Cannabis.

[Deleted member 2719]

Never been my thing.

I once worked with a guy who had hit it hard while out in India, he was the biggest arse i have ever met and needed a good slap and i came close to it lots of times.

IMO it is bad shit......as they say.

 

[dingodan]

I'm sorry but the government have no intention of providing fact based information to the general public on this subject.

Remember that 5 government advisers quit because they felt that the government was just ignoring their advice?

Three more drug advisers quit over sacking of Professor David Nutt - Telegraph

All I cant suggest to people is get properly informed and take government/bbc messages with a pinch of the salt.

Quite afew studies have shown that no link between smoking cannabis and lung cancer can be found. I believe that some studies have even suggested that people who smoke cannabis are less likely to develop lung cancer that people who smoke nothing at all.

ScienceDaliy: Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows

UCSF.edu: Marijuana Shown to Be Less Damaging to Lungs Than Tobacco | www.ucsf.edu

This is a very good documentary, it goes into detail about the chemical makeup of cannabis, and in particular the dynamic between cannabis and the endocannabinoid system which exists in our bodies.

 

[Mutts Nuts]

'tis true. Most my friends say it's less harmful than smoking cigarettes, however I remember a report came out a few years ago that said one joint was the same as smoking 8 cigarettes. What about 'hash cakes'... any harm in them?

I think i read somewhere they are bad for your teeth

 

[Originunknown]

All the arguments in the first post are made irrelevant by the use of a vaporiser or edibles and like others have said the damage to lungs is due to the 'act of smoking' i.e. inhaling any kind of smoke. It doesn't take expensive research to work out inhaling smoke of any kind, whether slightly toxic or super toxic, is going to cause lung damage. Some people..

Increasing potency is a real issue though. The gene pool has been mutated to a point where most 'cannabis' bears little relation to the land races of the pre-hippy era.

 

[tgretton87]

Cannabis pure poison f***ing up decent young minds. How can anyone defend it worlds gone mad. Must all be high.

 

[BadFish]

Cannabis pure poison f***ing up decent young minds. How can anyone defend it worlds gone mad. Must all be high.

A reasoned and intelligent repost with not a hint of hysteria!

 

[Goring Gull]

Never appealed to me to be honest but each to their own. I do find the people i know who use it often seem to talk about it all the time though.

 

[griff9]

Never appealed to me to be honest but each to their own. I do find the people i know who use it often seem to talk about it all the time though.

Of course they do.. If you were considered a criminal every time you fancied a pre-match pint then you might go on about it all the time too...

It even goes beyond that when you know for a fact that cannabis is the best possible medicine you could give someone with MS, cancer or AIDS, but the government choose to ignore this and give people inferior medicine, whilst feeding the public propaganda.. all because they make more money from their friends in the pharmaceutical industry then they would cannabis...

The fact sick people are starved of great medicine all in the interest of money is (in my opinion) slightly unfair..


BREAKING NEWS: Cannabis Science, Inc: Cannabis Oil Shrinks Cancers | Cannabis Cure UK
Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows
Boy with brain cancer 'cured' after secretly fed medical marijuana by father | Mail Online
The Truth About Sativex | CLEAR

 

[daveinprague]

Whats nice at my age now, and being a white mid fifties, normally dressed, not eating out of dustbins etc man, I can walk down the street smoking a joint, and im the last person people are looking at as the source ..long live stereotypes....

 

[TheJasperCo]

It triggers schizophrenia and makes people more likely (NOT certain) to have psychotic episodes. That's why I don't smoke it.

 

[dibbydoo]

If you were a Youth Worker, watching what Cannabis is doing to Young People, and what and where it leads them to next, you might think differently about legalising it.

It's very clear that the 'War on Drugs' isn't working, and I really don'tthink there is an easy solution, but making it easier to get hold of cannot be the answer IMO.

Totally this.

 

[Durlston]

I smoked cannabis every day for nearly eight years and lived permanently in a fog of lethargy, poor attitude, laziness and awful perception of myself when I was stoned. I became addicted to it psychologically and couldn't sleep if I hadn't had a joint. It's led to mental health problems and I was diagnosed as schizophrenic a few months ago. The illness has a bad reputation of sufferers being dangerous, evil, paranoid and having multiple personalities but I'm lucky in that my medication of Quetiapine completely keeps any bad symptoms away even if it is a powerful anti-psychotic with drowsiness in the mornings.

