Legalise cannabis?

Galen - I'm not sure what point your'e making about benefit claimants with drug or alcohol problems, can you clarify a bit?
I realise that work meant I was over exposed to parents who lived drug/alcohol related lifestyles. In one former mining community, the drug dependent parents would be on incapacity or sickness benefit, and so be given a higher level of benefit than those on job seekers allowance. The drug users were also usually involved in the criminal lifestyle that goes hand in hand with drug addiction. Their relatives were almost always on job seekers, or working part time in low paid jobs and depending on tax credits to top their income up. The relatives would invariably be stepping in to feed, clothe and care for the children who were suffering because of their parents addictions and lifestyle.
Sorry for the rant - I still feel angry about the way what had been a solid, respectable working class district went down the pan as the mines closed.
However - I can honestly say I never had involvement with a family where cannabis smoking on its own, led to significant concerns. If it went along with drinking endless cans of extra strong lager, or use of other 'party' drugs then yes, parents would be emotionally unavailable to their children.
So, I'd legalise and sell it alongside other dangerous drugs, like tobacco. The government could raise taxes, and give 'safe' users the opportunity to buy safely, rather than get themselves mixed up with criminal dealers.
I accept there are many different views about this and don't claim to be right.

Genuine question - if legalising drugs would solve the problem of having to go to a dealer, why is there then an active street market for current legally available on prescription drugs, e.g. methadone, diazepam, tramadol etc.

Sativex (cannabis based medicine, I think it's an oil or a spray) is available in the UK from some pain clinics:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/scheduling-of-the-cannabis-based-medicine-sativex

I see many cases of cannabis induced psychosis and cases where cannabis was the starting drug and they then progressed to harder drugs.
Even the cannabis alone ones turn to crime to fund their habit.
No time to post more as I'm off to work.

I imagine because doctors won't readily prescribe these drugs to just anybody who asks for them.

My doctor won't give me Diazepam anymore. In the 70's it was readily prescribed by the bottleful.

Grannyknot, I suppose there will always be a street market, as there is for tobacco and alcohol, to avoid tax.
In addition, drug users are notoriously good at getting prescriptions for pain killers, tranquillisers etc. I've had any number of individuals who have registered at several GP surgeries, often using different names, so they have a ready supply of prescription drugs which they can swop/sell in their search for their drug of choice. As drug users are usually also suffering from poor sleep patterns, chronic pain, depression, anxiety and stress, it isn't unusual for them to have numerous prescriptions even if only registered with one GP. Forgive my judgemental tone - I don't mean to be unkind or cynical about a section of our society.

Like Iam64 I would only legalise certain drugs like regulated types of cannabis, and not heroin, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstacy etc, which are generally damaging because of their link to offending, prostitution, some dependence, and degeneration of health, lifestyle and prospects for users and their dependent families.

I have known just as many professionals as offenders who use cannabis routinely. Used wisely, it brings relaxation, pleasure and pain relief, but it needs regulation in order to screen out the more problematic skunk, which is linked to mental health problems for some users. Large scale secretive growing in houses would be drastically reduced if cannabis was legalised, and regulated cannabis farms could provide some employment.

Drug dealers know that supplying cannabis brings them access to potential users of stronger drugs, so separation from street drugs would isolate dealers from those contacts. Treatment programmes to deter dealers from further offences have a degree of success, but the profit gained from dealing to addicts who share and sell small amounts cannot compete where employment problems persist. There would still be the problem of drug smuggling and gangs controlling illegal drugs, which needs tackling on a global scale.

Grannyknot the market for prescription drugs being bought on the street is largely created by addicts topping up on their own prescriptions, especially those on a reducing methadone programme who aren't content to follow their treatment programme. Also, unscrupulous people who obtain drugs they realise they can sell, whether via legal access or via robberies of pharmacies. I have often scratched my head in puzzlement when offenders have collected their prescriptions and automatically thought about what profit they could make, instead of using the medication for themselves. It's a mindset that is difficult to change when poverty and greed are influencing decsions.

