Cannabis should not be decriminalised - AIBU?

[Alwaysoneoddsock]

I hate the smell of cannabis. It’s becoming the norm to smell it. I think decriminalising this drug will make it more prolific.
It is a gateway drug.
It does not help mental health (in fact it worsens it).
People driving under the influence of cannabis is a real issue.
AIBU to say it should not be decriminalised?

I wish they would legalise anyone who is currently paying hundreds of pounds a month for medical cannabis to grow their own. Licence which varieties they can grow, make them have the plants tested a couple of times a year to check they are only growing what they should. I'm a chronic pain sufferer & would much prefer to be using it than taking all the pharmaceutical stuff I have to now, I can't afford to pay for the prescribed stuff & I can't get it on the NHS.

I noticed, when I was younger, as you walked around walking the dog the smell from houses was cigarette smoke. These days it's weed. It's not just 'student' areas, It's everywhere. My neighbours are all pensioners. Over half smoke joints daily. The smell carries over the gardens.
It's vile.
Worryingly, it's when cars drive past and the smell hits you. I think it's a bigger issue than Drink/ drive now. That's become socially unacceptable, so weed has replaced it.

It seems like some just want to decriminalize a drug that can induce psychosis and cause huge mental health problems, not to mention being a source of funds for violent gangs, to protect ethnic minority rights. The drug is illegal for good reason and not part of any ethnic 'culture' so simply don't carry it. How much overlap is between drug carrying by youth and violent gang related behaviour?

Yes, diamorphine is used to relieve pain during childbirth. Fentanyl is more commonly used now as it is more potent but both are drugs that are considered safe in moderation.

The smell is absolutely horrific. Do people who smoke it bother realise how bad it smells? It’s way worse than tobacco.

I agree.
I went to New York a year ago and the whole place now smells of weed. It was awful and it ruined the trip.

Can you link me to the crime statistics please?
it appears more people kill themselves through alcohol than drugs but I am taking about crimes against other people.

I very much doubt the new 'legit' dealers will be filling in their end of year tax returns?!

Given that there doesn't seem to be any desire to police it effectively, I think it should be decriminalised, but only for use in people's own homes because the smell is awful and horribly antisocial.

It should also be taxed heavily to pay for the costs to the NHS of the terrible mental health problems that it causes.

If we aren't going to decriminalised it, then it should be policed properly, rather than the current situation of it being illegal but almost universally tolerated. That makes no sense at all.

Why not? Tobacconists and off licences do. Where weed has been decriminalised, that's exactly what happens.

I absolutely hate the smell and agree with all your points but I think by the sounds of it that it will become legalised. Uch it disgusts me but seems to work well in other countries where it is legal and I suppose someone having a joint then doesn’t likely become aggressive and start a fight like some people do with alcohol

this I agree with though. Chronic pain is no joke but sadly we all know some people will abuse this situation or if gangs etc find out your growing weed they will pressure you to sell it on, break in and take it, take over your home etc

Yeah, that sounds great but here in the UK they are smoking potent weed that is damaging their mh.

YANBU
It’s the gateway to other drugs.

It can and does wreck the MH in young male teens, which can be permanent.

I agree, my addictions started with alcohol and prescription Xanax. A friend I made through recovery started with alcohol and that lead onto coke which then lead to abusing many other drugs, yet has never touched weed as she’s never been a smoker. I’ve smoked weed but never got addicted, it’s actually what helped me kick my addictions.

And in Prohibition USA they'd drink alcohol distilled from industrial ethanol that caused them to go blind. And now they mostly drink pathetically weak and tasteless beer, quite decent wine or horrible whiskey. But all strengths and tastes are catered for, you know what you're getting and fewer people are going blind or dying from drinking ethanol.

On the comparison to alcohol and tobacco, if alcohol and tobacco have been established in Western culture for many years. However cannabis is a relatively more recent and relatively less widespread drug.

If alcohol and tobacco were a relatively recent thing then I am sure that they would be made illegal as well.

