No regrets as ex-drugs smuggler Howard Marks lives with cancer

[wurlie]

At one time he was one of the world's most wanted men. Howard Marks spent years in a tough American prison, but these days a one-bedroom flat in Leeds houses the drug-smuggling author and campaigner.

 

When I visited him the heat was stifling.

Marks explained that the thermostat was set high to take away the chill that he feels as a side-effect of his treatment for cancer.

"It's a terminal disease. Obviously a medical miracle can happen at any time, so fingers crossed for one of those," he said.

"I do tolerate chemotherapeutic drugs very well, the tumours are decreasing. But there's no chance of them going away."

With a characteristic grin and with his deep Welsh drawl, Marks, 70, tells me the doctors have allowed him to carry on smoking. But it seems he's finally given up on cannabis.

"I took about eight weeks' supply of cannabis oil, the strongest possible, in one hit. Along with everything from apricot seeds to moths, all the crazy crackpot anti-cancer things you can take. People start peppering you with what works, and what doesn't.

"I just took the lot and got sectioned, and put in the nut-house for two weeks."

 

"Pretty much every drug would be safer to society if legalised and controlled, rather than left up to the criminal fraternity, which seems to be the choice of government - it's only like this because they want it like this.

"Of course one has to have the caveat that if a drug is discovered or synthesised that makes you want to kill people and rape people, then make it illegal, obviously.

"I haven't taken every drug in the world, but I've taken a lot, and I haven't come across one that makes you like that. Except possibly alcohol, which is the only one that's legal. So none of it makes sense to me."

 

If those who oppose Marks' outspoken stance on drugs were hoping for a hint of regret, they will be disappointed.

While he admits to having felt occasional regret in the past, he says he is happy with life and he has learned to live with his cancer diagnosis.

Judging by his surroundings in Leeds, the millions he is said to have made in the 1970s and 1980s have gone. Limited funds, and the shortage of time he has left, led to him writing the latest volume of his memoirs.

Not all of the reviews for his book have been positive, but his cheerful attitude allows him to take the feedback on the chin.

 

Written By Huw Thomas BBC Wales arts and media correspondent. 15 October 2015

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-34516293

BBC News Services

Copyright © 2015 BBC