Cannabis: do you think it should be legalised?

Hello,

I’ve noticed that some American states have legalised cannabis, and it’s made me wonder what people here think. Do you think cannabis should be made legal?

Sorry if this topic is not appropriate for the forums.

I personally think it should be legalised, for a few different reasons. Prohibition doesn’t work – making it illegal doesn’t remove the demand for it, so instead the demand is supplied by organised crime. The product that the criminals sell could potentially be contaminated and dangerous. And people who use cannabis aren’t necessarily delinquent druggies – lots of otherwise ‘normal’ people use cannabis. I don’t smoke myself, but I know a few people who do, and they’re all good people with jobs.

It seems to me that lots of money is wasted on policing cannabis, when instead the economy could benefit from it being regulated and taxed. Legalising would also deprive organised crime of a lucrative source of money.

Agreed exactly.

Sorry if this topic is not appropriate for the forums.

As I understand it, the forum Aldershot is entirely appropriate for such off-topic topics! I’m not sure of its origins, but I suspect someone who used to live (near) there may have been involved!

I’m not sure of its origins, but I suspect someone who used to live (near) there may have been involved!

There was a (long) discussion in which Aldershot¹ was a feature. The forum was created in the hope that such off topic discussions would not occur in the techie areas.

Taxing cannabis as a legal item is a win – win. Less policing burden and a steady revenue stream for the

¹ er, the names Murray and Pampling may just have featured in the drift.

I’m not sure of its origins, but I suspect someone who used to live (near) there may have been involved!

That’ll be me. Some info here: https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/12/topics/1492

I’m not sure I agree with legalising cannabis. There are sufficient people at work already on something (look in their eyes), I’m not sure we really want to give people something else to crave. It’s bad enough with the smokers that get extremely ratty if it’s been fifty seconds since they last lit up. Ratty and wasted?

I can understand the tax benefits (more than likely why tobacco is still legal despite the obvious medical effects), but can anybody explain the logic behind legalising it to make it more accessible? If enough people get themselves hooked on cocaine, should we legalise that?

FWIW, don’t drink, don’t smoke, and my only drug is copious quantities of Tetley. I don’t believe I need drugs, the world is beautifully ****ed up already.

I’m not sure I agree with legalising cannabis. There are sufficient people at work already on something (look in their eyes), I’m not sure we really want to give people something else to crave.

1. Alcohol is legal, various actions while influenced by alcohol are not legal (driving, flying planes etc). There is no basic difference
2. Random drug tests for employees is rather common these days. Hence the news stories about people losing their jobs after eating poppy seed bread and their blood test producing a positive for morphine. It’s actually about 10th of the proper limit but some testers are sloppy.

I don’t smoke (ruins the taste of the beer as far as I’m concerned) and taking pain killers is an extremis measure for me. The main problem with cannabis currently is the custom bred strains producing stupid strong levels of active content with no proper testing (who cares it’s illegal anyway is their thought)

Compare with tobacco where legislation has forced reduced tar levels etc – yes it’s taken decades to get the legislation through and pressure manufacturers of a legal product to change it.
Much easier for cannabis legislation – no way the current producers can create a legal argument.

Oh, and it doesn’t produce a craving. Lot’s of different constituents make nice (non-addictive) medicinal use stuff like painkillers, anti-depressants, sleeping tablets. Bit of a financial bite for big pharma if you can breed and grow better than they can manufacture.

Oh, and it doesn’t produce a craving. Lot’s of different constituents make nice (non-addictive) medicinal use stuff like painkillers, anti-depressants, sleeping tablets. Bit of a financial bite for big pharma if you can breed and grow better than they can manufacture.

I find myself prescribed Cocodamol for a shoulder pain which apparently cannot be fixed by surgery.

Luckily I only took/take them sparingly, as no-one told me at the time that they broke down to addictive morphine derivatives (do not use for more than 3 days is the current advice). Now I know I’m even more careful. But this fortnight I find myself popping them and Ibuprofen for shoulder and neck pain caused by brush-cutter-induced spasm.

A medicinal joint might well help – but …

So I guess I might be in favour generally!

Bit like Aunty Clare who had her nightly whisky – for medicinal purposes. She’s dead now, of course. But she made it well-more than me so far!

Anyway, no point in voting for TM or JC; perhaps a well-judged manifesto!

But this fortnight I find myself popping them and Ibuprofen for shoulder and neck pain caused by brush-cutter-induced spasm.

How are you on hoppy beers? High hop content helps relax and aids sleeping, moderate alcohol level leaves a low level muscle relaxant throughout your body but particularly where blood flows – like inflamed muscle.
With a real ale the trace yeast content tops up your vitamin B12 (and others). I’m not sure I’d go for much beyond a small whisky on a regular basis. Too much alcohol for regular consumption.

I find myself prescribed Cocodamol for a shoulder pain which apparently cannot be fixed by surgery.

There’s an app vet for that.

In the matter of legalization it is interesting to compare the case of cannabis with that of pornography. I arrived in Denmark in 1969, the year in which the sale of pornography became legal there. There were huge numbers of outlets for it; even small town groceries had automats outside dispensing it. These swiftly disappeared everywhere except for a small region around the main railway station in Copenhagen – presumably catering to arriving foreigners for whom such fare may have been novel. The Danes have long been much more relaxed about sex than the Brits, who seem to prefer smuttiness and censure to a reasoned assessment of risk. I believe the Danes to be the wiser in this matter.
I certainly think cannabis should be legalized. I think it was the third day that I was in Denmark that a GP, a respectable citizen, casually offered me some. I have known various people who were regular users of it, and some of them undoubtedly suffered eventual intellectual deterioration, though whether as a direct consequence I have no proof. But there must be mountains of evidence on which society could take a reasonable decision. More important than a decision on legalization would be a committment to base such decisions on reason and science rather than on demagogic advantage, but I am probably asking too much here.

