After watching Should I Smoke Dope? (BBC Three, Wednesday, 26 March, 10pm) last night, I knew a cult programme had been born. Yep. Nothing gets people nudging each other and passing ’round copies of a programme like a documentary on people getting wasted on [insert drug of choice here]. Putting herself through the paces with her now trademark middle class naivety was Nicky Taylor, who we’ve seen going under the knife, binge drinking and now we get to see her toasting her brain in the name of journalism.

There are many out there who believe cannabis should be legalized. The reasons for this usually fall into one of two categories. The first being ‘it’s natural’ and the second revolving around ‘it’s not as bad as booze is it’. Fair enough, you never see a room full of stoners knocking ten bells out of each other… but then again, I’ve yet to see a drinker paranoid and schizo after a couple of pints a night.

Of course, this was the underlying message of the show. Is weed that bad? Naturally, Taylor traveled to Amsterdam to investigate the growing debate about the legal classification of cannabis. And she got really stoned while she was at it. The programme started off with clips of counter culture fave, Reefer Madness, an old shock-vid from the black and white years which shows weed smokers going murderously mental after gettin’ hooked on Satan’s weed. Nicky, then tried her first journalistic joint and, like most people who don’t know what they’re doing, she absolutely battered her brain by doing too much too soon (cue a huge whitey and a panic attack).

When this schoolboy error was out of the way, we saw Taylor taking it a little easier, and of course, this meant a series of clips of Nicky wetting herself with laughter at almost everything. Puerile it may be, but it provided some hilarious TV that you couldn’t help but titter along with. Of course, this wasn’t the point of the show. The real deal was to seek out the truth behind weed. Is it stronger than it used to be? Can it make you go mental?

Basically, the answer to both of those questions is yes. Weed is now genetically modified so it contains more THC (the bit of skunk that gets you battered) and as a result, too much use can make you go crazy. Not Reefer Madness crazy, but super paranoid and jumpy. However, like all things, it’s not that simple. Some people use it for years and years on a regular basis and guess what? No long-term mental issues. Like booze, some people react well to it… others don’t.

The doc’ was filled with testimonials of users, both recreational and medicinal, and to be honest, it taught you absolutely nothing (providing you’re a person who has lived a life with minimal experiences). What was the most telling section was a scientific experiment which involved Taylor getting injections of certain ingredients from the green. One injection was pure THC while another was THC mixed with Cannabinoids. Now, with most strong skunk priding itself on THC content, it seems that this shouldn’t be the case. Nicky’s experience with pure THC saw her jaundiced and repeating the word “morbid” over and over. The Cannabinoids mix saw her laughing uncontrollably and tittering “this is great!”

So what did we learn? Well, absolutely nothing. Weed, hash, blow, whatever you wanna call it, is both good and bad like all drugs. Y’know… booze is bad. Coffee is bad. Blah blah blah. People who use them in moderation seem to come out of it okay. People who overdo it turn into gibbering wrecks. We knew that. Thankfully though, this documentary wasn’t a scaremongerer. It basically got really stoned for a week and, hell, let’s just see what happens. What happened was the viewer got to watch someone laughing their head off for ages and it was really quite funny. Next, a documentary on LSD please.