you can by cross pollenating and then grow in artificial conditions under huge lights'?

The T.Ruth of this matter is that God is also a fictional character so it doesn't really matter what he (the author)said

I started smoking cannabis when I was 13yrs old back when the drug was a Class B, I am now 24. I have got a good job, a degree, a house and all on the back of smoking cannabis. I have never committed a crime in my life except for smoking cannabis. Under the government’s new aim to reclassify, I will be further seen as a criminal and if caught, I will loose my job. Now how can this be justice??
As I said before I started smoking when the drug was a Class B, which has led me to believe that this alphabet system of drug grading has no effect on people’s conviction whether they smoke or not. Being a banned substance also means that there is no control whatsoever on what is being sold and who it’s being sold to, that is how I got into smoking it as a child. Also a dealer will try to sell any type of drugs to all ages, therefore there is no distinct line between cannabis and other harder drugs, which is where the gateway theory is put into reality. It’s not the fact that people get bored with cannabis and so want to try something harder, it’s the fact that the dealers push these harder drugs towards you.
The best way to reduce underage cannabis smoking (which I’m firmly against) is to legalise the drug, similar to what the Netherlands has done with great success. This would mean no child could buy the drug, nor could the dealers sell the harder drugs and it will cut out the criminal aspect.
At the moment, it’s the drug’s illegality that is allowing children to smoke it, criminal gangs to set up ‘cannabis factories’ and the selling of cannabis adulterated with poisonous thing such as silicone.

How about we highlight every alcohol-related death in the same way? Then we'll know which of these drugs is the more dangerous. Guess what? The booze kills many more people, but that seems to be ok because it's legal. Ridiculous.

I think cannabis is just another way of escaping facing up to how we feel and our emotions. Nothing wrong in that as we all like to escape now and then but its what they mix with cannabis and skunk that could be even more of a danger. How many cannabis takers actually know what its being mixed with to pad it out?

Please everyone, read the post from Daniel's sister: the family did NOT say his death was due to smoking cannabis, but that it did not help his mental state. The headline & first line of this article are incorrect. May Daniel RIP.

steve wrote:

liz wrote: i know this to be true, and so many teenagers now are smoking it because the government have down graded it, Its another stupid decision made by a stupid government, and we will pay the price, in our young, its not just the drink that is turning them violent, its all the weed that they are smoking, These young minds have been damaged before they have had time to grow, its a disaster, and shame on brighton in not being tough on drug addicts, now even during the day you see them all wandering down western road, and syringes scattered all around the parks, Brighton has become a centre for them all to congregate, and probably most of these started with a bit on cannabis, when they were younger,

liz i agree with you btn has become very drugey over the years i have smoked weed for 30 years and i seem to be normal apart from my spelling its very sad wot has hapend to this guy but i dont think you can blame cannabis .

I dont think you've been smoking skunk for the past 30 years, its about time cannabis was reclassified and the Vietnamese Gangs that supply the market thrown out of the UK

Posted by: Paul, Brighton on 11:04am How many cannabis takers actually know what its being mixed with to pad it out?

Tobacco is the probably the worst thing used.

If the Governemt wanted to stop people smoking super strong skunk ( which is damaging to peoples health ) they should make weaker forms of Cannibis and grass available legally. This would solve the probem of illegal Skunk farms, and youth mental health problems immediately. Sell weaker forms of Grass and Cannibis over the counter. Problem solved.

Well i smoke it and have been since i was 13!! i am now 28 and have a good carrer and i aint going mad or violent!!
It all depends on the person and their brain!!

Every murder, rape, robbery, shooting, stabbing, suicide, child killing, family breakdown, mental illness, life ruined, self neglect, anti social act etc etc etc etc etc etc can be connected with cannabis or drugs of one type or another and when it comes to violence, SKUNK is always involved, reclassify the evil weed to class A, before it's too late, how many lives have to be ruined and lost this overdue change in the law is brought about?????????

