Black/Reynolds - an interview with the leader of CLEAR

• • First of all could I find out a few questions about yourself and how you became involved in the campaign of CLEAR?
    
    
    Absolutely, I became the elected leader of the party in February. Called at the time The Legalise Cannabis Alliance' having been involved in this campaign for over 20 years. I have seen my role to make the campaign more professional and electable. Remodelling the media presence and improving our message delivery. I consider I have had much influence in the formation of new look of the group, its direction and in change of name to CLEAR. Having now around 5000 paid members to the party. Previously I worked as Advertising and Media Executives in major brands.
    
    
    1) What are the aims of Clear and what role will you play in completing these aims?
    Well the main aims of clear are 5 fold. The first 3 are the most important:
    • End prohibition! Simple
    • Commit immediately to the prescription of cannabis for medical use by doctors (even if Prohibition cannot end). It has unquestionable benefits for a large number of medical illnesses such as MS and Crones. So much inertia exists in the political discussion of this subject
    • IMPORTANT: There should be a regulated system of production and supply of cannabis. I STRESS not just legalisation, but with the allowed use of cannabis should be control. There is over £6 billion a year in the cannabis market and it is all black market. This needs to be brought back into the economy.
    • Hemp Growth - Hemp is a specific form of cannabis. It grows fast and has a huge variety of commercial uses. It is massively rich in Omega 6 food oils and hemp production can grow 4x more paper making material than standard paper sources. Also that paper is not naturally yellow so requires less bleaching. For just a couple of the commercial examples
    • Education and Inform. People need to know what they are taking and what their friends and family may be taking. They need to know the effects and benefits. I also stress it is not a product for children hence as it effects the young developing brain hence the need to regulate (in similar way to alcohol)
    
    2) Can you explain the benefit of medicinal cannabis?
    It is only just starting to come to light the real benefits of cannabis hence the sudden resurgence of groups such as my own. Endocannabinoid system was discovered around 1988 by an Israeli scientist who discovered we have a group of neuromodulatory lipids and their receptors that are involved in a variety of physiological processes. They are linked to a number of key functions of the body including cardio vascular and Immune system processes. They regulate the system processes and the only external source which has a property that can regulate these processes (known) is by Cannabis Panacea .
    If you go back 100 years over 50% of medicines in the west produced and distributed by pharmacies contained cannabis, but with the regulation and then prohibition of cannabis in following years these medicinal benefits were lost until recently where a few drugs have been developed once again that contain these benefits.
    Dramatic benefits are found in it for MS and within weeks a suffer of Crones will experience very good effects. It also has been used a lot in the cure of illnesses of Psychosis such anti-psychotic drug treatment and post traumatic stress treatment.
    REMEMBER: Because it is a psychoactive substance and has these effects above it is likely to also have other negative effects and very harmful effects if used incorrectly or poorly. It is also likely to have harmful effects on young undeveloped brains such as teenagers and younger. This is why there needs to be controls in place.
    
    
    3) How do you deal with the scientific evidence that says long term use of cannabis can increased risk of developing a psychotic illness? (Source:http://www.talktofrank.com/)
    
    Yes it does. This cannot be avoided. There is not proof it has an effect yet, but there is studies which suggest it does. . . so in simple terms it does increase your risk. However when compared to the risks of many allowed substances it is relatively mild. There are plenty of example on our website.
    
    
• • 4) Once again from http://www.talktofrank.com/ The has been reports of frequent use of cannabis may affect the fertility of men and women. How do you answer that?
    
    
    It does have an effect on fertility. It appears to have an effect on the egg and how it attaches to the uterus. No- one really understands the true nature of these effects at this time and more research should and is being done. I stress to add this is easily the single most tested and researched medical product in the world already. Would other medicines stand up to the same scrutiny so effectively?
    
    5) Once again from http://www.talktofrank.com/ “ I started enjoying to drink but it made me act in ways that I usually would not. But the humour of this wore off quickly and I needed a new fix. This lead me into taking cannabis”
    Is Cannabis a gateway drug to harder drugs?
    
