Why do so many people smoke weed these days?

[MontyDonsBlueSuit]

I get the world isn’t a great place for many people but why is it so prevalent now? Is it cheaper than drinking? Or easier to get hold of? I really dislike it and don’t understand why if it’s illegal it isn’t more closely monitored. Am I missing something?

I don’t notice it at all because I can’t smell it.

It does make me wonder why the government bothers pursuing the smoke free generation policy plan. It seems a bit pointless to add more substances to the list of things the country can't police.

Well I assume many people smoke it to relax and escape their worries about life 🤷‍♀️

I couldn’t really care less what other people get up to unless it affects me but the amount of people who smoke and drive concerns me a lot and I’m sick of the smell of it everywhere I go including from my own and my partner’s neighbours - he can’t enjoy using the balcony on his flat because of the selfish person below who smokes it all day.

You on the other hand, seem absolutely lovely 😂

I think there is something in this. We lost my uncle when he was in his late 50s. Diagnosed with COPD in his 40s and had lung cancer, which had spread, when he died. He started smoking it in his teens. Both grandparents were (are) heavy smokers - cigarettes only - from a very early age. My grandfather died aged 85 and my grandmother is still with us. Uncle sounded awful for the last 10 years - often a cracking noise, not worlds apart from a stove top coffee percolator.

I don’t partake. Alcohol is a major catalyst for criminal behaviour, particularly violent crime and public disorder. It impairs judgment, lowers inhibitions, severely alters a person's decision-making. In the UK, it is a factor in over a third of all violent incidents (figure is closer to 50% in Wales). Criminality from cannabis stems almost entirely from possessing or growing it.

This. I’d certainly prefer my daughter to bump into a stoned man on the way home than a drunk one.

No she/he isn't.
And as the poster is a mental health professional, I think they know what they are talking about.

My friend is a senior MH nurse and says the same. Her wards are full of teenagers who have developed psychosis and serious MH problems directly as a result of smoking weed when their young brains are still developing.
It's a serious problem. And it's a new & growing one according to her, presumably down to the strength of the product they are smoking these days.

I don’t really care. I used to smoke it years ago in my youth but not anymore. It’s about time it was legalised tbh. The country would make a fortune. It’s no worse than alcohol

OP, I share your concerns about drug driving. I’m convinced it explains some of the truly bizarre and inexplicable driving you see. You might have seen these reports the other day - https://news.sky.com/story/repeat-offending-of-drug-driving-almost-five-times-more-common-than-drink-driving-13545453

You haven’t got to look far to see examples of people asking for advice on UK forums/sub-reddits etc. because they’ve been pulled over by the plod and tested positive. There always seems to be plenty of what I think are along the lines of what @Hohumhuee referred to as “almost evangelistic” comments. They slam how the current thresholds for being over the limit are in their view, “too low.“ Then you’ll get ones like this:

“2 of my mates have been banned despite not being impaired to drive at all, and neither had smoked for around 12 hours AND slept since smoking.”

or

”Any effect from smoking weed wears off pretty quickly, especially if you're a heavy user and you're used to it.”

I was behind a bloke driving at around 15mph on a road with a 40mph limit at 10.30pm recently. He looked like he was in his 20s. He slowed down to barely moving while turning left. I ended up overtaking because of how ridiculously slow he was driving and got a good look at him. I saw him pull into a Tesco car park, so suspect he was on a munchies run.
Oh but sure, he was a safe driver 😉.

Exactly like alcohol yet that’s ok?

I really dislike it and don’t understand why if it’s illegal it isn’t more closely monitored.

How simplistic. How does "monitoring" work, with the already cut to the bone police service. The police don't have the capacity to "monitor" cannabis use, when they are pulled in all directions.

the politicians have stopped talking about "the war on drugs" because they lost that war decades ago.

Is it more than years ago though? I grew up in a rough part of a deprived city and lots of people smoked it. My stepdad was an abusive addict and the stuff made him paranoid as hell but yeah, it was smoked constantly in my home. I’ve tried it a couple of times and really didn’t rate it, it just made me sleepy. Loads of boys in particular at school smoked it, including at the school gates. I also dated boys who smoked it as a teen and they were tedious as hell.

I expect cost has a part, when compared with tobacco.

I didn't comment on alcohol so I don't know why you are making this remark.

I was just commenting on the causation/correlation thing.

Agree. We were on a packed beach yesterday and a group of 3 started smoking weed. My god the smell. It was awful. Everyone could smell it - disgusting.

I wonder what the cost to the NHS is of issues related to drink and drugs?

Never cared what people do as long as it doesn’t affect the public purse or hurt or affect others. Drugs and alcohol do both.

Agreed.
I went to visit someone in a mental health ward recently. There were lots of younger people on there, the majority for cannabis induced mental health issues eg psychosis.

🤣

I know people who take it in different ways not smoking. One has Cannabis oil (not cbd!) someone I know uses a vape pen and gummies. So there are alternatives

Pain relief. Why do most people drink till they get pissed up & want to fight or to the point they piss themselves? I know what I would rather.

If it was legal I honestly wouldn't see it as any different to alcohol. People drink for too much in my opinion. I work in a small supermarket and about 70% of what we sell is alcohol. It's in a "nice area" and the amount of functioning alcoholics I see on a daily basis is shocking. Legality aside, I can't see how that's preferable.

You can always spot the stoners and drug addicts on threads like these with their whatabouttery and denial.

I find it sad that people can’t get through their day with their drug. If that’s you, get help for your addiction and inability to cope with life undrugged.

And I despise any adult who smokes weed around their DCs. Or even those that go to the bottom of the garden to smoke and think their kids can’t smell it. Get a grip.

Yeah my main issue is the smell. It’s massively anti social to do in certain environments.

I used to live in one of those new build high rise apartment blocks in London and I’d smell it every other day.

I don’t know if it was someone on my floor or the smell coming from a resident below.

Probably both. It was mainly singles and couples living there, but there were some very young kids too. There were regular complaints made to concierge but nothing much was done aside from letters being sent out to all residents. Tbf probably not much else could be done.

It’s the same as a lot of things nowadays, people don’t care about the impact of their actions on those around. We would also get the dog owners leaving their pets shit in the communal garden 🙄 it’s all part of a wider problem and trend in society for people to be excessively selfish.

When my daughter was a few months old. I started noticing noticing the smell, it would fill up my daughter’s room. No matter what I tried I couldn’t get rid of the smell. I live in an apartment. For over 6 months even I was getting high from the smell, imagine what was happening to my baby daughter.
I call police, I informed consierge, we could not located this damn smell. The corridors had no smell so sniffing on the doors on my floor and ones above and below elbow didn’t help at all. The smell in our flat would make me puke. I just can’t stand that smell.
Then suddenly we saw the last few minutes of a police raid on our floor. The flat belonged to some lovely boys (no smell on them ad we shared lifts many times). After the raid there was a clear out of their flat , at which point I asked if I could enter to see what it was.
Lo and behold they had set up a lovely drug den with little growing, drying and packing stations. I don’t know the terminology. I couldn’t believe me bloody eyes!
The smell had been coming in through our shared vent and as we have the building list between it goats I never assumed these guys or their flat.
Seriously though, if weed smell has a colour, you could see how misty it would make my room. I swear it put my little one to sleep for the night though 😂😂.