Tory think tank recommends drug legalisation

[Phanerothyme]

It causes psychosis in people that don't use it.

[BoyFromSmoke]

It causes psychosis in people that don't use it.

 

:hihi:

[mafya]

And more, so you can see I did provide the evidence to support my stance, unlike the supporters of legislation.

 

Why have some states in the USA legalised it if it is such a dangerous drug?

I started smoking it 24 years ago and it hasn't lead me onto harder drugs but drinking alcohol has lead to me being arrested for fighting in the past although I stopped drinking alcohol in 2008.

Have a read of why it was banned and educate yourself= http://www.hempcar.org/untoldstory/hemp_5.html

It was nothing to do with it being a dangerous drug.

[ConorRhys]

Right guys, i have really enjoyed reading this discussion up to the point of it going stale and people trolling, so i thought id throw my hat in to the ring here.

 

In my personal opinion i am pro legalisation of Marijuana, but i can understand the merits of both points of view.

 

My experiences are very varied - a while back i was in a car incident that caused me massive physical and metal injuries. This was nothing to do with taking drugs as i was clean at the time and never touched a drug in my life, excluding alcohol but that was on a very RARE occasion.

 

As mentioned before, there were huge amounts of mental and physical damage, and i can safely say if i did not use marijuana to help me through the recovery period it is a great possibility i would have committed suicide.

 

OK, going away from that. Ivanava - I can totally understand your argument and your worries about children, specifically your children's access to the drug easier if it was legal. But you need to take in to consideration if you parent them in a proper way, in the way you wish them to see the drug they will have your ideology and perspective on the drug and avoid it until they are old enough to make their own decision and chose for themselves?

 

What would you say, if they found out THC (the active ingredient of weed) could have great medical advantages and if explored it could HELP to reduce cancer? But the only issue is, just like Stem Cell research due to the opinions of people this has been put on hold/stopped all together? Please see link below for evidence.

 

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/healthprofessional/page4

 

In response to the reoccurring argument - "Man kills wife because of Weed". We all know that he must have been suffering from some underlying mental illness and no stable Human would commit murder after taking Marijuana. This reminds me of the stories i have read about "Man kills wife because Jesus told him too", people like to pin the blame on the easiest and convenient excuse.

 

In terms of all Cannabis smokers been seen as lower class people from deprived area's, what would you say if i told you for 2 years i smoked at least 3/4 times a week - i am now the director of a company that employs 6 people.

 

Also, 2 of my other friends who i often enjoyed the experience with have also started their own company and are living well?

 

Does this question the stereotypical stoner that the media and government have tried to implant in all of our brains?

 

In regards of Cannabis been a gateway drug, i could not disagree more. Judging by your obvious opinion and disdain against Cannabis and all who use it (sorry if i am jumping to conclusions here) but i suspect you have never tried it? One notable difference between been drunk and been high is that when high you still have the "common sense" and not a falsely inflated ego. Studies have actually found out most people get hooked on heavier drugs from what i like to call the "**** It" moment that you get while drunk.

 

We all know the "**** It" moment, when you wake up one morning in bed next to someone extremely unattractive. That's alcohol, and yes i have found myself in this position, but never with Cannabis.

 

"**** It" moments span beyond one night stands, but can also end in you letting someone jab you with a needle, or sniffing a line of Coke to satisfy your alcohol inflated ego. Please see evidence below.

 

http://www.examiner.com/article/study-alcohol-is-more-of-a-gateway-drug-than-marijuana

 

Funnily enough, i was having a conversation with my friend (Online friend, from a game - nerdy stuff. Don't ask) and i was actually asking him about his outlook and thoughts on Cannabis. His exact words were "Meh, i prefer a drink." If you are unaware of what the word Meh implies, it basically means "I couldn't give a ****."; This was a 18 year old male i was speaking too, and he didn't go over the top with Cannabis. He went on and expanded his point explaining to me that the vast majority of his friends don't make it a regular thing, but have it more of a treat on special occasions. Do you not believe youth in the UK could show this form of restraint, and if they did would you still have an issue?

 

In terms of taxing Cannabis, i have not heard anyone mention the positive impact it would have on the profit the UK makes from tourism. Is our little island not situated in the perfect position for it? In the middle of no were "relatively in the grand scale of the planet" - no worries about people smuggling it out of the country and across the border lines infringing on other countries laws (well there would but it is much easily controllable since there are only a certain number of ways to get out of the UK and we already have customs in place).

 

I am not going to sit here and say that Cannabis has no ill effects at all. I will put my hands up and tell the entire truth on the situation because i believe a discussion has to have both sides of the story for it to be a discussion and not an argument, and in term both sides need to take each others points seriously.

 

Back to the point, ill effects of Cannabis - i have met people who have smoked it ONCE and they have had bad reactions to it. Such as paranoia - these people never took it again. That problem solves itself?

 

I also did experience some reactions to it, this was in the height that i was smoking it, 3/4 times a week. I felt slightly paranoid and also slightly less efficient in the general day to day activities i did, but to solve the situation - i simply stopped/cut down. People that claim it is addictive are not addicted to the drug but addicted to the routine and have an addictive personality. If it was not Cannabis, it would be something else, maybe something worse? Heroin for example?

 

So if they decriminalised or legalised Cannabis for use in ones own home, were people could socialize and enjoy the experience without upsetting, disrupting or causing any trouble - would you still have an issue with it?

 

I understand, your understanding/interpretation is that if people smoke in their own homes that this may result in driving or other activities that could cause injury, but this is why you would need laws put in place too compensate, we can't make everything illegal that impairs/changes the human mind/bodies performance such as alcohol or painkillers.

