Is cannabis legalisation a feminist issue?

[traceyracer]

I know there are mixed views on the good/bad effects of cannabis but my understanding is it relaxes those who use it and violent acts from stoned people are virtually nil (compare that to drunks).

Do you think women would be safer in a nation where cannabis is legal and socially acceptable?

Moanymoaner123 yeah, I think I probably agree with you on it but I don’t know, who to trust??

I had a partner who became angry and controlling when he ran out. My whole life was geared around keeping his supply up. So yes it is a feminist issue in that sense. It makes men abusive.

Agree with moany. It is very very effective for alleviating menstrual cramps, I know several women who use it soley for this purpose so in that respect yes it's a feminist issue. I'd like to at least see it available on prescription.

A lot of women globally use I for endometriosis and menopause symptoms, as it can be more effective without side effects of other options.

Women don’t tend to abuse it or smoke it for those ailments either.

terfsandwich, IMO I would think the problem there was your partner who was abusing it.

You could replace "cannabis" with alcohol or any other drug or anything else he likes to have or do, and likely he would still become angry when he runs out and has to wait to get more.

It's all about taking responsibility. Which is why if cannabis was ever legalised here I would hope there would be a big focus on educating the public of harm reduction/safe usage.

and another point about prohibition is the fact cannabis is illegal doesn't do much to stop people who want it getting hold of it. It is extremely popular and there are dealers all over the country.

It's not a simple issue but I think that if research was done and legalisation were carried out responsibly the pros could outweigh the cons.

I think it is a feminist issue for two reasons, one because of its suspected benefits for chronic pain (women impacted more) and because of the negative consequences on women from men who abuse it becoming abusive.

fun fact Queen Victoria allegedly used it for menstrual pain :)

Hm. I don't drink or smoke, having done both to excess earlier in life, and suffered at the hands of men who were regular recreational cannabis users. As did most of my girlfriends at the time. But it was a particular scene, and I can't say for sure whether those guys were just arseholes anyway, or whether it was exaggerated by their use of cannabis, as an intoxicant of choice.
To me, there is a massive difference between recreational and medical use of cannabis. I have friends who successfully treat chronic rheumatic pain, MS and anxiety with CBD oil. That is already legal. No need to legalise cannabis for recreational use or cannabis with a psychoactive content (THC). Cannabis disinhibits, and as such, in my opinion, is more likely to lead to users acting on short fuses, frustrations and jealous or paranoid whims.
I currently live with someone who is massively battling crippling anxiety, very likely induced by smoking skunk in their 20s. I have totally had to pick up the slack as the partner of someone with fluctuating MH and that's not an unusual scenario.
I think that people who use any drugs recreationally carry a massive burden of irresponsibility, contributing to so much crap in society. But I am not sure that legalising said drugs would be any better.

I was always for legalisation. I smoked in my late teens but then stopped. A few years ago I started again out of some misguided whim to recreate my former self, pre abusive marriage. The stuff you get now is so much stronger. I was never a particularly heavy user but I smoked daily, and by the time I realise I’d become addicted to the stuff it was too late. I’ve only just admitted to myself what an awful toll it’s taken on my MH.I’m bipolar anyway, but the weed made it much much worse. I’d never been psychotic until I started smoking again. I’m 8 weeks clean now and getting health with my local drug and alcohol service but it’s bloody hard to quit. Also I’ve read in various places that women are more likely to become addicted than men, so on balance I think it should remain illegal, for recreational purposes at least. CBD oil is different, it’s not addictive and it doesn’t have the psychoactive ingredient, and it’s already legal.

Where did you get the idea that violent acts from stoned people are virtually nil?

Have you taken into account the violent acts during psychotic episodes?

Have you taken into account the number of deaths and life-changing injuries caused by drug-driving (where the drug is cannabis)?

Hmm. I think it could be, but in quite an indirect way - legalisation (as opposed to decriminalisation) might help to reduce the trafficking of people, which does disproportionately affect women and children.