Hippy Finder General wrote:

steve wrote:

liz wrote: i know this to be true, and so many teenagers now are smoking it because the government have down graded it, Its another stupid decision made by a stupid government, and we will pay the price, in our young, its not just the drink that is turning them violent, its all the weed that they are smoking, These young minds have been damaged before they have had time to grow, its a disaster, and shame on brighton in not being tough on drug addicts, now even during the day you see them all wandering down western road, and syringes scattered all around the parks, Brighton has become a centre for them all to congregate, and probably most of these started with a bit on cannabis, when they were younger,

liz i agree with you btn has become very drugey over the years i have smoked weed for 30 years and i seem to be normal apart from my spelling its very sad wot has hapend to this guy but i dont think you can blame cannabis .

I dont think you've been smoking skunk for the past 30 years, its about time cannabis was reclassified and the Vietnamese Gangs that supply the market thrown out of the UK

no my son i have not been smoking skunk 4 30 years we smokeed red leb green leb oo black leb and all kinds of stuff wich i can say was 50 times sronger then any skunk but you where sill in your old mans ball bag when this was going on ok son shine.

T.Ruth wrote:
Every murder, rape, robbery, shooting, stabbing, suicide, child killing, family breakdown, mental illness, life ruined, self neglect, anti social act etc etc etc etc etc etc can be connected with cannabis or drugs of one type or another and when it comes to violence, SKUNK is always involved, reclassify the evil weed to class A, before it's too late, how many lives have to be ruined and lost this overdue change in the law is brought about?????????

Whoops, T.Ruth, your needle appears to be stuck again.
You do realise that you are talking absolute nonsense don't you?
To claim that all the above acts are due to cannabis is a complete fabrication.
Why do you insist on spouting rubbish?

There is increasing scientific evidence that there most certainly is a link between cannabis use and psychosis; no-one is claiming that is necessarily a directly causative factor (though there are cases where that had to be considered a possibility) but what is becoming clear is that people who may already be at risk of developing psychosis for other reasons, and who may not be aware of that,increase the risk of this happening, especially if they are under 18, and even moreso if they are under 15.
This is not scaremongering or blame-shifting. People need to know that they are increasing their risk of mental illness if they use cannabis, in the same way they need to know they are increasing their risk of cancer by smoking tobacco.

T.Ruth wrote:
Every murder, rape, robbery, shooting, stabbing, suicide, child killing, family breakdown, mental illness, life ruined, self neglect, anti social act etc etc etc etc etc etc can be connected with cannabis or drugs of one type or another and when it comes to violence, SKUNK is always involved, reclassify the evil weed to class A, before it's too late, how many lives have to be ruined and lost this overdue change in the law is brought about?????????

Actually I think your find all of the above are linked to breathing. We should outlaw breathing to stop all these diabolical things.
No wait in fact they are all linked to eating. Yes its true all violent crimes are linked to people who eat.

See its very easy to talk RUBBISH and generalise.
Why dont you read up a little and come back with a real arguement. The fact is even if they do reclassify, the criminals will still keep sellin to whomever want to buy it as after all they are CRIMINALS. They dont care what letter of the alphbet cannabis falls into. In some countries, the death penalty is enforced and still people sell and smoke cannabis and other drugs.

I apololgise for repeating this comment made on another page:
Unfortunately, there is no arguing with someone like T.Ruth. For whatever personal reasons (maybe over-use themselves?), they have closed their minds to any rational debate.
He/she is just sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "I'll thcweam and thcweam until I'm thick".
It isn't worth the effort trying to reason with this person.

if you had to go through what i am going through

it's all me, me, me with the prohibitionists. why don't you people look at the rest of lifes influences on the victims and stop looking for the esay answer by blaming cannabis. as yet there is NO firm evidence on cannabis and mental health and much more research needs to be done on this potentially useful and valuable plant.
let's face it, were it possible to standardise doseages it would be legal (and taxable) already - it's just vested interests and the wilfully ignorant that are stopping that.

The uneducated anti-cannabis morons that have commented here are causing more damage to the children of the UK than any drug they choose to use.

