Is cannabis legalisation a feminist issue?

Hmm. I think it could be, but in quite an indirect way - legalisation (as opposed to decriminalisation) might help to reduce the trafficking of people, which does disproportionately affect women and children.

I know some foster parents who briefly looked after a teenage boy found in a similar situation to the one described below. Sadly, he ended up back in the hands of his traffickers as soon as he aged out of their care - he was paying off the rest of his passage through working in a local nail bar (in essentially slave condition).

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/31/trafficked-beaten-ensaved-life-of-cannabis-farmer-vietnam

I don’t know enough about the relationship between cannabis and trafficking to form a proper opinion, only enough to be able to base my personal decision to quit my (very occasional) recreational drug use based on the human costs of producing/manufacturing/distributing the stuff.

Today’s street cannabis is absolutely nothing like what was available in my day, and it’s that difference in potency that made me far less tolerant than I assumed I would be when my own DS was experimenting with it. That alone would make me question the wisdom in relaxing the law. Developing brains need a chance to grow - same reasons I question the use of hormone blockers in gender questioning children.

Where did you get the idea that violent acts from stoned people are virtually nil?

Have you taken into account the violent acts during psychotic episodes?

Have you taken into account the number of deaths and life-changing injuries caused by drug-driving (where the drug is cannabis)?

I was always for legalisation. I smoked in my late teens but then stopped. A few years ago I started again out of some misguided whim to recreate my former self, pre abusive marriage. The stuff you get now is so much stronger. I was never a particularly heavy user but I smoked daily, and by the time I realise I’d become addicted to the stuff it was too late. I’ve only just admitted to myself what an awful toll it’s taken on my MH.I’m bipolar anyway, but the weed made it much much worse. I’d never been psychotic until I started smoking again. I’m 8 weeks clean now and getting health with my local drug and alcohol service but it’s bloody hard to quit. Also I’ve read in various places that women are more likely to become addicted than men, so on balance I think it should remain illegal, for recreational purposes at least. CBD oil is different, it’s not addictive and it doesn’t have the psychoactive ingredient, and it’s already legal.

Hm. I don't drink or smoke, having done both to excess earlier in life, and suffered at the hands of men who were regular recreational cannabis users. As did most of my girlfriends at the time. But it was a particular scene, and I can't say for sure whether those guys were just arseholes anyway, or whether it was exaggerated by their use of cannabis, as an intoxicant of choice.
To me, there is a massive difference between recreational and medical use of cannabis. I have friends who successfully treat chronic rheumatic pain, MS and anxiety with CBD oil. That is already legal. No need to legalise cannabis for recreational use or cannabis with a psychoactive content (THC). Cannabis disinhibits, and as such, in my opinion, is more likely to lead to users acting on short fuses, frustrations and jealous or paranoid whims.
I currently live with someone who is massively battling crippling anxiety, very likely induced by smoking skunk in their 20s. I have totally had to pick up the slack as the partner of someone with fluctuating MH and that's not an unusual scenario.
I think that people who use any drugs recreationally carry a massive burden of irresponsibility, contributing to so much crap in society. But I am not sure that legalising said drugs would be any better.

I think it is a feminist issue for two reasons, one because of its suspected benefits for chronic pain (women impacted more) and because of the negative consequences on women from men who abuse it becoming abusive.

Women don’t tend to abuse it or smoke it for those ailments either.

A lot of women globally use I for endometriosis and menopause symptoms, as it can be more effective without side effects of other options.

Agree with moany. It is very very effective for alleviating menstrual cramps, I know several women who use it soley for this purpose so in that respect yes it's a feminist issue. I'd like to at least see it available on prescription.

I had a partner who became angry and controlling when he ran out. My whole life was geared around keeping his supply up. So yes it is a feminist issue in that sense. It makes men abusive.

Moanymoaner123 yeah, I think I probably agree with you on it but I don’t know, who to trust??

Both of my abusive exes were heavy cannabis smokers, the proliferation of 'flavours' is concerning to me, having tried it, it's far far more potent than skunk which I smoked for years in my teens. I would like to see it legalised and regulated, then the more useful strains that are lower in THC and higher in CBD can be pushed rather than the THC stuff that affects people so strongly.

Yes, I agree that making alcohol or tobacco illegal will not help in those cases. You can't put toothpaste back in the tube and so on.

