Cannabis.

[griff9]

10 years on and still hasn't happened. What is the government afraid of??

Out of interest, what do you think they are afraid of?
Personally i feel they make more money with cannabis being illegal and they don't want to piss off their nice wealthy friends at the pharmaceutical and oil companies ..

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

In regards to Professor Nutt, he gave his opinion on the original article that started the thread here:

Smoke without fire? Scaremongering by the British Lung Foundation over cannabis vs tobacco s Blog: Evidence not Exaggeration

I think he got the point across well.

 

[dingodan]

Out of interest, what do you think they are afraid of?
Personally i feel they make more money with cannabis being illegal and they don't want to piss off their nice wealthy friends at the pharmaceutical and oil companies ..

It promotes values & attitudes which authority considers threatening.

From my previous post:

"Cannabis is not a health problem, the problem is that it promotes social values and attitudes that are unwelcome in capitalist, market based societies. It is just that simple. A drug like coffee, with a horrendous health profile when compared to Cannabis, is completely welcomed into the market place and the home and the lifestyle of modern people. We value certain states of mind and we fear and suspect others."

- Terence McKenna

 

[griff9]

Well said dingodan.. Was gonna mention the McKenna quote earlier but couldn't fit it in... I'm amazed how he was never stuck for words, always knew what to say and how to say it.. No doubt a very wise man..

 

[spig100963]

Its the healing of the nation. The tree of life. Revelation 22:2.

 

[daveinprague]

Ive smoked every day since Nov 1979...smoked before that but not daily..ive never taken any other substance other than booze.. I work in a technical position, and have done most of my working life.
On the basis that I smoke cigarettes anyway, the only damage I feel it is doing to me is damage to my lungs.
Ive never known anybody among my circle of friends who have gone on to take harder drugs. Ive lived in Holland, and life goes on as normal there with coffeeshops.
Im sure its not for everybody, the same as booze isnt for everybody, and I suspect its down to the individual rather than the 'drug'....
Most people can drink and not become alcoholics, and I look at grass the same way.
Luckily for me, im in one of the more liberal countries where grass is concerned, and you can
hold 15 grams here (10 more than Holland).
How you can legislate against a plant is beyond me anyway. I can understand legislation against organic products that are altered during the production, but legislating against an organic substance
on this earth is a bit daft.

 

[spig100963]

The next time I hear "gateway drug" I am going to scream. Most people try cannabis for the first time when they have been drinking. So surely this makes alcohol the gateway.

Don't even get me started on tobacco. Whoever thinks that should be legal over weed really
should consider having their bumps felt.

 

[Gullys Cats]

Too much fucks your head and so does alcohol.....and as for crack, well that's just moorish.

 

[daveinprague]

People start drinking WAY before they start smoking grass..

 

[spig100963]

Too much fucks your head and so does alcohol.....and as for crack, well that's just moorish.

If you want moorish, tobacco is your man. So if alcohol fucks your head why is it legal?

 

[spig100963]

Something to consider. If you crumble a gram of weed into a cup of tea and drink it you will feel nice. If you crumble down a cigarette and put it in a cup of tea and drink, it will kill you.

 

[BigGully]

Ive smoked every day since Nov 1979...smoked before that but not daily..ive never taken any other substance other than booze.. I work in a technical position, and have done most of my working life.
On the basis that I smoke cigarettes anyway, the only damage I feel it is doing to me is damage to my lungs.
Ive never known anybody among my circle of friends who have gone on to take harder drugs. Ive lived in Holland, and life goes on as normal there with coffeeshops.
Im sure its not for everybody, the same as booze isnt for everybody, and I suspect its down to the individual rather than the 'drug'....
Most people can drink and not become alcoholics, and I look at grass the same way.
Luckily for me, im in one of the more liberal countries where grass is concerned, and you can
hold 15 grams here (10 more than Holland).
How you can legislate against a plant is beyond me anyway. I can understand legislation against organic products that are altered during the production, but legislating against an organic substance
on this earth is a bit daft.

Dave I have absolutely no inclination to effect your lifestyle choice, mine aint particularly perfect.

But on this point, I know not one Heroin addict that didn't start with fags, booze, marijuana before they became a hard drug user.

So any legislation, isnt for you ( you can continue to smoke every day nearly unhindered ) or me ( who like's a beer ) but for our children that softened legislation will, in my view increase usage and therefore likely to increase those that end up on the harder drugs.

 

[spig100963]

Dave I have absolutely no inclination to effect your lifestyle choice, mine aint particularly perfect.