I wonder if they feel the same towards the medical cannabis thats being used legally in the 12 states of america or 'Savitex' a (50% THC, 50% CBD) cannabis drug used by MS and cancer suffers in Canada and used by over 1000 people in England?..

I also wonder what their opinion is towards Americas largest organization of doctors and internal medicine, The American College of Physicians (ACP) putting a huge amount of pressure on the government to greenlight medical cannabis. Releasing a statement saying, this drug needs to be accessible for anyone that needs it....

Or how about the research released on 17 October 2007 by neuro-psychologist Gerry Jager at the Utrecht University Medical Centre in Holland stating that ''Smoking cannabis does not affect the brains of young people. This emerges from research into the effects of cannabis on the brain of young people. De Jager examined forty teenagers, half of whom smoked cannabis regularly while the other half did not. Jager conducted memory and concentration tests and examined MRI scans.
The test results of the cannabis smoking youths were as good as those of the other group. "The things happening in the not yet fully developed brain of cannabis-smoking youths are similar to what happens in the brain of adults, Jager said...

But im sure the anti-prohibtion sheep will just say 'yeah but its just bad ain't it'..
NO IT'S NOT. Cannabis is a highly effective anti psychotic drug which has been used very succesfully for over 10,000 years with not one recorded death. This 'news papers' weak and embarrassingly uncreative 'story' is a good example of bad propergander.

To say cannabis DOESNT affect the chances of developing or causing mental illness is RUBBISH!! Ask any psychologist / therapist and they will tell you that standard advice to anyone with ANY mental problems is to cut out cannabis use as it CAN often significantly increase problems, and often trigger new ones. Now if you think you are more of an epert than they are on studies of the mind, go ahead and spout off.... And for the record, Im neither pro nor anti use - but lets at least face the facts. And while alcohol use may cause more problems, thats a stupid reason to use for NOT trying to curb cannabis useage. You wouldnt allow a kid to walk along a six foot high wall just cause its not as risky as walking on a 20 foot one - why say cannabis is fine because its "not as bad as drink"....?

I am actually DISGUSTED at this article and some of the comments i have brought myself to read. Daniel's death was sudden, tragic and deeply deeply heartbreaking to all of those that knew him. I am actually placing a formal complaint to get this article removed immediately as i consider is ridiculously disrespectful to Daniel and his family who are, and will continue to,grieve Daniel's loss everyday. I half understand the reasons behind writing this - using Daniel as a example of the bad effects of cannibas, it is after all an important message to get across. However, as previously said - i am disgusted at the way the argus has handled this extremely sensitive heartbreaking tragedy.

liz wrote:
i know this to be true, and so many teenagers now are smoking it because the government have down graded it, Its another stupid decision made by a stupid government, and we will pay the price, in our young, its not just the drink that is turning them violent, its all the weed that they are smoking, These young minds have been damaged before they have had time to grow, its a disaster, and shame on brighton in not being tough on drug addicts, now even during the day you see them all wandering down western road, and syringes scattered all around the parks, Brighton has become a centre for them all to congregate, and probably most of these started with a bit on cannabis, when they were younger,

Just one more hysterical post,why post when an obvious lack of knowledge reeks through your words, this article is about cannabis, so why on gods earth do you mention syringes , drugs are drugs ? all the same? Please educate yourself, and I don't mean by reading the daily rags

It's time to stop the abomination that is prohibition and start educating. There is no point forbidding our children to use drugs, we have to educate them about the dangers from a young age if we are to see any change in attitude. The UK is awash with cocaine and cheap booze, what are we leaving for future generations - other than a legacy of failed drug policy. Why are there no calls for alcohol to be criminalised? Because prohibition doesn't work. Legalise, regulate and educate before our children become nothing but booze and drug addled losers.

Dan was a dear friend to me and his realaxed and humorous attitude made it a pleasure to know him. He was also a great debater and philosopher and I'm sure he would take great interest in the discussiosn written here. Some of it is laughable, some very true but most importantly he is and will continued to be remembered as an inspirational and thought provoking individual.
Thanks for all your friendship Dan.

