A day centre for the elderly has ditched film star Brian Cox as its patron after he admitted he enjoys cannabis.
Last week the Scottish actor said cannabis is ‘absolutely great’ and the drug makes the turbulent world of politics easier to bear.
Now Joyce McIntosh, chairwoman of the Mid-Lin Daycare Centre, in Dundee , says he will no longer be patron following his pro-drug opinions.
She told the Daily Record: “Dundee is drug-ridden we just can’t support Brian’s views on cannabis.
“We are shocked and disappointed.
“I couldn’t actually believe it when I read the papers – he has a CBE and all these awards and honorary positions and next thing, we’re seeing that he’s telling people to get stoned.”
Cox, a 73-year-old Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner, told the Guardian about his use of cannabis – and how he only started taking it at 50.
Good humour
He said: “I am sorry to hear that Mid-Lin Day Care Centre were shocked and disappointed by my comments regarding marijuana, which were actually made in good humour.
“To clarify, I am a firm believer in the medicinal benefits of marijuana and have partaken in its use in places where it is legal to do so.
“I wish Mid-Lin the best in all their future endeavours.”
Last week the Labour supporter and Scottish independence campaigner told the Guardian: “It’s absolutely great and I recommend it to everyone – get stoned!
“It does make the politics easier to bear. It’s a way of dealing with idiocy.”
Cox added that he was anti-drug as a young man but felt he was missing out later in life.
He said: “I didn’t start until I was 50. I was very against it, actually. You know, I got married at 21 to an upper-middle-class English girl – well, with Scots parentage, but you know English Scots are the most English!
“Then when I was 50, I realised I missed out on what was going on with young people because I was so square, and I was working so hard.
“So I discovered the wonderful world of cannabis.”