But on this point, I know not one Heroin addict that didn't start with fags, booze, marijuana before they became a hard drug user.

So any legislation, isnt for you ( you can continue to smoke every day nearly unhindered ) or me ( who like's a beer ) but for our children that softened legislation will, in my view increase usage and therefore likely to increase those that end up on the harder drugs.

Have Holland got a bigger hard drug problem than the UK?

 

[daveinprague]

Like I say, its not for everybody, same as booze isnt... as for legislation, well, it puts all drugs underground, and underground is where the criminals lurk... I would imagine the prison system would benefit from legislation.
I was in Lewes following a dramatic divorce haha, and it seemed to me that the entire top floor of the allocation wing was for Cannabis smuggling etc..and like you say...hard drug users have usually tried grass, but also booze and fags...its just a bit wierd that cannabis is the one thats banned.

 

[spig100963]

Portugal presents the most significant and successful example of a post-criminalization, health-centered drug policy. In 2001, Portuguese legislators decriminalized low-level drug possession and reclassified it as an administrative violation. The explicit aim of the policy shift was to adopt an approach to drugs based not on dogmatic moralism and prejudice but on science and evidence. At the heart of this policy change was the recognition that the criminalization of drug use was not justifiable and that it was actually a barrier to more effective responses to drug use. Every objective analysis has clearly demonstrated that Portugal has drastically decreased its rates of violent crime, addiction, and disease transmission since reforming its drug laws.

 

[BigGully]

Have Holland got a bigger hard drug problem than the UK?

I do not know and probably will not accept some tin pot study sheet.

But for balance, where in the UK is there NOT easy access to marijuana ?

It is hardly straight swap from soft Netherlands and zero tolerance UK is it ?

 

[spig100963]

I do not know and probably will not accept some tin pot study sheet.

But for balance, where in the UK is there NOT easy access to marijuana ?

It is hardly straight swap from soft Netherlands and zero tolerance UK is it ?

Will you accept what I poster above?

 

[daveinprague]

I heard several years ago that grass being grown in UK is going to Netherlands in exchange for xtc among the criminal gangs...the only people who really benefit from the current legislation are criminals. A lot of grass definitely grown here for the Dutch market as well in the west of the country, mostly run by Vietnamese gangs.
Banning something that a sizeable group of buyers want doesnt work, as banning booze in the US showed....really, the only beneficiaries are criminals under current legislation. Maybe the authorities dont want to win the 'war on drugs'...or as it should be called 'the unwinnable war on drugs'

 

[BigGully]

Its a very political driven statement ..... so sorry I will not.

You could tag the comment decreased its rates of violent crime and associated demons blah, blah blah to most politicians in most countries that have introduced a new policy.

 

[Pinkie Brown]

Legalise it, but make sure its sale is controlled to approved licensed retailers, comes with the same health warnings as a packet of fags & the penalties for driving whilst stoned are equal to that of driving whilst pissed. By legalising the stuff, it saves the Police wasting their time on trivia, puts pot dealers out of business plus the government can make a quid or two from the tax that would no doubt be implemented on it.

Despite what the apologists will tell you, smoking pot isn't going to do your health or braincells much good. I don't smoke the stuff, but if people want to smoke the smelly muck, then fine by me. Just don't smoke it within distance of my nostrils thank you. (That should be another 'condition' of use - No smoking of it in a public place, inside or out. Home use only.)

 

[BigGully]

I heard several years ago that grass being grown in UK is going to Netherlands in exchange for xtc among the criminal gangs...the only people who really benefit from the current legislation are criminals. A lot of grass definitely grown here for the Dutch market as well in the west of the country, mostly run by Vietnamese gangs.
Banning something that a sizeable group of buyers want doesnt work, as banning booze in the US showed....really, the only beneficiaries are criminals under current legislation. Maybe the authorities dont want to win the 'war on drugs'...or as it should be called 'the unwinnable war on drugs'

It seems the human species has a penchant for mind altering drugs, it will continue.

The politicians have a real struggle how to control the overall usage, its probably needed.

They need to protect those that might be drawn into 'drug use' whom otherwise wouldn't, whilst battling with policies that need to control/help those already using the harder more harmful drugs and at times its contradictory.

I cannot help feeling that those that use marijuana have unfettered access to their drugs with very little condemnation, so why the battle.

Sometimes it seems the contradiction of the legality and effects of booze is the catalyst, but there needs to be a reasonable understanding that many, me included could do without another tier of drug legalisation, it does have consequences.