    
    There is little evidence of this however it may be a gateway drug currently in some ways being illegal. Simply because it can only be bought illegally and the person you buy it off is probably selling other illegal items and will want you to test them.
    It is true that most people who take more hardcore drugs have also taken cannabis however there is no proof they would not of taken the harder drugs if cannabis was not available.
    Currently there are no checks or regulations to who can buy drugs, the quality of the drugs, why they are taking them, how much they are taking. All you need is £20 and a dealer at this moment in time and there are currently 2.7 million regular users of cannabis in Britain. This shows it is not that hard to get hold of it and most people are not taking the harder drugs,
    
    
    6) What restrictions would you advice if cannabis was legalised. Would it only be licence premises etc
    
    Please if you have time click on 'A clear plan for a regulated system' on our website as it is a very short message and spells out specifically what we would do. http://clear-uk.org/tax-regulate/
    Essentially it would be a similar model to alcohol control. Only for adult use. We would also introduce a new department of government and a Cannabis Expectorate to control the entry of the drug into the UK, quality of the product the places that can administer the drug to the public and record the effects.
    Also importantly it would be responsible for the control of the Cannabis Tax. Effectively we have a calculation that the Net benefit to the UK economy estimated at £6.7 billion pa from a legalised cannabis trade. Socially the benefits would be huge as we would have cannabis which is currently black market out in the open and controlled. If there are people using the drug unhealthily currently we would not necessarily know however when it is legalised we will know where it is used, how and it people do find they develop problems we can deal with it quicker. If people find they are addicted to it we can manage it better in the same way we do with alcohol or cigarette addiction.
    
    7) If cannabis is legalised, what is your opinion on other recreational drugs being legalised.
    We are not asking for cannabis to be legalised exactly, but remove the prohibition and regulate the use of it.
    Legalised suggests a free for all situation.
    There is currently absolutely no control of the use of cannabis we propose regulated use. The party has no opinion on other drugs. Maybe we should at some point however we would need to understand the drugs individually to draw an opinion. CLEAR is a single issue party, this strategy is working with 5000+ paid members currently so we do not plan to change this at this time as people are hearing our message.
    PERSONALLY however and I stress this is my opinion not the party's: I would be for regulation of all other recreational drugs. The more addictive the greater the regulation. Class A drugs should not be easy to get and so obviously not over shop counters. However if you have a medical problem and addictive us of a drug it is better to be able to get it from a legitimate source that can help you and supply the right and CLEAN doses and get you into a constructive program if necessary that leave you to the dangers of an illegal black market and dangerous mixes.
    
    8) Approximately 15 million people have tried cannabis, with 2-4 million being regular users, why isn't there mainstream support for cannabis to be legalised?
    Source:http://www.idmu.co.uk/cannabis-use-in-britain.htm 
    
    We encourage you to read our site as we answer this in detail from a number of different perspectives and sources. 30% of all adults have used cannabis.
    Prohibition is a difficult thing to break as the product has been criminalised and the reputation. It was named popularly in America Marijuana which gives it a Mexican prejudice as tensions in America during the formation of the prohibition of the substance were huge between USA and the Latin neighbours. This still remains. So simply by nickname Cannabis carries a lot of negative weight.
    It is difficult for a mainstream party to stand in favour of it as their careers are on the line if they speak out and they will not until popular public opinion removes the veil of fear from the product and realises the vast financial, health and social wealth this product can bring our society.
    
    
    9) Finally, if you were a parent, what advice would you give them regarding cannabis use and teenagers?
    
    The substances in cannabis have very harmful effects on developing brains as the teenage brain is very susceptible to chemicals at this stage. If any substances are applied to teenage brains during development they are likely to have negative effects.
    Alcohol, drugs and even energy drinks are known to have harmful effects.
    Children and teenagers would still be prohibited and the drug would only be available to adults in a safe environment. Illegal dealers would be largely removed from society through regulated use and an organised cannabis expectorate , so it would be much harder for teenagers to get hold of than it is now.
    Just as a note to this the toxicity (Therapeutic drug levels) of alcohol is 1 to 20 (you need 20 doses to poison yourself) , aspirin is 1 to 35, cannabis is 1 to 20,000 or even possible 40,000. It is incredibly non reactive in ways other legal drugs are. It is a drug which has health benefits, production benefits, ecology and benefits, building material benefits. The drug is already here on mass. We simply are pretending it is not and losing the financial benefit and control of it in the process.
    
    Thanks for doing the Interveiw, now to PUK for a interactive Q&A!..
    
    
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    HERE IS BAZ' THOUGHT ON THE ISSUE: Pass the drug laws to the left hand side!