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?

You don't inhale alcohol and aren't able to passively smoke alcohol though.

OK, we're happy with the laws around tobacco then.

Trying to regulate - or ban - cannabis is always going to rub up against the incongruity of the fact that we are more than happy to allow alcohol and tobacco in society.

Also, why is cannabis the only issue where it's on the beneficiaries to provide all the answers ? If society insisted dog owners come up with all the answers to dealing with deadly dogs and dog shit everywhere before they could be allowed to have one, there would be an uproar. And dogs kill way more people than cannabis with it's LD50 of 10kg? every single year.

I think this just shows how the health consequences haven't really been that fully thought through as a society.

You don't get drunk on cigarette smoke. But kids can get high passively from cannabis smoking. Can you see how the analogies with smoking and drinking are very different when it comes to smoking cannabis around children within the home. We don't give our children our kids teeny tiny amounts of alcohol. It's a drug and it's harmful.

Plenty of people would be responsible I'm sure and not smoke around their kids. But plenty wouldn't and would think it would be okay.

You should be able to buy 20 joints at the petrol station no different to how you can buy 20 B&H Superkings. They should be covered by shutters, not advertised and restricted to over 21s, but other than that, the same.

Personally I can't think of anything more ghastly. If you think I don't trust criminals not to adulterate and thin out cannabis, why would I be happy with big business doing it ?

When Channel 4 ran their "Pot Night" back in the 90s, the vehicle of choice was a box of chocolates. You had a rather happy Adam Faith knocking on advertising agencies asking "How would you market this ?". It was hilarious watching the disjoint between what they had to say ("Obviously we'd never advertise anything harmful") with the way they were obviously keen as mustard to get a slice of the action if it were to come to pass.

It already happens. And it’s about the same for mothers who drink too much after school. Neglect is not fussy about your choices

Parents who miss use alcohol don't give it to their kids though.

The "people I've know who smoke it all have terrible mental health" is a bit chicken and egg to me. It's well known that people who have mental health issues often use substances to cope or manage symptoms, or even just as an escape (they've also studied this with rats/mice and the more stressful/depressing their environment was, the more likely they were to choose drugged water over plain water). So is it the cannabis that messed up their mental health or are they using cannabis because their mental health is bad?

Either way, some people become dependent and spiral and do awful things, but that's the same with alcohol. Many people manage their intake just fine. I'm all for decrim.

Neglect doesn’t get based on your use of drugs: it’s what happens when you fail to look after children that is criminal. Other countries manage on this basis, so too could the UK unless there was positive evidence that a child had so much exposure as to be impaired.

With cannabis legalized, I would assume (it doesn't seem to have been studied) that those who choose to smoke (rather than eat) it would feel more able to do so outdoors.

There are absolutely parents who allow their underage kids to drink.

I'd imagine they'd manage it the same way as booze - if you turned up to pick your kids up from school stinking of booze and drunk, it would be a safeguarding concern. Similarly if you turn up stoned.

There is the issue if second-hand smoke, that's the only real difference I see. You can limit intake the same as with booze - a few puffs or a very weak joint Vs a small glass of wine or couple of beers... Very different to being completely wrecked/drunk.

Is that not gateway because they then have dealer contacts?

Ie. Would it still be a gateway even if legal.

Passive smoking tobacco smoke is fine within the law. Why would it be different for cannabis? If we can't police our streets there will be little intervention against this and why would there if it's seen as no different from smoking. There seems to be evidence in countries where cannabis is legalised of children having passively smoked it and it becoming quite common. We don't fully know what effect this has on behaviour and the developing brain. This is not to say this already doesn't happen in the UK. But if legalising cannabis were to happen we not effectively saying that's okay and it's on a par with smoking.

https://today.ucsd.edu/story/smoking-cannabis-in-the-home-increases-odds-of-detectable-levels-in-children

There may well be an argument that as cannabis leads to more of a "high" than tobacco that although decriminalised, it still shouldn't be smoked indoors around children. That's not to say the drug itself is illegal, but that smoking it around children is a safeguarding concern. Even though smoking tobacco indoors around children is legal, it would still raise concerns with services say if they did a home check on a child and the parents had all the windows shut and the walls were yellow with the parents smoking fags on the sofa with the children next to them for example. It would likely be treated similarly, although I could see it being seeing as worse.

Just because something is decriminalised doesn't mean every single thing to do with it it decriminalised. It's legal to drink alcohol, it's not legal to drink and drive. It's legal to smoke tobacco and drive though. We can't know for sure what limits regarding children would be thought about. As it is, it's not illegal to put some beer in your 8 year old child's lemonade (I definitely had a few "shandies" as a kid) in the privacy of your home, although it is frowned upon by child's services I'd imagine.

Alcohol is the biggest gateway drug out there and that's legal.

“From my experiences at work it is a gateway drug for alot of the drug addicts”.

Yes, because most hardcore drug addicts started off smoking a bit of weed. That is NOT the same as all weed smokers eventually become smackheads.

From my former line of work I can assure you that alcohol is infinitely more damaging to society than cannabis is. Alcohol is responsible for a thousand times more violent offences than cannabis is, both domestically and in public.

Regulate it and you’ll lose the super strong illegally grown mutated skunk that we smell in public.
Decriminalise it and get rid of the growers and skanky dealers.
Tax it and put money back in the public coffers, like we do with cigarettes and alcohol.

YABU, OP.

Lol. My friend grows her own due to not getting decent stuff in the UK. And she was around in the 70s and 80s obv

But are they using cannabis due to their mental health conditions. ? Using it to blur the edges

And taxed. So everyone here is benefiting from the misery it causes.

Your friend is breaking the first commandment of growing your own cannabis.

• Don't Tell
• Don't Sell
• Don't Smell

I do not think that can be answered for everyone

I think we need to move away from thinking that people only drink or use drugs regularly to manage low mood/anxiety etc and accept that sometimes its as simple as enjoying getting a little drunk or high. Its an enjoyable experience that many like to repeat for no other reason than its enjoyable

Still a beautiful city. I love the smell of weed, haven't touched the stuff in 30 years and not remotely tempted, despite the proliferation of BC cannabis stores in my city.

It should, like alcohol used in moderation it is fine for many adults.
It'll take the Illegal temptation away from teenagers and remove profits from the dealers.

The gateway drug IMO is nicotine.
Look at the teenagers and young adults addicted to vaping nicotine.

The temptation comes from watching adults acting merry while under the influence of a substance, mostly alcohol, it influences the children's outlook on getting out of it.