I've given up drinking and cannabis now although I'm still a heavy smoker. I don't mind going into pubs and just drinking lemonade or coca-cola and enjoy being sociable.

 

[griff9]

Totally this, seen kids as young as 12 and 13 smoking it like its the norm. I spend every summer working mostly around the local skate park and in all honesty the Young People dont want to do anything, so unmotivated. Also so unaware of the long term effects its unreal.

The drug dealer on the corner doesn't care about selling to 12-13years old, he cares about money.. legalize it and they would have to be 18 or 21 and would have to go through a regulated process to be able to buy it, meaning less children would get hold of it.

It wouldn't stop children using it, but it would make it harder for them to get hold of it thats for sure..
What long term effects?

From what i can tell most people around me who have used it long term have had a phase in their lives using cannabis for maybe 5 or so years, then given it up and gone on to live a normal life and be a normal human being.. Granted it can seriously de-motivate whilst people are using it, and it can do serious harm to young minds...

hence why we should control the supply of it and stop it being sold to the youth, rather then letting criminals control the supply of it because they don't mind who they're selling too..

 

[Notters]

Cannabis pure poison f***ing up decent young minds. How can anyone defend it worlds gone mad. Must all be high.

If that's what you believe then take all of your CDs and burn them.

 

[dibbydoo]

The drug dealer on the corner doesn't care about selling to 12-13years old, he cares about money.. legalize it and they would have to be 18 or 21 and would have to go through a regulated process to be able to buy it, meaning less children would get hold of it.

It wouldn't stop children using it, but it would make it harder for them to get hold of it thats for sure..
What long term effects?

From what i can tell everyone around me who has used it long term has had a phase in their lives using cannabis for maybe 5 or so years, then given it up and gone on to live a normal life and be a normal human being.. Granted it can seriously de-motivate whilst people are using it, and it can do serious harm to young minds...

hence why we should control the supply of it and stop it being sold to the youth, rather then letting criminals control the supply of it because they don't mind who they're selling too..

If its made legal the goverment would put tax on it, people now pay £10 for around a gram of weed, once the goverment have put a tax on it, it would cost double that,
The drug world would just go underground, people would still grow it and sell it, and young people will think that because its legal its even more of a reason to smoke it, plus they get hold of ciggys easy enough, why would cannabis be any different?

Long term effects as stated in OP, Metal health issues, increased mental health and development issues in young people, Im not saying that it happens to every young person, but the facts are there, reserch has been done and proven.

Also where i work, its a deprived area, Young People will chip in and spend their pocket money on weed and steal food from the shops to feed their munchys!

 

[griff9]

If its made legal the goverment would put tax on it, people now pay £10 for around a gram of weed, once the goverment have put a tax on it, it would cost double that,
The drug world would just go underground, people would still grow it and sell it, and young people will think that because its legal its even more of a reason to smoke it, plus they get hold of ciggys easy enough, why would cannabis be any different?

Long term effects as stated in OP, Metal health issues, increased mental health and development issues in young people, Im not saying that it happens to every young person, but the facts are there, reserch has been done and proven.

Also where i work, its a deprived area, Young People will chip in and spend their pocket money on weed and steal food from the shops to feed their munchys!

You raise some good points.
It costs £10 a gram as thats what the criminals charge as they're money grabbing swines.. the actual cost of growing weed, especially on big industrial scales isn't that expensive.. the government could quite easily make it reasonably priced with tax on, in my opinion.

If they then gave out hefty fines or punishments (long prison sentences maybe) for anyone growing their own / Selling on the street / selling to children then people would soon much rather just get their personal bit of weed off the government at a reasonable price rather than risk selling it on / growing their own / selling it to minors..

Of course young people will still get hold of it like they do cigarettes.. demand will always be there so why don't we take control of the supply, that way we can at least try and stop children getting it by choosing who we sell it too (adults not children) rather than letting the criminals sell as much weed to the children as they like..

Your quite correct the facts are there, it can cause mental health issues in young people.. That's why we should try to stop them getting hold of it by controlling supply ourselves, and selling to responsible adults, because all we are doing now is trying to find a needle in a haystack by chasing the criminals who are supplying it.. We arrest 1 dealer, 2 more pop up...