 

I am seriously against any form of peer pressure that is applied with any sort of drugs, but surely - someone offering you a legal drug is easier to refuse/reject that an illegal one? I can see you scratching your head reading that sentence but let me explain.

 

When someone is offering you an illegal drug, you instantly think "well uneducated, naive or maybe young, inexperienced people anyway" think that the person offering you that illegal substance is dangerous and can appear scary. As i child, i was offered alcohol by many of my siblings in my class, it was easy to say no. But one of the scary, "bad" children offer you some weed you feel pressured in to accepting it because you are scared of the consequences if you don't.

 

That was just my experiences from school and i am not saying that applies to everyones childhood, but the same logic can be applied to any scenario.

 

Well, now Ive said my piece i hope that was some food for thought.

 

Please get back on track with the discussion as i do not often post, but i do enjoy a good read!

Edited May 5, 2014 by ConorRhys

[ivanava]

Why have some states in the USA legalised it if it is such a dangerous drug?

I started smoking it 24 years ago and it hasn't lead me onto harder drugs but drinking alcohol has lead to me being arrested for fighting in the past although I stopped drinking alcohol in 2008.

Have a read of why it was banned and educate yourself= http://www.hempcar.org/untoldstory/hemp_5.html

It was nothing to do with it being a dangerous drug.

 

I'm already educated, but thanks for the offer, try to accept that different people have different experiences which lead to different opinions. And all the evidence I have seen which comes from both sides of the argument point me to the opinion that making drugs legal would be a really bad idea.

 

---------- Post added 05-05-2014 at 07:39 ----------

 

 

OK, going away from that. Ivanava - I can totally understand your argument and your worries about children, specifically your children's access to the drug easier if it was legal. But you need to take in to consideration if you parent them in a proper way, in the way you wish them to see the drug they will have your ideology and perspective on the drug and avoid it until they are old enough to make their own decision and chose for themselves?

 

What would you say, if they found out THC (the active ingredient of weed) could have great medical advantages and if explored it could HELP to reduce cancer? But the only issue is, just like Stem Cell research due to the opinions of people this has been put on hold/stopped all together? Please see link below for evidence.

 

 

Hidden in amongst the tirade of posts, posted by the trolls you will find my post which agrees that cannabis should be made available through prescription because of its potencial medical properties. Many drugs are legal for medical use but that doesn't support the idea that anyone should be able to get hold of them, if a doctor thinks cannabis will help your condition then they should be able to prescribe it just like any other prescription only drug.

 

---------- Post added 05-05-2014 at 07:48 ----------

 

 

 

 

So if they decriminalised or legalised Cannabis for use in ones own home, were people could socialize and enjoy the experience without upsetting, disrupting or causing any trouble - would you still have an issue with it?

 

I understand, your understanding/interpretation is that if people smoke in their own homes that this may result in driving or other activities that could cause injury, but this is why you would need laws put in place too compensate, we can't make everything illegal that impairs/changes the human mind/bodies performance such as alcohol or painkillers.

 

I am seriously against any form of peer pressure that is applied with any sort of drugs, but surely - someone offering you a legal drug is easier to refuse/reject that an illegal one? I can see you scratching your head reading that sentence but let me explain.

 

 

You will also find my post which shows that I am not opposed to decriminalisation, I wouldn't oppose a system by which people can buy cannabis form a pharmacy for use in their home, and as long as they don't break the law whilst high and can prove they bought their cannabis legally there would be no criminal offense committed. But if they did break the law whilst high their drug use should be classed as an aggravating factor for which they receive both punishment and treatment.

Edited May 5, 2014 by ivanava

[Phanerothyme]

I wouldn't oppose a system by which people can buy cannabis form a pharmacy for use in their home, and as long as they don't break the law whilst high and can prove they bought their cannabis legally there would be no criminal offense committed. But if they did break the law whilst high their drug use should be classed as an aggravating factor for which they receive both punishment and treatment.

 

So you're not opposed to legalisation, you're just not 'pro' legalisation.

 

Fair enough.

 

Meanwhile, Nobel prizewinning economists and others weigh in on the war on drugs:

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/05/us-drugs-prohibition-idUKKBN0DL1CM20140505

"(The U.N.) must now take the lead in advocating a new cooperative international framework based on the fundamental acceptance that different policies will work for different countries and regions," the foreword said.

 

Signatories of the text included five Nobel-prize winning economists - among them Kenneth Arrow, Christopher Pissarides and Thomas Schelling - as well as former U.S secretary of state George Schultz, British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg (yeah, not a great endorsement, I know) and Javier Solana, a former European Union foreign policy chief.

[ivanava]

So you're not opposed to legalisation, you're just not 'pro' legalisation.

 

 

That rather depends on the drugs that are proposed to be legalised and how it will be administered, any form of legalisation would have to be significantly stricter than the tobacco and alcohol industry for me to support it.

[skinz]

That rather depends on the drugs that are proposed to be legalised and how it will be administered, any form of legalisation would have to be significantly stricter than the tobacco and alcohol industry for me to support it.

 

Probably best left to Nobel-prize winning economists then.

[ivanava]

Probably best left to Nobel-prize winning economists then.

 

Or the thousands of doctors, Nobel-prize winners, politicians that don't support it. For every smart person that supports it, there's another one that opposes it.

[skinz]

Or the thousands of doctors, Nobel-prize winners, politicians that don't support it. For every smart person that supports it, there's another one that opposes it.

 

For the first time ever we agree. that's why we need to support the smart people that support drug legalisation through legislation. It's good that you came around.