Legalise cannabis?

For a percentage of people cannabis appears to have no negative effects. For a small percentage cannabis is, like other items (peanuts, mushrooms etc) extremely hazardous to health both physical and particularly mental health. I have worked with many people who were very mentally ill due to their reaction to cannabis.
On a positive slant people some people with MS swear by the benefits it gives them. I would legalise it for prescribed medical use.

A friend's husband is dying and has asked a young friend (34) to get some cannabis for him which she will make into cookies. It's a pity it has to be done in such a secretive way. Why can't "Fred" just be able to send his wife to a shop for it?

Yes! Legalise it.

Legalised, regulated and prescribed for those who need it, fine. Legalised, but still allowing the increasingly common use of skunk would be a bad idea, I think. It has damaging side effects. Smoking cannabis is unhealthy, anyway, so it wouldn't make sense to legalise another smoking product.

It could only be a huge benefit to society if alcohol were criminalised.

Completely agree with you, petallus. Alcohol causes HUGE problems.
As for legalising cannabis... never in a million years. Thin end of wedge!

Oh petallus NO

I'm ambivalent about cannabis. I think it demotivates some people but for some it's a relaxant on a par with alcohol. A friend of mine has just been fined for growing it for his own use, a hardworking guy with a good business who employs many people. On the other hand a friend of my son who started smoking at 16 or so is still smoking and has never had a job. I just don't know.

I certainly think it should be prescribed for those who would find it medically helpful.

No. Drink/drug driving is bad enough already. Crazy to legalise it. Might have been ok in the days of horse and carts.

www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/faqs/faqpages/how-many-people-die-from-drugs

Far more people die from legal drugs - should they be criminalised?
If Cannabis were legal, it could be regulated and taxed. About two and a half million people in the UK are regular users they are all criminals.
If it were legalised, a great deal of police, court and prison time and expense would be saved.

I have gradually come round to the idea it should be legalised, and taxed/sold in the same way that tobacco and alcohol are. Until about 10 years ago, this wouldn't have been my point of view.
I agree with the points made by others,that cannabis seems to be very dangerous for some people, but much less so for others. A couple of my daughter's pals (lively boys) ended up on the psychiatric ward after smoking themselves into psychotic states when at 6th form. One of them is now fine, runs a business, happy young man in his late 20's. The other young man hasn't recovered his mental health.
Friends with MS and chronic pain swear by it - and given the addictive nature of pain killers as discussed on another thread, it seems unfair to dismiss it out of hand, and criminalise otherwise law abiding folks who do nor harm to others, and contribute to society etc. Someone I know of was prosecuted for growing, but the case wasn't proved at a jury trial. He was a former para trouper, who had raised money running marathons, and done his knees in. He had an expert witness who claimed his use of cannabis was of more use,and less dangerous to him, than the amount of pain killers/other medication he'd have need otherwise.

I have always thought that all drugs should be legalised. For one reason only.
To stop young girls being forced into the sex trade to feed their habit.
And we all know how much crime is committed to pay for this.
Your mobile phone could be stolen to buy a bag of weed for £10.

Here is a YouTube video of a retired US police captain talking about why he thinks drugs should be legalised. His arguments are good.

Legalised and on prescription for us oldies.

A good point, Petra.

petallus Think what prohibition did in the United States and then say that alcohol should be criminalised.

One of the arguments put forward to oppose the legalisation of cannabis is that using cannabis leads to using other, more dangerous drugs. Of course, if you bought it from your local corner shop or pharmacy (whatever), you would not have contact with those selling illegal drugs in the first place.

I always distrust 'slippery slope' style arguments. Most young people at college have at least tried cannabis and very few of them seem to become heroine addicts.

Greatnan Good point!

This is a very complex and emotive subject. There is a strong case for the real 'gateway' drug being nicotine. And you can buy that from the corner shop. The 'slippery slope' only applies to the few, but for them it devastates their lives. Here's a recent BBC documentary about the legalisation of cannabis in Colorado:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=john%20marsden

I deal with benefit claims from alcoholics and drug addicts and I am totally against it!

For people with MS etc however, it should be prescribable, as is morphine and heroin.

My sister suffers great pain and I am sure it would help her properly prescribed.

According to the news (I think) an elderly couple were found to have grown a massive cannabis plant. They bought it at a car boot sale and had no idea what the plant was they had grown.

Just checked the facts on this because the plant story came from Facebook (not the safest source) and apparently it was recorded on the Northants Telegraph.

I agree about prohibition * absent*. However you could use the same principle to justify decriminalising illegal drugs.

Think of all the crime, prostitution, theft, drug mules, overcrowded prisons etc. which would vanish if drugs were legal.