If we controlled supply, sold it at a reasonable price to adults and gave punishments strong enough to put people off selling it on or growing it themselves then soon enough people would just buy their personal go home and smoke it and it would mostly be out of the reach of children.. more so then it is now anyway..

I'm not saying legalizing it isn't without risk but i think it would greatly improve the situation we're in with children getting hold of it at the moment.

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

If its made legal the goverment would put tax on it, people now pay £10 for around a gram of weed, once the goverment have put a tax on it, it would cost double that,
The drug world would just go underground, people would still grow it and sell it, and young people will think that because its legal its even more of a reason to smoke it, plus they get hold of ciggys easy enough, why would cannabis be any different?

Long term effects as stated in OP, Metal health issues, increased mental health and development issues in young people, Im not saying that it happens to every young person, but the facts are there, reserch has been done and proven.

Also where i work, its a deprived area, Young People will chip in and spend their pocket money on weed and steal food from the shops to feed their munchys!

Alcohol is taxed I don't see that being sold underground.

Young people start it because its "cool" breaking the law and smoking an illegal substance.

Alcohol and Tobacco have been proven to cause damage why don't they ban that?

At the end of the day it depends how the kids have been brought up.

 

[jakarta]

I became an idle self satisfied bore smoking the stuff, when I stopped I moved on with my life, went out & got a job & then went back to college to get some better qualifications etc..

Have no moral objections to the stuff at all as I probably drink too much alcohol which is clearly a worse drug but it didn't agree with me and it wasted several years of my life.

I may well still be a self satisfied bore but haven't been idle for the past 25 years.....

 

[dibbydoo]

You raise some good points.
It costs £10 a gram as thats what the criminals charge as they're money grabbing swines.. the actual cost of growing weed, especially on big industrial scales isn't that expensive.. the government could quite easily make it reasonably priced with tax on, in my opinion.

If they then gave out hefty fines or punishments (long prison sentences maybe) for anyone growing their own / Selling on the street / selling to children then people would soon much rather just get their personal bit of weed off the government at a reasonable price rather than risk selling it on / growing their own / selling it to minors..

Of course young people will still get hold of it like they do cigarettes.. demand will always be there so why don't we take control of the supply, that way we can at least try and stop children getting it by choosing who we sell it too (adults not children) rather than letting the criminals sell as much weed to the children as they like..

Your quite correct the facts are there, it can cause mental health issues in young people.. That's why we should try to stop them getting hold of it by controlling supply ourselves, and selling to responsible adults, because all we are doing now is trying to find a needle in a haystack by chasing the criminals who are supplying it.. We arrest 1 dealer, 2 more pop up...

If we controlled supply, sold it at a reasonable price to adults and gave punishments strong enough to put people off selling it on or growing it themselves then soon enough people would just buy their personal go home and smoke it and it would mostly be out of the reach of children.. more so then it is now anyway..

I'm not saying legalizing it isn't without risk but i think it would greatly improve the situation we're in with children getting hold of it at the moment.

The concern is that by doing this it could benifit the current drug pushers, if they are able to buy it legally and cheaply, what would stop them adding on a "tax" of their own and selling this on?
The other concern being that if cannabis is really that much of an effort for them to get hold of, would they turn to harsher drugs which are easier to get hold of for a buzz?

The meow meow situation in 2010 for example, it was cheap, legal and easy to buy, easier than cannabis in fact, Thye had no idea what they were taking (a few probably did, and didnt really care!) but they still did,
After it was made illegal they were going underground to buy it for more money than when it was legal!

 

[dibbydoo]

Alcohol is taxed I don't see that being sold underground.

Young people start it because its "cool" breaking the law and smoking an illegal substance.

Alcohol and Tobacco have been proven to cause damage why don't they ban that?

At the end of the day it depends how the kids have been brought up.

No because kids can stand outside anywhere that sells alcohol and ask people passing by to buy it for them, and you will be surprised how many adults do,

and about it not being sold underground ... you aint looking in the right places! Drugs are different its easier to grow cannabis and make a profit on it than it is to make alchol, i think?!

I personally dont think upbringing has anything to do with it at all, Kids from all backgrounds smoke weed and drink, in fact weed is highly used amoungst the upper class, private schools a few years ago used to be booming with drugs.