I would also like to ask EVERYONE to stop commenting and giving attention to this appaling article. The real failings and issues that need to be highlighted here is the severe lack of support and action from the mental health team in brighton, who I feel, let Daniel and his family down. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have decency and respect for Daniel and his family and do as i asked.

sister wrote:
Daniel was my brother and despite what anyone thinks, his family had no idea about this article. This is the paper trying to campaign not Daniels family. I was mortified to have just read: oh so it was the dope....and not the fct that he wouldnt take his prescibed meds.. oh ok i see. a**holes//// i know grief sucks and it must be horrible but ,man..... what can I say to that....... my family have not said the cause of my brothers death was due to smoking cannabis, however that it did not help his mental state.... please leave us in peace to mourn the death of a very loved friend, son, and brother.

To use this families grief to make a political point like you have is out of order. Ruth Lumley is part of the problem and as long as people continue to support papers like this who employ slime to mislead the public then more families will be violated. How much lower can Ruth Lumley sink before decent people become sick of slime like her?

Unfortunately there are many Ruth Lumelys in every rag in the UK just waiting to spin a trgic story into news

Tobacco smoke contains some 4000 identifiable substances of which just under a 100 are known carcinogens. Not everybody who smokes gets cancer.

One substance produce is "Nicotamide" a chemical used as an insecticide. It works by slowing down nervous impulses - in isects it stops them altogether. People who smoke say that smoking relaxes them - as well it might.

Canabis causes your brain to swell. Not your skull, just your brain. It is not necessarily the case that this will cause you any harm.

Alcohol affects your body in many ways but not everyone is an alcoholic.

The bottom line is that for every substance that you take in to your body, some people may not tolerate it as well as others. Ecstasy may be OK for you but it may kill your friend.... or vice versa. Blanket statements by either side are probably not true in 100% of cases. Caveat Emptor.

Jimi wrote:
\\\"May Daniel Rosen RIP. To blame cannabis for sending someone mad is absolute rubbish.\\\" Are you the type of person Winston, who starts a sentence with \\\'with respect\\\' before launching into abusing someone? I suspect so. You are also oh so typical of all of the pro cannnabis lobby who trawl local and national news websites spouting your propaganda with \\\'scientific\\\' evidence based on your own experiences. No doubt (like John above) you will next start comparing the figures to alcohol which we all accept is also a nasty drug. The link between cannabis and mental health issues is plainly there as the families of those who have suffered and the sufferers themselves can and will tell you. I am in that number too and whilst the drug did not necessarily directly cause my illness, it certainly triggered the start of the episodes and I have met many friends who are the same. Sympathise with this poor family by all means but please people, stop using each story as a platform to start spouting your pro cannabis agenda. If you want to do it, fine. We don\\\'t all need to be told its a good thing though, beacuse its not.

Jimi
"Sympathise with this poor family by all means but please people, stop using each story as a platform to start spouting your pro cannabis agenda. If you want to do it, fine. We don't all need to be told its a good thing though, beacuse its not."

Well jimi tell that to the media, tell them to stop using the tragic death of a young person as a platform for their anti Cannabis propaganda, perhaps looking at the types of medication given coupled with the lack of duty of care from the psychiatric profession, perhaps if the media concentrated on the antipsychotic medication known to cause suicidal feelings in depressed people(seroxat) then perhaps we would find the truth behind this tragic tale.
Rest in peace Mr Rosen.

dolphy wrote:
How about we highlight every alcohol-related death in the same way? Then we'll know which of these drugs is the more dangerous. Guess what? The booze kills many more people, but that seems to be ok because it's legal. Ridiculous.

Stupid argumnet. Alcohol is more available...more people take it and so proportionately thre are bound to be more deaths. Perhaps you would be better spent accepting the dangers of cannabis and campaigning against the dangers of alcohol.

we know the dangers of alcohol as well as the POSSIBLE dangers of cannabis....but we don't ban alcohol do we?

