Should cannabis be legal

[stumathers]

I work with a few people who always 'have a smoke' every night and they are always disorientated and seem to be on another planet during the morning at work. They admit that it is the weed that makes them like this but they enjoy havin a 'doob' that much that they still do persist in gettin battered everynight.

[Ann*]

Originally posted by lea_g

i dont think that cannabis is that bad really it doesnt do anything apart from make you get the munchies or the giggles there isnt any harm in that now is there

Cannabis has well-known strong links to paranoid schizophrenia and psychotic phenomena, so the munchies and giggles is not all it does!

 

[donkey]

Originally posted by Ann_x

Cannabis has well-known strong links to paranoid schizophrenia and psychotic phenomena, so the munchies and giggles is not all it does!

 

 

The latest I heard was that there are links to schizophrenia, but they're not strong links. They are very weak links indeed. In fact, your more likely to end up in the loony bin by drinking alchohol according to the latest research.

 

A lot of people - myself included - notice detrimental effects after prolonged periods of smoking, So you stop smoking, end of story.

 

I feel like getting really anxious. I think I'll skin up - Hardly!

[Phanerothyme]

Originally posted by donkey

The latest I heard was that there are links to schizophrenia, but they're not strong links. They are very weak links indeed. In fact, your more likely to end up in the loony bin by drinking alchohol according to the latest research.

 

A lot of people - myself included - notice detrimental effects after prolonged periods of smoking, So you stop smoking, end of story.

 

I feel like getting really anxious. I think I'll skin up - Hardly!

 

The so called links, which are ostensibly prompting Home Secretary Clark to suggest 'upgrading' Cannabis back to class B, are so weak that the independent advisory panel - a group of internationally renowned pharmacologists and specialists - is threatening to resign.

 

This futile tinkering with the drug laws is being done to give the impression of action on a hot-button issue, without having to face up to the realities of UK drug use.

 

All the declassification of Cannabis has done, so far, is free up Police time and save money.

 

The hydroponics industry is exploding with both Industry old guards like Philips showing strong performance in the HID lamp sector. Other HID lamp & accessories stockists have gone from hobby supply shops to large businesses employing hundreds. And there is a growing proliferation of Hydroponic supply shops whose sole market is the cannabis cultivator. A 'growth' market, if you will.

 

There's a healthy and perfectly legitimate market in seeds too, and the more esoteric the strain the higher the price. 10 seeds can cost as much as $200. A fully grown plant can produce literally thousands of seeds.

 

Originally posted by sarahlorna

Where i live Cannabis smoking IS legal and it cause that many problems that the government are trying to make it illegal, although that would never happen as 8 out of 10 tourists only come here for the weed so you could imagine what would happen to the tourist industry here!

 

I think the possession and cultivation of cannabis is illegal but officially tolerated in some places. There are plenty of places in the netherlands where lighting up will get you busted really quickly.

 

There's clear evidence that other Cannabinoids have an antipsychotic effect, and studies have been unable to clearly rule out self medication by latent schizophrenics. Whilst it may provide temporary relief from symptoms, it's unlikely to do much to help the condition.

 

As a herb it is not risk free, but can be positively beneficial and enjoyable for many. Even in medical use, it has an excellent safety record, but when it has been standardized into a medical preparation, look what happened in Sheffield - they fail to take into account the 'bouquet effect'.

[peacenlove]

ok, i do have the occassional spliff, even though i know the effects and i know what it can potentially do to people. a couple of my parents family friends, and some of my uncles, have all been regular weed smokers for over 10 years now. ALL OF THEM are paranoid (eg constantly thinking people are talking about them, taking the p*** out of them etc), go through the most amazing mood changes, cannot relax or enjoy themselves without a spliff, are edgy if there isn't any on 'supply' etc etc. these are the facts, and as much as people like to protest that its harmless, it really isn't. most people i know who think its harmless (apart from the obvious, eg smoking related cancers) have not been smoking it for more than 6 years, by which time the truly LONG TERM effects have not fully kicked in. i know this from first hand experience, of not just one or two, but a good number of people. long term is not 1, 2 or even 3 years, in my experience it is at least 9.

[basshedz2]

Phan,

 

In sundays Observer there was an interview with Brian Paddick - the senior police officer in Lambeth who introduced a policy of of giving a verbal warning for those found in possesion of a small amount of cannabis.

 

He says that "the idea of diverting police resources away from cannabis to more serious offences has now become further confused because cannabis warnings count the same as a conviction for rape or murder under figures for the number of offences brought to justice."

 

"Effectively it means that a cannabis warning on the street is one of the quickest and easiest ways of achieving targets that police forces are under increasing pressure to meet."

 

[source: Observer 15.01.06]

 

To me it seems like a good idea (freeing up police resources) badly implemented by the Home Office.

 

I think that Charles Clarke's plans to reclassify cannabis are typical ill-thought out reactionary politics.

[SL31]

I think the possession and cultivation of cannabis is illegal but officially tolerated in some places. There are plenty of places in the netherlands where lighting up will get you busted really quickly.

 

LOL......The cultivation is illegal and by no means tolerated,....at least once every few weeks i see the guys "SEON" (the contracted "cleaning" company) raiding houses, with huge red skips, emptying the contents of the houses, all the instruments used including the plants, in some cases thousands.

 

I know people this has happened to and they have been to jail, in some cases only for a few months,..but the're pretty strict! They usually also have anying of any value in their house removed as it is assumed they have used the money they had made with their plants to buy such things.....such things are usually auctioned off

 

And then there's the chance that they have to live without electicity for a while...

 

This doesnt sound like it is "tolerated" to me!

 

As i said i live in Amsterdam and in the past there are very few places you would get busted for lighting up, trust me!

However the this has changed as of this year where you will get busted for smoking in the street!

[Kthebean]

This reclassification of weed is bull**** imo, what do they expect smokers up and down the country to be doing:

 

"I don't smoke cannabis, the government says it's Grade B, which means Bad for You"

 

"Oh, I see the government have downgraded the classification of cannabis! That must make smoking weed ok! Roll me a fatty, dear"

 

"Oh! They're talking about upgrading it again! We'd best cut down until they decide!"

 

"Oh gosh, they've upgraded it again! Flush that weed down the toilet dear!"

[Mr_J_Bravo]

I'd legalise cannabis.It causes extremely minor problems in comparison to alcohol and its not addictive.I reckon crime would be cut by huge amounts-if alcohol was banned.It wouldnt be fair to discriminate against the average person who just wants to go out and have a few pints then go home but its the idiots who get violent when drunk and either start bother while theyre out or give the partner a good beating when they get home.Any ideas on how it could be implemented?Maybe a 1 strike then your out rule??

[basshedz2]

UPDATE:

 

Charles Clarke is now expected to rule out reclassifying Cannabis