The Legalisation of Cannabis

Webster · #1 02-07-2007, 12:29 PM

I'll give my personal view at the end as this is a topic I find particularly interesting and is something that was an issue in 2004 in the UK.

The current laws on cannabis in the UK:

Cannabis is a Class C drug after being reclassified from Class B in January 2004.
If you are 17 and under, you will be arrested and taken to the police station and your parent / guardian will have to attend.
If you are 18 your drugs will be conviscated and you'll normally be given a formal warning. However, the police have the power to arrest you if you are a repeat offender, smoking in public or smoking near children.
Dealing the drug carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

The maximum penalty for possession has dropped to 2 years from 5 but should you be caught, you are most likely to be warned.

So Why Should the Drug Be Legalised?
To start off with, there is no solid scientific evidence that smoking cannabis is much worse for you than smoking a regular cigarette. The levels of tar are higher which carries a higher risk of cancer but surely that's the users choice as it is no worse than chain smoking cigarettes. A popular argument amongst users of the drugs is that smoking cannabis is not as bad as chain smoking cigarettes or even drinking alcohol. From a personal point of view, I believe that if alcohol and cigarettes were discovered in modern day times, they would be made illegal immediately. Due to the effect on the body, users of the drug are unable to chain smoke joints/zoots/doobies.

The cannabis drug trade is worth an estimated £2Bn - around $3.9Bn. Should the British government change this, they would be able to tax the drug and make a fair share of money themselves. This would also take away the criminal aspect of selling the drug as most big time importers of cannabis move on to harder drugs that tend to be more profitable. People associate cannabis with the cliché of "evil" drug dealers and therefore frown upon anything related to it.

The drug users in the UK are a majority, with over half of all 15-16 year olds having tried cannabis at least once. It is clear that people will continue to buy and sell it, so why don't the government let them and make some money themselves? Many teenagers nowadays are fed scare stories about drugs, which is why they steer clear.

Cannabis is a natural growing plant and from a religious point of view (for once I support religion here...), God gave us dominion over His Earth and therefore we as humans should be able to do anything we want with it.

Why Shouldn't Cannabis Be Legalised?
One of the main arguments is that it has been linked with severe mental illnesses such as Schizophenia and the drug has been proven to be very addictive to people with ADD and ADHD (Attention disorders). Cannabis is often seen as a "gateway drug" meaning that once people have tried it and got bored with it, they will then move onto stronger and more dangerous substances as dealers could potentially pressure them into buying stronger drugs.

Holland legalised the drug in 1976 and the the government and inhabitants of the drug capital, Amsterdam regret their decision due to the unwanted attention recieved by the country. Amsterdam started to attract gangs and stoners from all around which is definitely not something a city wants to be known for. However, street dealing is still illegal, all cannabis must be bought and smoked/eaten inside the cafés.

Basically, the legalisation didn't go as planned and talks have been held recently in changing the laws so that only locals can use the cannabis cafés to full use, thus lowering the numbers of tourists coming solely for drugs. Not everyone is in favour of this though as Holland earn a lot of income from tourism.

The British government aren't in any serious debt at the moment either and therefore don't need to earn anymore money by legalising a drug. Should Britain legalise cannabis, it could potentially become an even bigger smuggling capital in Europe which again is something no-one really wants - bar the gang leaders.
_________________

In my opinion, the drug should be legalised and sold in cafés around the country. Once purchased the user should be able to do as he wished with the drug, including taking it outside. The age required to buy the drug would be 18 due to the effects it has on you.

I regularly enjoy smoking a joint with a few friends, it's relaxing and makes for a good time. Should the drug be made legal, I wouldn't have to mess around with different dealers / varying amounts of skunk for my money. It would just make things a lot lot easier.

Ian · #2 02-07-2007, 12:44 PM

What makes things easiest is to not smoke. Anything. Our lungs were meant to inhale air, not smoke.

Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

Webster · #3 02-07-2007, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Ian

What makes things easiest is to not smoke. Anything. Our lungs were meant to inhale air, not smoke.

Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

Actually drugs have positive uses too. Cannabis can be used as a form of medicine.

The majority of people use objects in other ways than they were designed for. By the way, I don't smoke cigarettes, only marijuana and less than once a week.

#4 08-07-2007, 07:33 AM

If anything we should be illegalizing more drugs, and putting more sanctions on the medicinal ones. There is no point in making it legal. There is nothing positive that can come from it that we can't extract in a more controlled manner. Don't get me wrong, I am not an advocate for alcohols legality either. Drugs that effect your conscious thought in an uncontrollable manner (other than TRULY medicinal uses) should all be illegalized in my opinion.

emo tb mage*BANNED* · #5 08-07-2007, 07:50 AM

marijuana would be very profitable in the U.S. also....where i live its around $90 for an ounce. if the government legalized it they could make a real good profit off the taxes....BUT that may also lead to people smoking a joint or lighting up bongs on the job, which is bad. so im not really for either side.... both hold good arguements.

p.s. - I HAVE NEVER SMOKED ANYTHING!

Webster · #6 08-07-2007, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by Matt

If anything we should be illegalizing more drugs, and putting more sanctions on the medicinal ones. There is no point in making it legal. There is nothing positive that can come from it that we can't extract in a more controlled manner. Don't get me wrong, I am not an advocate for alcohols legality either. Drugs that effect your conscious thought in an uncontrollable manner (other than TRULY medicinal uses) should all be illegalized in my opinion.

Quite a radical opinion you have here Matt. Are you saying that you do not drink alcohol at all and believe it should be illegal? I'm glad you've taken a side and not sat on the fence.

Originally Posted by emo tb mage

marijuana would be very profitable in the U.S. also....where i live its around $90 for an ounce. if the government legalized it they could make a real good profit off the taxes....BUT that may also lead to people smoking a joint or lighting up bongs on the job, which is bad. so im not really for either side.... both hold good arguements.

p.s. - I HAVE NEVER SMOKED ANYTHING!

$90 is ridiculously cheap. Over here it's minimum $200 for an ounce. People smoking joints on the job would be the equivilent of drinking on the job and therefore the offender would be fired. Thanks for sitting on the fence ;]

Ian · #7 08-07-2007, 10:56 PM

I have to agree with Matt. The government for once is not looking for gaining profit and everyone is like, "Lolz, they could make moniez if they let usss get highs!" And when the government does tax things, and make money, people say things of the opposite effect.

#8 09-07-2007, 01:52 AM

It should be legalized. If 50% of teenagers 15-16 have tried it, it should be legalized, also the UK could make a lot of money off tax, as you pointed out. It is going to be sold and smoked either way.

Death_13 · #9 09-07-2007, 02:42 AM

If the government made it legal it would be like saying " We're gonna make money off giving yourself cancer"

I am against all drugs. You are right, if tobacco and alcohol were discovered nowadays, they would be made illegal. That's why I don't believe people should be smoking or drinking either. And I disagree when you say the government is "scaring kids with stories." Most of what they tell are statistics and real life stories meant to inform you. Of course they can't make you not do it, but by informing you, they give you the knowledge to steer clear.

Ian · #10 09-07-2007, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by u 1053

It should be legalized. If 50% of teenagers 15-16 have tried it, it should be legalized, also the UK could make a lot of money off tax, as you pointed out. It is going to be sold and smoked either way.

Even if it were made illegal it wouldn't be legal until you were 18. Same as smoking. So 15-16 year olds doing it would still be illegal. That's a horrid argument.