As from tonight – Sunday 1st July – I am pleased to announce a resumption of my role as CLEAR website editor.

I joined the CLEAR team almost a year ago now as website editor, but was forced to step down earlier this year when the much documented problems occurred, which to be frank I wanted no part of. I had been the target of some threats via e-mail and endured some other issues and that sort of thing can be very stressful.

However, this is behind us now, CLEAR has not only survived but has continued to grow and there is a very important job to do.

Throughout all the difficult times of the past few months I have continued to support CLEAR because I believe deeply in the work it is doing. I’m not a cannabis user myself (time was) but I’ve seen the harm prohibition causes very much at first hand. These days I work with young adults and I see the harm caused to people almost on a daily basis by an unregulated out of control illegal industry which reaches into nearly every street of every town in the land. In some parts of the world of course, this sick war on drugs is a very real war, people are dying, communities are being ripped apart, whole governments corrupted.

CLEAR has a lot of work to do, not least to regain some lost ground. We are not in competition with any other campaign and it is my hope that we will all find ways of supporting our diverse efforts in order to further the cause.

It’s nice to be back.

Derek Williams
CLEAR website editor