Cannibis is not essential for life it is a choice i think the government have enough to be getting on with if people want to ruin their mental and physical health over choice that is on them

The druggies i know of can barely string 2 words together, they chose to take it that is their choice

@SpanThatWorld

Tobacconists and Off Licence operators are not comparable to drug dealers though, are they? They are law abiding people who have gone into those industries in the knowledge that they are required to pay taxes etc and they are willing and prepared to do so. If drug dealers were interested in abiding by the laws and paying taxes, they wouldn’t have become drug dealers. All they care about is making money and keeping every penny of it for themselves.

And where weed has been decriminalised, it’s not our current weed dealers who have gone into production to manufacture it, or opened businesses registered to sell it. It’s more of those law abiding people who have seen a business opportunity. Our current drug dealers will simply undercut those selling it legally, just as many people never go to a shop to buy cigarettes and tobacco, but get it from a bloke they know, or they will diversify into different and stronger products.

The posts above mention Canada, where weed has been decriminalised. Well guess how the illegal dealers have replaced their lost income? https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(23)00131-X/fulltext

Weed is legal in San Francisco. Look what they’re dealing with https://news.sky.com/story/the-million-dollar-streets-strewn-with-bodies-contorted-by-the-effects-of-fentanyl-12871961

Portugal decriminalised drugs and invested heavily in treatment programmes. And it took a moment for the dealers to respond. But they definitely responded https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-portugals-drug-decriminalization-a-failure-or-success-the-answer-isnt-so-simple/

It shouldn't be decriminalised, it should be legalised. Like any drug there are positives and negatives.

I hate the smell of cannabis. It’s becoming the norm to smell it. I think decriminalising this drug will make it more prolific.
That's your issue. I hate the smell of curry but don't moan when the neighbour cooks it.

It is a gateway drug.
The reason it is a gateway drug is because it's illegal so people have to go to a criminal dealer. This dealer has other substances to sell too, and will always try to sell something. If he's out of cannabis he'll try to get you onto coke or heroin. Make cannabis legal and you remove the need for people to buy it from criminals who will try to move their customers onto something more dangerous.

It does not help mental health (in fact it worsens it).
Not true, it is very helpful for many mental health conditions. That's why it's legally available on prescription (in the UK) for things like anxiety and depression.

People driving under the influence of cannabis is a real issue.
People driving under the influence of any drug that impairs their reactions is a real issue. That includes alcohol and prescription medication. What is needed is a mechanism to prevent people driving while impaired, and proper sentences for people who are caught. People are rarely jailed for drug-driving - if they got a moderate sentence of say 10 years imprisonment people would think twice about doing it.

AIBU to say it should not be decriminalised?
Only on the grounds that it should be legalised rather than decriminalised.

What does "gateway" drug even mean?

Do people really think that people who experiment with a lot of drugs wouldn't if they hadn't first been introduced to cannabis? People who want to experiment are more likely to start with cannabis because it's cheap and easily accessible. If it wasn't, they'd just start with something else.

@Dotjones

That’s a really comprehensive argument for the positives of legalisation. What are your counter arguments for the negatives?

The fact that operations are already in place to under cut legal suppliers and in this cost of living crisis, why would a daily user spend at least double what they’re currently spending? It’s not as though the dealers need to invest in marketing strategies to get their customers.

The fact that dealers are not going to start selling legally, with all the regulations that would come along with it, so how do you address the problems that California and Portugal have had, where dealers have replaced their lost income by selling stronger drugs? (fyi, skunk and Fentanyl most definitely do not assist with poor mental health)

"It is a gateway drug.
The reason it is a gateway drug is because it's illegal so people have to go to a criminal dealer. This dealer has other substances to sell too, and will always try to sell something. If he's out of cannabis he'll try to get you onto coke or heroin. Make cannabis legal and you remove the need for people to buy it from criminals who will try to move their customers onto something more dangerous."

This is a load of nonsense. Have you ever spent any time with a full time dealer? Their many phones never stop pinging. You don't have to try anything to get your customers to come back. Weed dealers sell weed. Occasionally, they might get a bit of coke or a few pills but there is no need for a weed dealer to diversify, the demand is high. Heroin is a massively different proposition. No casual pothead is going to take heroin because their dealer is out of pot and even people who take a lot of drugs know not to mess with it.

Interesting post. We make drugs easier to get and things go down hill. There’s the centres in Scotland that look awful in the press recently.

Literally none of that is anything to do with legal weed. It's like saying nobody should ever drive because rally driving is quite dangerous.