Former BBC royal correspondent inhaled cannabis for TV documentary

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond inhaled cannabis for a documentary – and claimed she didn't mind because it reminded her of her time as a student.

The 64-year-old joined broadcaster Jon Snow and former MP Matthew Parris in taking the Class B drug for a new Channel 4 programme called Drugs Live: Cannabis on Trial.

Ms Bond, a mother of one who worked as a royal correspondent for 14 years, told the camera that while she didn't like the experience of taking cannabis, she 'certainly didn't hate it'.

Preview footage of the experiment, which is to be broadcast tomorrow evening, shows Ms Bond inhaling the drug before giggling and discussing her love of red grapes. 

The former royal reporter likened the experience with cannabis to her time as a university student and said: 'I smoked a bit of cannabis as a student at university.

'I enjoyed the mellowing effect, the relaxation and sometimes the uncontrollable giggling.

'So the idea of taking skunk didn't frighten me and I was intrigued to see how it differed from the weaker cannabis I used to smoke.' 

The scientific experiment, which has been approved by the Home Office, is being documented to try and demonstrate the effects potent 'skunk' cannabis has on the brain.

In the preview video clip, Ms Bond can be seen inhaling cannabis in a laboratory.

After inhaling the drug, she is asked to fill out a questionnaire – but appears more excited about eating a bunch of red grapes.

She says: 'Do I want food? Not particularly unless its grapes.

'I'm adoring these grapes but I think that's mostly because I just adore grapes and kind of live on them but they are tasting especially good.

'I can be really boring about grapes because I just believe in them.'

Afterwards, Ms Bond said she would be intrigued to see the results of the six-month experiment.

'The first thing to say is that it wasn't in the least like the old days... lying back on velvet cushions in a darkened room, smoking weed and listening to Jimi Hendrix.

'The laboratory conditions, the camera in your face and the prospect of inhaling what seemed like gallons of the stuff through a vaporiser and a huge plastic bag was far from relaxing.

'It felt harsh in my throat and I had to inhale two whole bags of it. It smelled like cannabis and I felt a little dizzy.  

'Nothing made me feel uncomfortable. The fact that I was perhaps hallucinating slightly was quite nice really, it was very floaty feeling.

'I didn't like the experience much but certainly didn't hate it.' 

As well as Ms Bond, Mr Snow and Mr Parris also joined in with the experiment and smoked cannabis for the trial.

Writing on his Channel 4 blog, Mr Snow - who admitted to having had the 'odd spliff of cannabis' in the past - said that smoking the more potent cannabis 'outstripped anything' he had previously experienced.

He said: 'By the time I was completely stoned I felt utterly bereft. I felt as if my soul had been wrenched from my body. There was no one in my world.

'I was frightened, paranoid, and felt physically and mentally wrapped in a dense blanket of fog.

'I've worked in war zones, but I've never been as overwhelmingly frightened as I was when I was in the MRI scanner after taking skunk. I would never do it again.'

His comments came after a study published by the Lancet medical journal found that the risk of psychosis is three times higher for users of skunk cannabis than for non-users.

The drug has also been linked to paranoid episodes, memory loss and lack of educational attainment.