Twenty years ago I belonged to a Women's Group. Sometimes people would share a smoke. I didn't like inhaling smoke so was advised to bake some cannabis cakes which I did.

I ate one and after five minutes when nothing had happened I ate another, then another, probably three or four in all. Half an hour later it all hit me at once. Not good, I felt quite ill and thought I was having a stroke. DH was worried to death until one of my friends phoned to see where I was and told him I had eaten too many cakes.

Incidentally the majority of women in the group were social workers

I've tried similar cakes on a couple of occasions since but was not impressed with the results.

Mostly I prefer to keep a clear head. If I do want a buzz I drink 250 ml of strong cider.

when yes I realise about 'use on top'. I suppose my point is that legalising a drug doesn't necessarily end the whole drug dealer scenario...I agree with your point about the unscrupulous people.

petallus you perfectly describe the dangers of not knowing the dose of or how much is being taken - plus baking something makes it a lot stronger, as I know from when I put a curry in the oven rather than on the hob! Sadly, a lot of the current deaths from 'legal highs' (there were about 19 in mainland Scotland that month when we were in the Western Isles on holidays) - is caused when young people take something they think is okay because it is "legal", but it is cut with so much other crap that they don't get the expected result quickly enough, and so they take 2 or 3 more tablets and ... well, it can be fatal.

Like you, 250ml of strong cider gives me a buzz!

gknot, listen to what the US police captain has to say about legalisation and the "drug dealer scenario". It makes sense to me.

petallus Drinking strong cider eh! Naughty! I thought at the beginning of this topic you were advocating that alcohol should be criminalised.

I will bags ... bit later. I'm procrastinating by being on here, I am mother of the groom come Saturday and should be cleaning house for the relatives arriving at 3 p.m. - not to mention refreshing my memory re the reading I have chosen to do.

I had a bf years ago who was into weed, and I quickly dropped him because he was immensely irritating when he was stoned, simply because he wasn't present.

Just had time to watch Peter Christ (interesting pronunciation of his name). Glad I did. Thanks Bags.

I just said society would be better off if alcohol were criminalised flowerfriend.

However, yes I hope they do it.

But not yet

There's an opinion that smoking cannabis leads to stronger drugs, but is there research saying that kids start with cannabis without smoking cigarettes first? Bet not. Bet those who use illegal drugs also drank alcohol first too.

Nfk for what it's worth, my view is that you're right about those who use illegal drugs also drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes at an early age. I'm not convinced that cannabis leads to heroin, as so many politicians - but no drug experts so far as I know - seem to believe.

Okay petallus. Just as long as you don't ban my nightly gin and tonic. BTW I have never smoked a cigarette and I have not tried cannabis. I think the view that cigarette smoking preceeds cannabis is correct. Ergo, ban tobacco!

I smoked Consulate - because my friends smoked. I did try cannabis once - just the once - one puff and I threw up!

I don't think it's necessarily true that all cannabis users started smoking tobacco first. I have two friends (plus my ex-husband) who never smoked cigarettes, but did share a joint or two in their youth, quite regularly.

@NfkDumpling - It must have been something you ate.

@Ana In the UK grass or hash is almost always mixed with tobacco for smoking - or it was in my day.

Feetle it was 50 years ago - I feel I may have missed out on something all these years!

Yes, feetle - but the suggestion was that no one who hadn't smoked cigarettes would ever smoke a joint - that was what I was questioning.

If anyone can spare the time to listen, the most balanced report I have heard on legalizing cannabis is on this podcast

Licensing and regulating the cannabis market in England and Wales
ISER Podcast Series 2013-08 15 September 2013

Professor Stephen Pudney talks about a new report exploring the impact of a licensed and regulated cannabis market.

Further information

Read the full report,Licensing and regulation of the cannabis market in England and Wales: Towards a cost-benefit analysis

I didn't mean to say Ana that every single person who does drugs drank or smoked first. It was of course a generalisation.