Fifth series, episode 8
All five series are available here on the HebWeb.
In the latest episode, George remembers his youthful attempts at meditation, chooses his cultural and sporting heroes, responds to suggestions from a local road lobby, tells a true tale in verse and asks readers their views on legalising cannabis.
I remember
In the 60s, I read J.D. Salinger, Alan Watts and Rollo May on Satori Zen Buddhism and tried meditating in the park. I tried to achieve a new awareness by some concentrated staring at the flowers. I realise now that this was like using paint stripper to uncover the beauty of a painting.
I was reminded of those times recently, when reading about a guy who became a famous guru. He had few possessions but lots of disciples. He finally became so enlightened that a visiting spirit offered him the gift of true wisdom, fame or lots of money. He chose wisdom and his followers all cheered. In a flash his wish was granted. He said, ‘With true wisdom, my friends, I now understand that I should have taken the money.
Somebodies
I woke up one morning wondering which stars in sports and the arts I would like to have been, if I wasn’t me and posted my list on social media:
Rock Star: Ray Davies (soz Paul)
Sport: George Best.
Art: Leonardo
Writer: either Emily, but amongst the boys … Coleridge.
Composer: Debussy.
Readers didn’t rush to state their own choices; perhaps, because I followed my list of stars with a poem by Emily Dickinson which had got me thinking about fame in the first place.
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
I'm Nobody - Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know!
How dreary - to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog!
To tell your name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog
But me no buts
Bradford Council is currently repairing two Victorian culverts under Keighley Road above Oxenhope. I enjoyed reading suggestions for keeping the traffic flowing from a local road lobbying group. Including …
Lay down a metal road: As the military do when in battles or in training. But I wondered what the practicability and expense would be for laying a temporary metal road over sloping hillside of undulating moorland.
The Chinese would have done the job in a weekend: Apparently, this could be achieved by ‘throwing concrete ‘into the culverts. But if culverts are blocked with concrete, where would their underground springs go?
Use a road tunnel: One contributor shared a photo of a tunnel underneath a dual carriageway in the Netherlands that was built in one weekend and wished we could do that over here. But I pointed out that Pennine roads can’t be compared to major highways in low lying Holland. Digging a tunnel underneath boggy moorland (whilst road engineers are overseeing the repair of Victorian culverts) wouldn’t be a good use of money for a seven week hold up, not when other routes are available. Anyway, according to The Halifax Courier, engineers are planning to halve the full road closure time with temporary traffic lights before the school holidays.
The lobbyists take their suggestions very seriously. After my responses, I was told I was being silly. Which I don’t mind being called. If I’m the one being silly.
Cannabis legalisation
I asked online whether cannabis should be legalised in the UK. As it is, many police authorities ignore possession. Sniffing the air on the streets and in the parks, it seems to be ignored by local police unless other crimes have been committed, such as driving whilst under the influence. Here’s what some readers thought:
Val Dutson from South Moor, County Durham, who once worked for the CPS, and Julie Murillo from Ellesmere Port (my old town) are against legalisation.
Pete Nelstrop, now residing near Stroud: The present situation seems to be the worst of two worlds. Cannabis appears to be readily available, enforcement is sporadic and targeted on particular communities but the legal status does give a message that it's harmful. Complicated.
Keiron Higgins in Halifax: 50/50. A few family and friends smoke it (I don't as it doesn't interest me and I don't need to be more 'out there'). But I'm very aware of the effects it's had on [a relation] over the years. I think he's cut back this year' because he seems to be talking more sense. Like drinking it should be in moderation but too many fall into the slippery slope of using it habitually.
Tom Murphy in Flintshire: It has some additional uses already, it seems less harmful than something like alcohol which is obviously legal and available. But yeah, I think if cannabis was legally available that should take out a significant portion of the dodgy drug dealing gang related stuff. Growing and selling a bit of weed is often one of the 1st and easiest ways into the murky world of drug dealing, so if you remove the need for people to do it themselves, by making it commercially available and legal, I think that would be a net good.
