Should cannabis be legal

[komal]

Originally posted by zombiekillah

anyone see the trisha show on c5 this morning? a woman that used cannabis to help her and her friends overcome pain of ME or something i think it was , anyway , it said that she got put in jail for 6months and fined £750 . how bad is that! she was an old lady in pain , its disgraceful!

 

yeah I've seen that lady a lot on tv and in real life magazines, she baked the weed in cookies to releive her arthiritis ro some kind of poorlynuss and made them for all her other old friends aswell, I thought she was a nice lady.

 

and that person who wanted a good use for marijuana well

its widely used and works helping the management of pain, chronic neurologic diseases, convulsive disorders, migraine headache, anorexia, depression, mental illness,dysmenorhea, uterine hemorrhage, hysteria, delirium tremens, mania, palsy, whooping cough, infantile convulsions, asthma, gonorrhea, nervous rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, tetanus, epilepsy, appetite stimulation and bacterial infections.

its also good for your eyesight!!

 

[Phanerothyme]

Originally posted by scottf

It aids some medical conditions- MS i believe.

 

Cannabis has been used for successful treatment of or relief from symptoms of:

 

Glaucoma

Chemotherapy Appetite Loss

Nausea

MS spasticity

chronic muscular pain

Schizophrenia

PTSD

epilepsy

cancer

arthritic pain

migraine/cluster headaches

 

to mention but a few.

[sham71]

Why use something natural to ease pain when you can use a prescription drug which will drain the resources of the NHS and boost the profits of the pharmaceutical companies?

[JonJParr]

Having posted my initial gut reaction at the beginning of this thread I then left it to develop and see what came of it. The over-riding theme that seems to be emerging is the defence of our right to choose coupled with that of moderation.

 

We all know the dangers of over indulgence; whether it be our favourite Belgian chocolate sponge pudding with double cream, red wine, MPH on the motorway or marijuana. But is it our right to choose when we, the electorate, choose our Government? After all they do construct the laws that govern this great island.

 

Is marijuana dangerous? It depends on your definition of dangerous. Is red wine dangerous? Yes, if consumed in vast quantities. Do I see them as being the same? NO.

 

It is my opinion that if you wish to live as a citizen of this land you must abide by the rules that are enshrined in law - even if it's a Labour government. Why do people constantly dredge the comparison of alcohol and marijuana? My opinion: it's our country's bad relationship with alcohol.

 

Go to Rome, take a walk around the warm piazzas in the evening and notice how people sit around conversing, laughing and enjoying a beer or a glass of wine. They don't binge, they don't have a punch-up and they don't smoke weed. Ask them if they see alcohol as the same as marijuana - they'll say "absolutely not".

 

Like it or not the two drugs are entirely different and for one major reason: one is illegal and one is released under strict license. Don't agree with it? I would say that's an error of judgement. If you can't see the difference between a fine drink that happens to contain a drug and purposely "using" a drug then you need to evaluate your relationship with both alcohol AND marijuana.

 

I believe that reclassifying marijuana from B to C was a grave mistake that could only be made by a Government keen to offer a short-sighted solution to a much greater problem.

[sham71]

Originally posted by JonJParr

If you can't see the difference between a fine drink that happens to contain a drug and purposely "using" a drug then you need to evaluate your relationship with both alcohol AND marijuana

 

So if scientists developed a replacement for alcohol that made drinks taste the same, without the intoxicating effects, would you agree with the illegalisation of alcohol?

[miggy]

JonJParr, your reasoning is so flawed it's untrue. I can't believe you just wrote that after reading the posts. No logic there whatsoever.

 

"One is a fine drink, the other is a drug" - that is completely subjective. You can take cannabis in many forms, you can even take it in drinks, in alcoholic drinks, in food, etc. It changes the taste. If it had been legal for decades you'd probably find some delicacies too. In fact you probably can find them anyway.

 

One is socially acceptable in the west and is part of history, one is not. Go to eastern countries and you'll find it's much more the other way around, altho with other smoked drugs rather than cannabis.

 

Take away the social norms you've been brought up with and be objective, not subjective.

 

One is illegal and one is legal, you are right about this, but that's all. This isn't a valid argument considering we're discussing its legalisation or prohibition.

 

Incidentally, and I don't know how true this is, I did read that one reason it is illegal in many western countries is partly due to profitability in the tea trade and the same profits couldn't be made from cannabis. As I said, absolutely no idea about the truth of this, perhaps someone can enlighten us.

[sham71]

One other reason I heard for its illegality was lobbying by the cotton industry in the early 20th century.

 

Hemp is a much better material than cotton and would have put the cotton makers out of business.

 

This lead to 'scare' movies like Reefer Madness, intended to create a social panic and allow hemp/marijuana to be made illegal.

[JonJParr]

Originally posted by sham71

So if scientists developed a replacement for alcohol that made drinks taste the same, without the intoxicating effects, would you agree with the illegalisation of alcohol?

 

That would be fantastic Sham! I would love to be able to drink more wine when I go to a tasting and not wake-up feeling dehydrated and having a fuzzy head.

[sham71]

you are talking about the hangover, not the effect on the night.

[JonJParr]

Originally posted by sham71

you are talking about the hangover, not the effect on the night.

 

Of course I am. I love the taste of wine - the different flavours, the different aromas, the different textures. I don't like the alcohol - it's just a by-product of a completed process. As long as the wine tastes the same I have no problem with you leaving it out. In essence I'm saying I don't want or need the "intoxication" effect.

 

If indeed you're telling me that people use cannabis for the taste and smell then I'll have to take your word for it however in my opinion it's a drug used for it's effect upon the mind and body.