Peer wins a new ally in his war on skunk: Theresa May
WHEN aristocratic writer Nicholas Monson’s 21year- old son Rupert Green killed himself earlier this year after becoming addicted to skunk cannabis, he vowed that he would not let the youngster’s death be in vain.
The hereditary peer began a crusade to have the highly potent skunk reclassified as a class A drug and, I can reveal, he has now won a very important ally.
Theresa May has written to Lord Monson expressing her deepest sympathy over Rupert’s death and apparently suggesting there could be a change in the law.
‘I am greatly encouraged by the Prime Minister’s extremely fulsome letter,’ he tells me.
‘In it, she talks about the misuse of drugs and refers specifically to skunk, which, I think, is a first in an official letter of this kind.
‘ She shares my concerns. I’m scenting a wind of change in official thinking. Previously, the drug has always just been bracketed under the term “cannabis”. Skunk is up to 12 times stronger and should be treated differently.’
Tragically, Monson also lost his elder son, Alexander, in 2012. He died in police custody in Kenya at the age of 28, after being arrested on suspicion of smoking cannabis. Monson has spent the five years since trying to prove that his son was battered to death by a police officer, while the Kenyan authorities have repeatedly blamed Alexander’s death on a drug overdose.
‘The letter was a real surprise, because I did not know Theresa May and had never spoken to her. She wrote to me out of the blue to express her sympathy over Rupert and Alexander’s deaths. I was very touched.’
Rupert, a biology student at Essex University who used the surname of his mother Karen Green, had suffered from psychosis after becoming addicted to skunk. He had previously been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Monson adds: ‘Theresa May has said she will follow my correspondence with the Home Office on this subject with interest.’