Reginaldo wrote:

dolphy wrote:
How about we highlight every alcohol-related death in the same way? Then we'll know which of these drugs is the more dangerous. Guess what? The booze kills many more people, but that seems to be ok because it's legal. Ridiculous.

Stupid argumnet. Alcohol is more available...more people take it and so proportionately thre are bound to be more deaths. Perhaps you would be better spent accepting the dangers of cannabis and campaigning against the dangers of alcohol.

No, because all the studies done are based on the % of deaths out of users.

Tobacco and Alcohol have a higher percentage of deaths amongst their users than Cannabis or Ecstacy. Ecstacy is actually the least harmful drug of all, based on number of deaths per 1,000 users.

Nobody has died as a direct result of Ecstacy, only not knowing how to take it. Leah Betts 10 years or so back was publisised heavliy as a death due to Ecstacy, but in reality she dies from Water poisoning after her parents paniced and started forcing water down her throat.

i agree that heavy use of cannabis can trigger mental health problems. we are at this very moment trying to get help for my nephew who has been a heavy user since his early teens. He has suffered extreme paranoia and psychosis and was recently sectioned and then released with hardly any treatment. we, his family have pleaded with doctors and psychiatrists to listen to us but we don't have a voice as my nephew is 30 years old. Cannabis has definately played a huge part where his mental state is concerned but we just can't get any help for him. I wonder how many families are in the same position?

By your own words-
'heavy user'= alcoholic= problem.
Social user= social drinker= no problem.
Spot the important difference?

Condolences to the family, suicide is very hard to deal with for those left behind.

To the rest of you, all you are managing to do by debating the Ganga issue on this site, is Giving the Argus more reason to sensationalise stories like this. They are a profit making organisation and can raise their rates to advertisers because of the ammount of people using this site.

Agree to disagree guys. Then leave it at that, unless you all like chasing your tails that is!

Not wanting to sound callous or uncaring but this guy would have topped himself regardless, to blame it on pot is ridiculous, in fact, that probably helped keep him sane...maybe he ran out of weed and coudnt score again.
Nothing worse than having money and no weed...very frustrating.

reason wrote:
By your own words- 'heavy user'= alcoholic= problem. Social user= social drinker= no problem. Spot the important difference?

yes i can 'spot the difference' but my nephew didn't start off as a 'heavy user' he dabbled like almost everyone else on the planet. i'm not suggesting that everyone who uses cannabis will have mental health issues i'm justing stating that he does. And that's why i wrote 'can' trigger

Fire Fighter wrote:
Not wanting to sound callous or uncaring but this guy would have topped himself regardless, to blame it on pot is ridiculous, in fact, that probably helped keep him sane...maybe he ran out of weed and coudnt score again. Nothing worse than having money and no weed...very frustrating.

It's disgusting how you phrased your comment. Your comment has belittled what happened to Dan. Imagine this happening to your family and having to read such an offensive remark. 'this guy would have topped himself regardless'... if you don't want to sound callous or uncaring then why would you write such a thing? Have some respect.

RUTH LUMLEY, PLEASE TRY TO FIND ANOTHER LINE OF WORK. LAZY ILL INFORMED UNCONCIOUS JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST.

larry wrote:
RUTH LUMLEY, PLEASE TRY TO FIND ANOTHER LINE OF WORK. LAZY ILL INFORMED UNCONCIOUS JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST.

Word.
Since which century are people with mental health problems referred to as being' on the edge of madness'!?
This is why you'll always be a local newspaper journalist. = Idiot.

All I have to say is have some respect for Daniel's family and friends - the story and comments are disrespectful and painful to a grieving family.

Daniel was a great guy. His death isn't supposed to be a soap box for your pro/anti cannabis agendas. It's not just disrespectful, it's callous and ignorant. If you have never lost anyone from your own family then you will just have to trust this isn't appropriate. Please think of his family.


