To ask your opinions on cannabis and legalisation

[orangeleopard]

I’m just curious about people’s opinion on cannabis. I’m aware it’s illegal, but I believe it should be treated the same way alcohol is and be legalised. As one example why, I believe it can do wonders for people with chronic illnesses and pain. I think if it was legal I would likely consume it as a way to get me off taking the strong opioids I’m prescribed daily. It would be safer and have less side effects. I’ve seen stories of it helping peoples anxiety as well as helped people with neurological disorders etc.

On the other hand I think it can be very bad as most people I know who consume it have become very lazy, and angry when they don’t ‘smoke’ aka withdrawals and it likely caused their depression. But I’ve also known a person who has adhd and smoking has helped them remain focused and on track in day to day life. I suppose it does depend on the person.

I think my overall opinion is that it should be treated like alcohol - in all honesty it’s likely safer as no one has died from an overdose from cannabis. But I do believe it should be legalised and people should be able to safely access it like they do in the Netherlands for example. I honestly believe it would decrease crime a bit.

So what are all your opinions?

YABU- it shouldn’t be legal
YANBU - it should be legal

There are hybrid strains that don't smell when smoked .
You can buy it openly online (not dark web)
If you meet the criteria with the online private prescription you can buy it.
You can buy it off the guy a few doors away, the mum at the school, or the teenagers hanging around the shopping centre/wherever/whoever.
The police point of view upthread was very insightful and useful to read.
The fact it can already be bought anywhere in the UK (including prisons) it would make sense to me to take the rug from under the ocgs and legalise it.

@Locutus2000 brilliant!

People seem to be arguing that cannabis is BAD therefore should be illegal. Badness isn't a measure of whether something should be illegal. Self-harm and suicide, all the way to cheating on your spouse and abandoning your children are all bad. But they are legal/decriminalised. Alcohol kills so many people, ruins lives and is the biggest substance of choice of addicts. Legal.

You don't need to argue that cannabis is bad. You need to argue that legalising it is WORSE. And every actual study (not your cousin who lives there and their reckons) says that an evidence-based, non-punitive, medical not legal model of dealing with drugs is BETTER. Whether it's medical supply, safe-use sites, harm-reduction, decriminalisation or whatever. Less law, more sense.

Addiction is a medical issue mostly caused by trauma. Drug-of-choice isn't the issue, preventing and treating trauma is.

All of that ^

@MrsTerryPratchett so well put!

Historically in Europe and currently in other places, human life depends on alcohol sterilising water to make it safe to drink. Yes it causes all the issues you list, but it is very much part of the culture and always has been because drinking weak beer was the only safe way of getting fluid into your body, ( any body, child or adult) for hundreds of years

That is why - in answer to your question

Don't legalise it. One neighbour around here uses it and has mental health issues and does thing which we all as community had to go through and so on . He had visions, hallucinations, thoughts about everyone of us neighbours out to get him and the list goes on

I can't see an argument for legalising it yet cigarettes are being banned.

Where I live in London it's everywhere and it stinks. On buses, trains, in the streets. Vile.

If bring dangerous and smelly is a reason to ban something, then we'd need to get rid of cars too

*being

Speaking as someone with a lot of experience with cannabis and I for many years was totally for legalisation. However I have changed my opinion. It’s not dangerous in a traditional way people are used to it’s like death by 1000 cuts. It seriously messes with your dopamine/motivation system. If you are someone who can just have a cheeky joint every now and then it’s mostly fine. However a growing demographic are using it to cope with boredom and before you know it even basic maintenance things in life just become too much effort and it allows you to become ok with having no drive to better yourself. If your kids smoke it everything will seem fine and you’ll wonder what the fuss is about it. Then you’ll notice over the years they become less interested in schoolwork lose their ambition to become successsful. Some strains of cannabis actually can be ok for casual use and don’t effect the drive as badly mostly sativa varieties however these are not nowhere near as ubiquitous as indica strains which combined with selective breeding in last couple of decades has created some powerful almost sedative strains and that is what your getting on the street mostly. Don’t underestimate this plant alcohol you can see obviously who has a problem as it effects their life alot more in the short term but cannabis the once potentional doctors/solicitors/businessmen etc of young academic students will become shadows of what they could of been.

HarpendenHarpendenHarpenden

my post of 09.48 makes it clear that drugs by prescription aren't a problem to me. Heroin is used as a controlled prescription drug.

I don't actively have to campaign to get alcohol banned to not be hypocritical for not believing that legalising weed would be of benefit to people

Then why isn't this thread about banning alcohol? Where are all the threads about banning alcohol?

if you want to start a thread about banning alcohol, you can. But prohibition didn't work in the states, whereas there are many countries that do have a ban on alcohol in different formats that seems to work to some degree.

So soon enough spice will be legal too? Hell, legalise the lo t of them and have gone with it!

But prohibition didn't work in the states

just like weed prohibition doesn't work here

Yes I think it time to legalise cannabis

the main reason is because now it is so easily available and what is mainly being smoked is skunk by young people and this has extremely high of thc and we are seeing the terrible impact on our mh services

it needs to be better regulated and while illegal it can’t be

I live in a cpuntry where it is decriminlised. No issues at all

When I was a student nurse I had a placement in a community COPD team. Most of the patients were old with an extensive tobacco history and jobs that increased their risks of developing COPD. There were a few younger patients (35yrs+) on the caseload too and they were there because of their recreational drug history. All of the young patients had smoked cannabis from a relatively young age.

Everyone can say about how cannabis has properties similar to alcohol but alcohol does not damage the cilia in your lungs. One joint is similar to twenty fags in relation to the damage it does to your lungs. Inhaling anything other than air is going to cause damage. I’m so surprised that in all of the debates about this no one mentions the damage that is caused to the lungs.

If it's already everywhere in the UK why not make it safer and avoid criminal elements. .

If streets already stink of weed and are causing zombies and severe mental illness what's the difference?

And if we are going by anecdotal evidence then those of us who live in counties where it's legal or grew up where it's cultural should have horrible experiences. I have never known anyone to die from pot. I don't even know how straight weed could cause a heart attack. My friends are all successful and normal who still take it. I have never seen pot heads roaming the streets looking like zombies.

One joint is similar to 20 cigarettes??? I'm going to need to see some medical evidence for this because every study I've seen has never been successful due to the same pot smokers who developed issues also being cigarette smokers.

Can you share a medical study that concludes this?

I agree OP. As long as it’s controlled so only small quantities can purchased then it should be legalised. So much state time and money is wasted on this drug which is not more dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. Not only that but I think they’ve shown that legalisation reduces organised crime and the associated violence.

Inhaling anything other than air is going to cause damage
This makes sense to me, but cannabis can also be used in edible form, so lung damage from using it can be avoided.

Definitely legalise it. I have chronic pain and I'm sure the price of prescription cannabis would come down if it were legalised.

I see cannabis the same way I do alcohol, if you're having to smoke / have a drink as soon as you wake up, you have other issues. The issues are not with the substance but the reliance.