"Its not rocket science" he says. A drinker receives a 'buzz' when he or she consumes alcohol. This is all part of the reward chain. The trick is, how to emulate this sensation without consuming the alcohol, which in itself is a hugely dangerous recreational drug, responsible for around 170,000 deaths every year in the UK alone".

In a controversial move he decided, after reading of a similar success story from the United States , to try cannabis instead.

"Becoming a non-drinker after decades of abusing alcohol is a tough move to make", he continued.

"The very fact that I was the worst possible type of drunk; one who was always ready and willing to fight when under the influence helped make my decision for me".

"I have two ex-wives, two children, two sisters and a mother, as well as a bunch of my friends who will pay witness to the fact".

In an unprecedented move he decided to quit his job, leaving all of his personal relationships with family and friends behind him, and taking with him only a tent and some camping equipment he moved from his home in South Wales and set up camp in a field in Pembrokeshire, where he stayed for 7 months, spending his time cycling along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, stopping to do some fishing whenever the urge came upon him.

"It was quite literally a breath of fresh air" he commented.

"Within a couple of months I realised I was losing a lot of weight and I felt fitter than I had at anytime in my life previously".

"I only left Pembrokeshire when the Atlantic gales came at the end of November and literally blew me off the camp site, and in a scenario myself and my long suffering mother have acted out many times in the past, I ended up on her doorstep in Cardiff at 11pm one dark, wet November night, looking for a sofa to sleep on".

By this stage Mr Malley had not had a drink since he had left around 7 months previously, but perhaps more importantly he was not, at the time, using cannabis either.

"My mother is a career NHS state enrolled nurse (retired) and having been brought up through the "Just Say No" era of the 1980's, my mother would not have entertained 'drugs' in her house".

"I could never have foreseen a time when a day would go by without my drinking at least a dozen cans of strong cider" he continued, "but having spent time using cannabis, which is a recreational drug with a far less dangerous side-effect profile than alcohol, I was able to control my levels of intoxication far easier than if I had been drinking, until eventually I was able to make the decision whether or not I would smoke a joint, or not to smoke one at all if I had things which needed my attention".

"This decision making process was a luxury I never had as a drinker. There was never a question of whether or not I would drink. The only question was, at what time would I start"?

After spending the next couple of years reading up on how cannabis came to be an illegal substance, Mr Malley says for the first time in his life he had found a subject which had moved him to such a degree, he felt motivated enough to wish to start looking into the British standpoint on cannabis.

In 2004, when Tony Blair's Home Secretary at the time David Blunkett declassified cannabis to a class C substance, he did so in order to allow Police to redeploy their already stretched-to-breaking-point thin blue line, allowing them to tackle the growing problem of class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

"Drugs that can and will kill at the first time of experimentation" continued Ian Malley.

"But as history will witness the opposite has happened, and class A drugs are now more prevalent on our streets than ever before, proving once and for all the war on drugs is little more than a public relations excercise designed to keep the public quiet, and one thats simply not working.

"For the first time in my life I felt motivated enough to wish to do something about it".

"So I wrote to Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, making an introduction as to who I was and why I was writing to him. I explained to Mr Clegg I was a recovering alcoholic who used cannabis to kick the bottle, and I was interested in becoming involved in Welsh politics as I could see the damage class A drugs were causing in our communities down at street level".

"I received a reply from Nick Cleggs office in which it was pointed out in no uncertain terms that if the Liberal Democrats were voted into power they would turn the Misuse of Drugs act on its head by;

*Re-classifying cannabis BACK to a Class C drug.

*Adopting a policy of not prosecuting possession for own use, social supply to adults or cultivation of cannabis plants for own use.

*Repealing Sections 8 (c) and (d) of the Misuse of Drugs Act so that it is no longer a crime for the occupier or manager of premises to permit someone to use cannabis on those premises.

*Permitting medical use of cannabis derivatives, subject to appropriate pharmaceutical controls and the successful conclusion of current clinical trials.

In the longer term, the Liberal Democrats would also seek to put the supply of cannabis on a legal, but firmly regulated, basis, subject to securing necessary renegotiation of the UN Conventions.

"It was a great starting point for me" Ian Malley concluded.

"Once upon a time, any sort of United Nations renegotiations would have been long and protracted, meaning even though a decision had been made in the British Parliament, the amounts of red tape and beaurocracy politicians would have to cut through meant any law change could take another decade to come to fruition".

"But with Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland implementing medical cannabis programs in Europe, and Spain and Portugal going one step further and decriminalising the personal possession and consumption of cannabis all of the precedents are already in place".

"Now we just need a politician or two with the conviction and belief to stand up to the storm of vitriol which will no doubt befall anyone wishing to decriminalise cannabis, but unfortunately, politicians, even those who admit they used cannabis previously, lack the courage to ask the questions 7 million regular cannabis using voters would like to hear asked".

"So if those politicians don't exist, isn't it then time we created a new breed of politician? People from the council estates, who have lived day to day with the problems caused by recreational drug abuse"?

"The expenses scandals of the past 6 months have brought home how corrupt and 'broken' the British parliamentary system is so it comes as no surprise the British public are lied to daily, by members of parliament who are quite clearly working to their own agendas".

As a result Ian Malley is seeking sponsorship as a prospective parliamentary candidate and as the Lib-Dems are the party most closely aligned with his own beliefs, the lifelong Labour voter saw the Lib-Dems as the perfect vehicle on which to mount a campaign seeking science based drugs policy for the UK, as opposed to the sensationalised 'rubbish' we currently have in place".

"The fact is" he concluded, all I'm seeking is to allow some common sense into the British drugs debate. If British drugs policies were based on science and fact, cannabis would be decriminalised in under 12 months".

When asked if a refusal from the Liberal Democrats would put him off, he answered "Not a chance"!

"Great Britain has a proud tradition of producing independent members of Parliament who are not bound to toe'ing any particular party line, and if thats the direction I need to take to bring some sense to how we police the drug issue in South Wales and beyond, then so be it".

CannaZine Cannabis News
http://cannazine.co.uk