To Daniel:

We had our disagreements, mostly over money but we had a lot of good times too and you will be missed. I was greatly saddened to find out you were gone.

You gave me a lot to think about. Your desire to improve humanity and visions for a better tomorrow haunt me. I may not have agreed with your spirituality but I do miss your spirit.

I'm sorry I could not ease your burden. I hope you now have the peace you did not find in life. If only everyone cared as you did the world would be a better place. You will not be forgotten.

Good bye, my friend.

This post is only here as the request for people to stop commenting has been buried in amongst the drug comments and people won't read it if they jump right to the end to have their say:

Daniel's family do not support the article and do not want this to become a place to argue about cannabis. EVERYONE should now STOP POSTING. There other other places to talk about this, show you have some respect. Allow his family to grieve in peace.

Please READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH.

T.Ruth wrote:
Genesis 1:29-30 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground?everything that has the breath of life in it?I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God gave us a choice other than alcohol, but the law taketh away. Cannabis helps people like me.

You are an imposter T.Ruth, I am the genuine T.Ruth, so please stop stealing my identity.

It is a total waste of time and effort debating whether or not cannabis causes mental illness with anyone who uses drugs, because, one has only to read the pathetic ramblings of the pro-cannabis lobby on this thread to realise that they are all suffering from mental illness of one form or the other and, lack the power of logic when it comes to reality, especially their reality.
But hope is on the horizon, because I understand that the Labour party now says enough is enough and, drug addicts will lose their rights to benefit if they fail to attend drug treatment clinics, this is very good news indeed, but even better is the fact that drug users are going to be targeted by the police just as much as the dealers are targeted, because it is now believed that demand is as much of cause of the drug problem as the supply of drugs is, I say Amen to that.

Unfortunately, there is no arguing with someone like T.Ruth. For whatever personal reasons (maybe over-use themselves?), they have closed their minds to any rational debate.
He/she is just sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "I'll thcweam and thcweam until I'm thick".
It isn't worth the effort trying to reason with this person.

Mental helath conditions are caused by other people. Cannabis may make the user more susceptible and suggestible, but it is not the cause. Alcohol has the same suggestible effect.

Brian wrote:
Unfortunately, there is no arguing with someone like T.Ruth. For whatever personal reasons (maybe over-use themselves?), they have closed their minds to any rational debate. He/she is just sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting \"I\'ll thcweam and thcweam until I\'m thick\". It isn\'t worth the effort trying to reason with this person.

Personal reasons, yes I have personal reasons, to begin with, three members of my family have died, directly because of cannabis and, my entire family had to suffer their slow but serious mental health deterioration prior to their deaths, secondly, I will do everything in my power to warn the up and coming generations about the undeniable dangers that cannabis inflicts upon ALL users of the drug and, that persistent, beyond help users all have one thing in common which is self denial and, the ability to deceive to achieve their drugs supply and, their determination to tempt the innocent and naive into their murky twig light world.

Jimi wrote:
\\\"May Daniel Rosen RIP. To blame cannabis for sending someone mad is absolute rubbish.\\\" Are you the type of person Winston, who starts a sentence with \\\'with respect\\\' before launching into abusing someone? I suspect so. You are also oh so typical of all of the pro cannnabis lobby who trawl local and national news websites spouting your propaganda with \\\'scientific\\\' evidence based on your own experiences. No doubt (like John above) you will next start comparing the figures to alcohol which we all accept is also a nasty drug. The link between cannabis and mental health issues is plainly there as the families of those who have suffered and the sufferers themselves can and will tell you. I am in that number too and whilst the drug did not necessarily directly cause my illness, it certainly triggered the start of the episodes and I have met many friends who are the same. Sympathise with this poor family by all means but please people, stop using each story as a platform to start spouting your pro cannabis agenda. If you want to do it, fine. We don\\\'t all need to be told its a good thing though, beacuse its not.

i have smoked for 35 years were is may mentel ill its not pot does not cause this you have it or you dont maybe you or borned with it ever think of that

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