Is cannabis legalisation a feminist issue?

I believe also common strains found in London and Amsterdam, like skunk, smoked specifically, and abused ( daily, heavy use ) has some reasonable evidence of a connection to mental health issues and violence. Like most things, abuse is never a good idea.

Medicinal cannabis is quite different to the above.

Kennebec I don’t think anyone would argue cannabis has a negative effect if taken in adolescents. I don’t think current laws do anything to prevent young people accessing it, possibly quite the opposite.

There's a very thorough recent book by the (unfortunate) name of Tell Your Children that takes a comprehensive look at marijuana research over the years and across the globe and pretty thoroughly dismantles the case that it's a harmless drug. The journalist who wrote it, Alex Berenson, was inspired by the work of his wife, a psychiatrist who assesses criminals attempting to claim insanity defenses and who noted how so many of her most violent cases were smoking pot at the time (actually, "they all smoke" is what she says). It contains a wealth of information for anyone interested in the issue, but I'll confine myself to the bits on the links between marijuana and domestic violence:

• "A 2018 study in the journal Translational Issues in Psychological Science showed that among 269 men who had been court-ordered to treatment for domestic violence, marijuana use was associated with physical, psychological, and sexual violence, even after accounting for alcohol use":

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5663469/

• "A 2017 analysis of 11 previous studies in Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that marijuana use was associated with a 45 percent increase in violence during dating by adolescents and young adults, compared to a 70 percent increase for alcohol use":

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5521998/

• "A 2012 paper in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examined data from a federal study of 9,421 American teenagers over a 13-year-period. It found that marijuana use was associated with a near-doubling of the risk of committing domestic violence by age 26, even after accounting for factors such as depression and binge drinking ('We found that any use of marijuana during adolescence and young adulthood increases the risk of intimate partner violence')":

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3782298/

So, in a way, it IS a feminist issue...but the other way around.

It's not a feminist issue IMO. It doesn't disproportionately affect women.

Also, there is (contested) research linking cannabis use to mental health issues. In particular, schizophrenia and anxiety. Generally seen as encouraging earlier/more severe onset in those already genetically predisposed.

Certainly if a person has an underlying MH issue such as schizophrenia smoking cannabis, especially high THC content cannabis, may make the illness manifest earlier than if the person concerned had not smoked cannabis. A direct causal factor is difficult to prove.

I think that the consensus is that it is a bad idea for children and teens to smoke cannabis as their brains are developing and that kids smoking cannabis is a bad idea, just like kids undergoing hormone treatment and GR surgery is a bad idea.

Unfortunately the current laws do nothing to stop kids smoking cannabis, on the contrary they encourage the consumption of cannabis by children.

yes, very contested and highly dubious

Not highly dubious at all. High quality research both finds links and doesn't find links. Over time there has been more and more high quality research finding links, but it's wasn't possible to research well until recently (because of laws that made it v. difficult to set up high quality experiments), it's difficult to get ethics clearance for trials that may harm people, some effects can be very long term, and cause and effect and compounding factors are, in any case, often difficult to distinguish. More research needed but it is very much not a matter of "highly dubious".

Cannabis can be an incredibly helpful drug for a number of medical conditions, including chronic pain and fatigue.

It is completely insane that GPs are prevented from prescribing it to patients who need it, allegedly as there is insufficient research into it, while children are being prescribed harmful, experimental hormonal treatments for gender dysphoria on the NHS.

Where I live there are many elderly people who have cancer, chronic pain, arthritis and other conditions who have asked their GPs for cannabis but who are unable to get hold of it.

Meanwhile the streets smell of cannabis due to children and teenagers smoking it.

The current legal situation does nothing to stop kids taking cannabis, on the contrary it ploughs money into the hands of organised criminals and contributes towards kids getting recruited into county lines with all the associated risks to their physical and mental health.

Also, there is (contested) research yes, very contested and highly dubious.

A lot of women use cannabis, often as tea, for menopause and endometriosis.

IMO I find it ridiculous alcohol is legal but cannabis is not. The UK is one of the biggest exporters of cannabis for medical use and Theresa May’s husband has shares in a company that does this.

At the very least cannabis for medicinal use should be legalised.

Cannabis dependency (which we can expect to see more of if cannabis use is further normalised) is associated with increased risk of alcohol dependency. So, if anything, the effect is likely to be the opposite of the one you suggest, OP.

Also, there is (contested) research linking cannabis use to mental health issues. In particular, schizophrenia and anxiety. Generally seen as encouraging earlier/more severe onset in those already genetically predisposed. Mental health issues impact men and women differently (both on the basis of gender and sex) so there is potential for there to be feminist issues with how cannabis is legalised and it’s negative effects mitigated, especially if most policies are designed around male use.

However, women may find greater benefit from cannabis use than men, in terms of relaxing and from medical use, so there may also be arguments there.

No. My ex smoked loads of weed and he abused me. Has was paranoid and jealous. I thinks it's worse than alcohol tbh

Hmm.

If it qere legal theres a risk more women would be at risk of violence. More likely to pick up slack for a stoned father (seen regularly on the relationship boards).

Women are mire likely to suffer from invisible illness that could be treated by cannabis.

Some research shows it ti be beneficial to women with morning sickness who cant eat and not dangerous when not smoked

Useful in labour.