Current Hot Press cover star Niall Breslin has responded to the story about him in today’s Irish Daily Mirror.

Headlined Voice Star’s Cannabis Row – Bressie: Make Drugs Legal, it stems from comments Bressie made in our interview about cannabis.

Asked whether he had any thoughts on the private members’ bill to legalise cannabis that Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan will be presenting to the Dáil before the summer recess, Niall said: “I’m absolutely pro-legalisation. I’ve never been uncomfortable in the company of somebody who’s high on marijuana. Stress will kill you, cannabis won’t. Saying it can lead to other drugs is the weakest, most pathetic argument. The ‘gateway’ thing has been totally disproved. It makes so much sense to tax and regulate it.”

He admitted smoking cannabis once during his time with The Blizzards, but stressed that he no longer indulges.

His comments were slammed in the Mirror by Europe Against Drugs’ Grainne Kenny who says, “It’s very misguided of Bressie and it’s highly irresponsible. I would have huge respect for him as a musician, but people like that really want to keep their breaths to cool their porridge.”

The Hot Press journalist who conducted the interview with Bressie, Stuart Clark, observes: “It’s the typical bury your head in the sand rhetoric I expect from Ms. Kenny who is anti-harm reduction to the point of being against needle exchanges. Former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, seven current Latin American heads of state and people like Richard Branson and Ronan Keating lent their support before Christmas to Break The Taboo, a documentary film that brands the War on Drugs ‘the biggest failure of global policy in the last 40 years.’ I think what they have to say is far more pertinent than Ms. Kenny and her redundant thinking.”
Bressie has given his own response to the Irish Daily Mirror furor in a blog posting that reads: “I am sincerely touched and humbled by your supportive response to my recent blog and interviews on anxiety, which was a topic that I was very nervous about coming forward to discuss.

“Unfortunately, there are times where my frankness and openness in interviews can be taken by certain people in the media and twisted and turned into a negative story in order to create a controversial headline to grab people’s attention and sell newspapers.

“A case in point is a front-page story in a tabloid newspaper today, where a journalist that I usually do not give interviews to, has taken excerpts from my interview with Hot Press magazine to promote my new album out of context. The original interview was with the highly-regarded journalist Stuart Clark, a man who I trust implicitly and know respects my honesty in interviews.

“I try to give honest and at times revealing interviews as I believe that too many people in the spotlight hold back from giving their true opinions for fear of having their thoughts manipulated or taken out of context.

Unfortunately in this circumstance this is exactly what has happened to my Hot Press interview. In order to set the record straight and to reassurance any fans who may have questions about my opinions on cannabis and the legalization of drugs, I would like to use my blog as an outlet to clarify the situation. Firstly, I would never advocate the legalization of Class A drugs such as Cocaine, meth etc, Stuart and I were discussing the use or cannabis and I said to him that I advocate the legalization of it for the following reasons: In my opinion Ireland has a head in the sand approach to the commonplace use of the serious ‘legal’ drugs alcohol and nicotine and I have read many articles which claim that we have an even bigger addiction problem in this country to prescription drugs; yet in general these issues are largely ignored by the government as the tax that they yield from people’s purchase of these legal drugs highly contributes much required income into the Irish tax system to aid and run the nation.

“Our current government, under serious fiscal financial restrictions, decided to introduce a property tax on people’s homes as an income stream to help pay off our sovereign debt. This was a highly controversial decision, as they are taxing people who have already paid stamp duty on their homes and more often than not are in negative equity. I believe that a potential alternative consideration would be the taxation of cannabis. By decriminalizing this drug, we could take the money out of the hands of the criminal gangs who sell it and control its use like the governments of Holland and certain states in America have done successfully.
“To clarify my point on our addiction to legal drugs, it is well known that if you binge drink alcohol you run the risk of liver failure, alcoholism is rife in this country, a problem that needs to be addressed and dealt with more openly. If you abuse food, you may become obese, run the risk of heart disease and different forms of diabetes . If you smoke 40 fags a day, you run the risk of lung cancer and if you decide to smoke copious amounts of cannabis, you run the risk of potential mental health problems and lung cancer.

“It’s my opinion that cannabis is no more harmful than alcohol when taken in absolute moderation and there are many studies taken from around the world which prove the same. In fact I believe alcohol has a far more destructive ability than cannabis ever has, especially in this country.

“The question is often asked as to whether cannabis is a gateway drug? I believe that it depends on the user. If you have a pint of beer, does this mean that one-day you will become an alcoholic? Not necessarily so. I do not smoke cannabis or take any form of drugs. In fact I detest the use of cocaine and other class A drugs. However, I have smoked cannabis in the past and it was not a substance that agreed with me. I did not enjoy it and have never consumed it since. I discussed the negative effect it had on me in the Hot Press interview; I think anyone who reads the interview will plainly see that it is a substance that did not have a positive effect on me. However, I have some close and very successful friends who have taken this drug in complete moderation for years without any obvious side effects and they live full and well-rounded lives.

“Don’t get me wrong, I value statistics on offer regarding drug use, they can be very helpful in terms of answering certain questions, but from my own personal experiences (after all, this is all that one can speak from with absolute certainty) cannabis has never proven to be a substance that I have encountered to cause massive issues when taken in moderation. In fact, there are many people suffering from illnesses and diseases who credit cannabis as alleviating their pain and helping them live a better life.

“To summarize, I would love to recommend that we all exercise strong will power and avoid all drugs such as alcohol, cigarettes or cannabis, but this for many including myself is an unrealistic and perhaps a slightly romantic request in today’s modern world.

“Instead a more realistic approach that I would like to endorse is to be responsible when making decisions about what you put in your body, be it food, alcohol or drugs and do it with care and full education on what it does to your body and mind.

“I believe that living a healthy and balanced life leads to a positive mental attitude, this was the point that I made strongly in the Hot Press interview. I have started training for triathlons, eating healthily and only drinking occasionally, the effects that this has had on helping me overcome my anxieties has been remarkable, I only wish that the journalist who wrote this feature in today’s paper could have focused on this rather than twisting my original interview in order to create a unnecessary shit storm, but if he feels that this is his responsibility as a tabloid journalist then who am I to question him?”