Carole Craggs of County Durham: Tell them to come and live in my house when my son's on it. No way.
Jean Banaszak in London: against it George we have enough problems now. I have to shut my windows and can't sit in the garden when next door is puffing away. Is not too bad (now). Last year and for about 8 years before that there were about 10 of them living there and they were all on it even when told about it. It settled down a bit but we're starting all over again.
Linda Hodges, of Hebden: I'm definitely for it. Legalise all drugs. Alcohol has been legalised and it's a huge problem but it has prevented the dealer drug gang crime culture which is rife yet ignored due to worries about repercussions. These gangs torture and murder victims of addiction with impunity. Legalise the lot and put more money into mental health services and more realistic and affective rehabilitation. Ultimately, I don't think anyone really wants to be a full blown drug addict with the impact it has on their lives, but it's the constant terrifying prospect of violence to their loved ones that rips through families the most. And yes I'm talking from experience.
Vic Allen Otley: there are two points here: legalisation and approbation. Making it illegal creates a kind of prohibition problem with all the attendant criminal circumstances. If you made licence production legal you would create a revenue stream, control the product and ease police resources. You would also (like cigarettes) Enable a degree of public education about the problems of cannabis. Sustaining the myth of illegality is simply pretending that the horse is still in the barn when the door is wide open. I loathe the stuff, by the way.
J. Craig Melia Oxenhope: Much the same as the legalisation of alcohol. The damage alcohol causes within society outweighs pretty much all other substances combined legal or not. People are already smoking it but in order to do so they're putting themselves in contact with, by definition, criminal elements. Legalisation, as in Portugal, potentially takes away a decent income from criminal gangs, but as with alcohol there would need to be clear legal deterrents for things like driving whilst under the influence. I'd probably suggest a net benefit might also be that manufacturers may return to resin, rather than the stinky foot cheese bush that be fouls the nostrils for anyone in proximity.
Mike Shillabeer in Upper Calder: I’m not in favour of prohibition. You have no control over this supply including the strength. People already choose to use it and that's whilst it's illegal. Some people will always react badly to any substance. The more open we are the more we can inform, educate and help those who develop problems. I'm more in favour of regulation than prohibition but I totally understand the question.
Hayley Reid of Huddersfield: As it stands, the trade involves modern slavery, genetic development to make the THC compound stronger leading to a more psychoactive product, lots of money being made by criminal gangs and zero regulation, taxation or support.
Legalising would remove the dodgy elements and bring in revenue to provide services to combat the negative impact. I have known people who have smoked the stuff all their lives and to no great detriment, especially when not involved in (using) high strength skunk varieties.
Holland is a great example. They have coffee shops that give all the info about CBD and THC levels, and you hardly ever smell it on the street.
On a basic analysis, it is not causing more problems than alcohol, so if we're criminalising recreational use of intoxicants, (Regarding) its social and medical impact … let's close pubs and off licences, as alcohol use fuels domestic violence (and) a host of medical problems, including cancer foetal alcohol syndrome. I've known more people suffer and die due to booze than hundreds of pot smokers.
Diane Green in Suffolk, reacted to Hayley: I agree with this thorough analysis completely … in the Netherlands their policy regarding cannabis means that people smoking dope on the street are viewed in a similar vein as winos. Which rather diminishes the naughty and bravado aspect, probably making it less attractive to many. Young people growing a couple of plants is legal and people can again choose a low strength. (This) frees up police to address other problems.
Julie Rose Clark, a minister in Hebden Bridge: It’s highly addictive and not good for a person. People lose all motivation to live or do anything very much. Returning the mind to God is the answer. AA know this. Then no substances are needed to get happy. For happy is a divine thing and truth is when you remember your divinity. Wholeness and peace/love: there is no drug that compares to that.
Christina Longden of Kirklees: I've seen a fair few lives absolutely devastated by cannabis addiction, but I've seen far more destroyed from alcoholism, gambling and food addiction. On balance I'm for legalisation, so that attention and resources can be focused elsewhere. One thing we desperately need is to teach children about personalities predisposition to addiction to certain substances true genetic inheritance chemical makeup of the brain and the impact on mental and physical health. When people have more information and understanding of themselves they're less likely to enter a dalliance.
