Should Cannabis be legalised?

[TheBestThingsInLifeAreFreee]

What's your opinion.. should cannabis be legalised.. medically, recreationally, both or not at all?

It should be legalised for both, but like with cigarettes with their health warnings on the packet then there should be similar warnings on cannabis packaging, ie ‘can cause mental health issues’ and then the government can say that people have been forewarned.

Cannabis has amazing healing properties and it’s a better alternative to alcohol, you hardly hear of people getting stoned and then causing so much trouble that they get charged with breach of the peace and other minor charges, alcohol is far more dangerous than weed and some people drink everyday

Agree with Scotschic. It's nonsensical not to have weed (and possibly MDMA too, and some hallucinogens) legal when alcohol is. Making things illegal doesn't stop people doing them. Just make sure people are aware of the risks, regulate and tax them. The government could probably use the tax revenue tbh.

Yeah it should be and I believe it will be in the future

Yes it should be legal. I agree with what Scotschic posted

Do people still actually get prosecuted for smoking/selling weed?

No, it has awful long term effects- can cause psychosis’s and users end up needing anti depressants for life as their brains are permanently damaged.

Yes it should. Prohibition isn't working. All it does is create a lucrative black market that gives criminals a revenue stream and motivation for violence and consumes police resources.

Yes. Prohibition is ludicrous and alcohol is far, far more damaging, physically and mentally. It will be legalised soon (within next 8 years I'd say), UK will inevitably follow US in this.

If it were legalised can companies still drug test and have a no drugs culture?

Ie the army? Police etc?

Consider what prohibition did for the Mafia and organised crime. Then consider the number of young teenagers being murdered and the county lines issue today.
The NHS smoking cessation programme has been a great success.
Legalisation, taxation and education is the way to go IMO.
But the government don't want to do that and they sack any scientist or advisor who suggests it.
The drug barons don't want it because they are making a fortune as are their lawyers and accountants.
I believe that if certain drugs were legal and taxed there would be far less crime and fewer deaths.
I speak as a parent who has lost a child.
I tried so hard to get help for my child who was self medicating due to ADHD and depression. It is impossible.
There are powerful people in the establishment who are making a lot of money. Legalisation would stop that.
So they dont want it.

No it shouldn't be legalised. If you'd seen someone in drug induced psychosis throwing TVs across rooms and running into doors you'd be if the same opinion.

It wrecks young brains.

I read this week that crime has increased by as much as 25% in two of the US states since cannabis was legalised. There was an article in the Times (iirc) saying that a number of US psychiatrists are worried about the legalisation.

Yes it does have awful side effects. But I don't believe legalisation would make any difference to level of use. And quality control would save lives.
In USA kids are being sold grass clippings laced with fentanyl as cannabis. Death is painful and instant.

Used medically yes. My husband had a Brian tumour and there’re was evidence to suggest that cannabis oil can shrink tumours. It wouldn’t have worked for my husband because if the tumour that he had . However we did look into this before the consultant said this. We found we could have got hold of it quite easily however the financial cost was high and we wouldn’t have been able to afford it long term without getting into debt.

No it shouldn't be

I work in a job where I manage a team using machinery which is dangerous enough for fully coherent and aware staff members

But for someone who has been smoking weed and comes in all 'chilled' then it's an accident waiting to happen

It's a sore point for me right now. Lady in question had the tiniest piece in her bag in her locker.....the smell from that bit alone was disgusting!!

Don't want our customers or our younger members of staff exposed to that

I think that the legislation around use of substances in the work place could be exactly the same as use of alcohol and tobacco though.
Legalisation doesn't have to mean a free for all.
Just as we have laws around drink driving and smoking in public places.
If recreational drugs were legal, you could have laws around place of use, tax used to fund quality control, education and rehab.
Yes there would be issues in line with the issues we have with alcoholism and lung cancer, but I personally think it would actually result in a lot less crime and much lower mortality and morbidity than we are currently experiencing.
I have seen the results of criminalising mentally ill people first hand.
Addiction is an illness and making it dangerous and impossible to get help is killing our children.

Unsung hero

But surely it is no different to a person showing up tipsy on perfectly legal vodka, you would not let them work and so if someone showed up high it would have the same result. Home / fired!

Legalizing it probably wouldn't make it all that more common that it is now, i personally do not smoke nor have a medical condition worthy of it BUT I know so many people who smoke and you would never know by looking at them.

Do cannabis smokers know that they stink and that it's a revolting smell? Genuine question.
I'm assuming it wrecks a user's sense of smell early on? Nobody would knowingly trail a waft of nastiness 20ft around them everywhere they went.

People who have recently smoked may have a smell.

But I guarantee you talk and interact with dozens of cannabis users everyday without being aware.

But it can stay in your system for up to five days whereas that vodka won't!!