I know some foster parents who briefly looked after a teenage boy found in a similar situation to the one described below. Sadly, he ended up back in the hands of his traffickers as soon as he aged out of their care - he was paying off the rest of his passage through working in a local nail bar (in essentially slave condition).

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/31/trafficked-beaten-ensaved-life-of-cannabis-farmer-vietnam

I don’t know enough about the relationship between cannabis and trafficking to form a proper opinion, only enough to be able to base my personal decision to quit my (very occasional) recreational drug use based on the human costs of producing/manufacturing/distributing the stuff.

Today’s street cannabis is absolutely nothing like what was available in my day, and it’s that difference in potency that made me far less tolerant than I assumed I would be when my own DS was experimenting with it. That alone would make me question the wisdom in relaxing the law. Developing brains need a chance to grow - same reasons I question the use of hormone blockers in gender questioning children.

if cannabis is more potent then just use less of it?

That’s not quite how it works though is it? People build up tolerances over time. You need to smoke 90s resin two joints at a time 24/7 to give yourself the kind of psychosis that is becoming increasingly common:

www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2019/03/23/high-potency-cannabis-or-frequent-use-raises-the-risk-of-psychosis

www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/potent-weed-linked-to-psychosis-65624

“If you are going to legalise cannabis, unless you want to pay for more a lot more psychiatric beds and a lot more psychiatrists, then you need to devise a system where you would legalise in a way that wouldn’t increase the consumption and increase the potency,” coauthor Robin Murray, from King’s College London, tells The Guardian”

I never understood why they didn't allow medical research into cannabis. After all, opiates are widely used in medicine and have always been important painkillers, but that doesn't make it legal to use heroin. Researching and using cannabis legally doesn't mean it would suddenly be legal to roll a spliff in the street.

Even if it were legalised for non-medical use, it would come with a lot of regulation, just like alcohol and tobacco - age restrictions, licensed vendors, bans on advertising and so on. Most employers would ban it in work time as they do with alcohol these days, and it would be banned for high risk occupations such as dr

...driving.

(Stupid phone.)

I think alcohol ought to be more restricted than currently - in my childhood, you could only get it at proper off-licences, not any old corner shop or supermarket with really long opening hours. I am biased though, as the daughter of an alcoholic.

I don't think restricting alcohol more would be a vote-winner, though, so unlikely to happen.

OTOH, tobacco is far less available than a couple of decades ago, and it's less acceptable to drink and drive, so things can change.

Or maybe it's just that everyone I know is more focussed on a child free evening and an early night these days, so just don't have the energy for drinking!

@Betty

"You need to smoke 90s resin two joints at a time 24/7 to give yourself the kind of psychosis that is becoming increasingly common:"

Nonsense.

"“If you are going to legalise cannabis, unless you want to pay for more a lot more psychiatric beds and a lot more psychiatrists, then you need to devise a system where you would legalise in a way that wouldn’t increase the consumption and increase the potency,”"

Also nonsense. Countries and US states that have legalised cannabis haven't had any need for more psychiatrists. And where it is legal buyers are able to choose the potency of their purchase.

I think there is also the safeguarding angle to consider, one of the biggest increases in consumption in north america (where legalised) is in the edibles sector, particularly chocolates, cookies, gummies etc.

There have been poisoning cases where young children have eaten these, but its not out of the realms of possibilty for people to "medicate" their kids in a similar way to calpol and teething.

After all, opiates are widely used in medicine and have always been important painkillers, but that doesn't make it legal to use heroin. Researching and using cannabis legally doesn't mean it would suddenly be legal to roll a spliff in the street.

^ I think this is a good point. Changing legislation though, would mean people would grow their own- relatively easy to do. And we can’t have that can we.

I don't think it would. I'm sure it's possible to have legislation making something legal to grow with a licence but not without.

I'm sure it's possible to have legislation making something legal to grow with a licence but not without.

Yes, this.