I don’t think that “sold by organized crime” is a valid argument. Where do you stop? Cocaine? Heroin? Prostitution? Weapons? Very hard to draw a sensible line.

Cannabis is not such a big cultural thing like alcohol. If we based legislation only on reason and science, if cannabis is not legal, alcohol should also not be legal. But comparing the results of the “Prohibition” to the results of the ban of Cannabis is misleading. I think that a

BTW, I don’t know any “normal” people regularly consuming cannabis or other so-called “soft drugs”. Or, to be more precise, I don’t know them anymore. They are either mad or dead today. Actually, I don’t have a problem with people taking personal risks, like e.g. heavy tobacco consumers. They die earlier and don’t (usually!) harm anyone else. The same cannot be said for cannabis consumers, especially when they drive after consuming.

I don’t have a problem with people taking personal risks,

Nor do I, but I would like to think that their upbringing has adequately acquainted them with the risks. There is nothing like prohibition for adding a spurious attraction to risky activities.

if cannabis is not legal, alcohol should also not be legal.

Indeed. I think one should distinguish between two forms of alcohol abuse: drunkeness and alcoholism. The first is a behavioural problem, the second a medical. The opprobrium each elicits varies with the society. It is probably an over-generalization, but in northern europe the first is often tolerated, but in southern it is the second. Another complication, for multi-ethnic societies, is the genetic component of the problem. Until modern times the easiest way to avoid drinking dirty water was to brew either beer/wine, or tea/herbs. So many generations has this been going on that the beer/wine drinkers have evolved a genetic response to excess alcohol (the morning-after headache) whose advantages the others lack. The impact of alcohol on Inuit and native Americans was notorious. Religious attitudes to alcohol and inebriation, whether of condemnation or celebration, have varied markedly between cultures.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I’m not sure I agree with legalising cannabis. There are sufficient people at work already on something (look in their eyes), I’m not sure we really want to give people something else to crave. It’s bad enough with the smokers that get extremely ratty if it’s been fifty seconds since they last lit up. Ratty and wasted?

Steve Pampling said almost everything I would have said, though I would add that people loads of people are already using it anyway, they’re just doing it illegally. I think making it legal wouldn’t really change that situation.

I also think (or hope) that people who show up to work intoxicated, or drive intoxicated, would be treated the same way they would if they showed up to work drunk, or drove drunk, etc.

Also I’m not sure but I think I remember reading that cannabis & other drug use rates in the Netherlands are actually lower than in some other european countries where cannabis is illegal.

But comparing the results of the “Prohibition” to the results of the ban of Cannabis is misleading. I think that a

Why is it misleading? From my point of view, it seems fairly similar. There’s apparently millions of people using cannabis every year in the UK. Since mostly shady/questionable sorts of people grow and supply cannabis, we’ve now got super strong ‘skunk’ varieties of cannabis among most common/readily available stuff on the streets, which I suppose would be the cannabis equivalent to the moonshine that was produced during the prohibition. (I might have gotten something wrong there, I haven’t really closely looked into the history of the prohibition or what sorts of illegal alcoholic drinks were produced at the time)

I haven’t really closely looked into the history of the prohibition or what sorts of illegal alcoholic drinks were produced at the time)

One of my favourites is the variation in response to the hysterical wave that was prohibition.
USA – outright ban and gangsters on the streets
UK – limitation of sales time and premises¹ and those in the know participating in “lock ins”
Belgium – ban alcohol but declare beer to be liquid bread/food. Thus the present day situation where sale of beer does not require a license but sale of spirits does.

¹ The changes in recent decades have increased time availability while reducing drunken behaviour on the streets (despite media implying otherwise). The “Scottish experiment” was the pilot for longer hours. The selection of Scotland was a clear attempt to use the well known 10 o’clock swill effect to prove that longer hours were bad. Anti-alcohol groups were very disappointed when after a small period of increase, the 10 o’clock swill effect totally disappeared and the public started using pubs for coffee as much as beer at certain times of the day.
I’ve no doubt the legalising of cannabis would follow the same pattern, small period of increase and then die back.

I’ve no doubt the legalising of cannabis would follow the same pattern, small period of increase and then die back.

Indeed. You only have to look at Portugal’s experience to see it.

Just on a slightly different tack, I believe there is a case for the use of medical marijuana. I’ve come across a number of claims about its effective use in the treatment of a wide range of medical conditions. And – don’t laugh – CBD oil, which is derived from cannabis but is perfectly legal, has done wonders for my elderly, arthritic dog since I started giving it to him 5 months ago. In our family we joke about George (his name) being a pot-head and having his regular ‘fix’ but the CBD part of cannabis is non-psychoactive and seems quite safe. And in George’s case, there’s no possibility of a placebo effect and yet it works.

While I have considerable reservations about the recreational use of cannabis, especially in people with a tendency towards certain mental health problems, I personally would have no hesitation in using cannabis (including THC, the ‘wacky’ part of cannabis) to treat certain serious illnesses in preference to some of the more ‘traditional’ treatments should the need ever arise.

I have reservations about the recreational use of cannabis too. I wouldn’t use it myself, but then I have reservations about alcohol or nicotine too, and wouldn’t use them either. They all cause problems for some people, but the problems are compounded, not reduced, by making such things illegal.