Beth Rolyat, in Telford: I would say legalise it. Weakest strains available and taxed like alcohol. I know a number of people who use it in moderation for pain relief and I have personally used CBD oil to help with PMDD and endometriosis.
Debbie Rolls, a former colleague: Cannabis is here to stay. As with all drugs there are dangers and benefits related to cannabis use at the moment. Due to its illegal status, it is difficult for users to know how safe or strong the product is, difficult for doctors to prescribe to those who would benefit from cannabis based products, especially those with complex epilepsy and MS (sometimes posing families abroad or to the black market), difficult for researchers to get funding to research the effects of cannabis, impossible for community healthcare to manage addiction in the way they would alcohol or smoking, difficult for users to be honest with medical professionals as it would have to involve admitting breaking the law (and difficult for doctors to ask about it for the same reason}. Moreover, cannabis possession has been used as a way to criminalise youth, particularly black youth. Experience in the USA states where it has been decriminalised suggests that there's no escalation in use of other drugs and in a few there has been a reduction in cocaine use cannabis being used is definitely safer.
Abi Lupton-Levy of Hebden Bridge: it's a ridiculous situation. It's a far less harmful substance than alcohol, I'm sure the ban doesn't help the people who do have a problem with it, as it just criminalises them, stop some getting help and doesn't do anything to actually limit their ability to get help.
For every person who has a problem habit, there are probably 10 more using it lightly, like others having the odd drink, who live perfectly happy, creative lives. Well (some are) using it for pain relief, and it is an amazing medicine for many conditions, I know people who use it for epilepsy, arthritis, fibromyalgia. All are criminalised.
Legalisation would take it out of the hands of the criminals and therefore minimise the risk of accidentally consuming adulterated products or horrible abuse in a supply chain. I don't know how anyone can reasonably justify its being illegal to be honest. What good is it doing. Read ex scientific government adviser David Nutt on the subject.
Dave Jackson, Dawley: de-criminalise / legalise … but have controls and nudges, like tobacco and alcohol, re. strength, purity age restrictions, etc., as for other legal drugs.
My response: well that’s a thoughtful and overwhelming response in favour of legalisation. It won’t happen, however, because the Government (the Home Secretary in particular) is aware of the possible backlash from right wing tabloids and the public. Also, where regulation has been tried, the level of crime is only on a par with places where cannabis possession is still illegal. If there was a decisive decline in crime and addiction figures then governments might think again. I notice that amongst those against legalisation are families where loved ones have been affected.
Thinking of which, here’s a true tale …
The Doctor’s Patient
‘Can you suggest therapies, Doctor Smits?
Children’s services offered us choices.
You’ve talked about pills, but his life’s in bits,
Can you give him advice on his voices?’The locum was behind his computer,
But now he swivelled around in his chair.
In films he’d have brought out a shooter,
Instead he shot me a laser beam stare.‘All these people plummet downwards,’ he barked.
And jabbed his finger to mimic their fall.
His Afrikaans was becoming more marked,
He said, ‘That is not the worst thing at all!’The sun was winking through vertical blinds,
As the doctor thundered on with reckless pride,
‘I’ve read the research, of all different kinds:
There’s a great incidence of suicide!’Perhaps he wanted an apology,
And with hindsight, it might have been prudent.
He said, ‘My son studied anthropology.
And my son was a brilliant student.He was just twenty when he took his own life!’
Then the sun, although barred and ancient,
Gilded, like some icon, my wife,
Who squeezed the palm of the doctor’s patient.
And finally …
It’s not every day you get chance to hear an award winning classical pianist playing a few doors away whilst you bask in the garden. This week, it happened to us!
Birds chaunted, trains shunted, unaware neighbours nattered, the sun beat down and Benjamin Frith played on with the French windows open. Thank you to our neighbours, Saba and Peter who made it possible. Here’s Benjamin in his more regular day job.
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