I support a full investigation into the medical benefits of whatever element in cannabis actually helps people who report a benefit. For their sake, that positives as well as the negatives should be fully explored, the same as any other medicine. That is a responsible course of action.

But the increasing clamour for legalization just looks like a wedge, and when an increased possibility of psychosis is beginning to be shown clearly as a side effect, I think that it's more than a little concerning.

Apart from anything else, I currently have zero trust in our ruling classes and the legislature to produce any kind of way forward that will not be a complete dogs breakfast with unintended consequences galore.

I think a conservative approach to a potential danger is realistic when the door is already shut. Once you open it, the game changes entirely. Id prefer not to have to deal with problems any more retrospectively than we already do.

Kennebec thanks for adding all those links, it’s interesting, will take a closer look later.

For reference, I'll note that the link between marijuana and violence holds among both adolescents and adults for regular ol' violence as well as domestic violence. Again quoting from Berenson, linking the variety of studies he cites:

• A 2013 paper in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence used data from a federal survey of more than 12,400 American high school students to examine the link between alcohol, marijuana, and aggression. The researchers' initial hypothesis, which they published as part of the paper, was that alcohol increased violence while marijuana reduced it.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260512468234

• A 2016 paper in Psychological Medicine examined marijuana use and criminal behavior among 400 boys in London who were followed for more than forty years beginning in 1961; their marijuana use was surveyed when they were 18, 32, and 48. The paper found that marijuana use at all three times was associated with a ninefold increase in violent behavior even after adjusting for other variables:

www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/continuity-of-cannabis-use-and-violent-offending-over-the-life-course/F8E66EC005BDA73865872BD1F398A567

• A 2008 paper in the European Journal of Public Health surveyed 3,000 vacationers aged 16 to 35 in the Spanish resorts of Ibiza and Majorca to find out what factors predicted fighting. Cannabis use doubled the risk. Surprisingly, alcohol use did not change it, expect for visitors who were drunk more than five days a week, who had a 3.5 times risk for fighting:

academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/18/6/569/577795

• A 2017 paper in ^Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology surveyed 2,000 young men in Britain and 4,000 in Chiina to see if different factors led to violence in the two countries. Drug abuse was far more common in Britain and associated with a fivefold increase in violence. The study didn't break out marijuana versus other drugs but noted that "young British men overwhelmingly reported misuse of cannabis." Alcohol abuse was associated with a threefold increase in violence:

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-017-1420-y

I fail to see why following the exact same pattern with cannabis will lead to a different outcome.

Well I would imagine the idea is not to follow that same pattern.
I don’t drink or smoke, but I’m not convinced making things completely illegal because they can cause harm if abused is the way to go either. Smoking, sure. Not convinced on alcohol- and my dad was an alcoholic.

Maybe so. I still think unleashing another intoxicant like alcohol or tobacco onto the populace is a foolhardy response to the current issues. The cost, both financial and in terms of health and society breakdown, of trying to put the genie back in the bottle with those two drugs, is enormous. I fail to see why following the exact same pattern with cannabis will lead to a different outcome.

I would like to see the UK Government doing research on this plant but unfortunately the catch is the fact it's illegal prevents official research

Yes but research is being done more recently in other countries. I don’t know how much of it involves methods not involving smoking it though.

Sorry, I missed the first link on the study involving men who had been arrested for DV.

@JessicaWakefieldSVH Reread my post. The studies cover adults as well as adolescents. There's a link between marijuana and domestic violence for both groups.

If it was legalised, people would grow their own though. I’m not supportive of legalisation for any and all use either.

I don't support the use and abuse of intoxicating drugs, and certainly not if they are illegal and untested. The fact that alcohol is legal, a huge business, and has led to many social ills and health problems is no reason to decriminalize other drugs, and should instead be a cautionary tale in the consequences of legalization. I don't understand the logic of people who use that argument.

The fact that cannabis may have some medicinal benefits is an argument for more research and careful investigation, the same as with any other naturally occurring substance that has potential uses but also potential harms. It is not an argument for blanket legalization.

The only people can see benefiting from legalizing cannabis for any and all uses are those who stand to make a lot of money from the enterprise. I am not swayed by capitalists making full use of stories of suffering children to press their business case, and I am continually astonished that so many people are.

But, no, I don't think it's a feminist issue.

Not if you use my ex as an example, no.