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And another thing to bear in mind: I have never, not once in my entire life come across someone who didn't take drugs because "they're illegal". People either approve of drugs or disapprove, for medical and/or social reasons. But believe me, if someone approves of drugs, they're going to take them whether the law says they can or not.
Alcohol-related deaths every year in the UK: 100,000
Cannabis-related deaths ever in the UK: 0
Alcohol-related fights, beatings, assaults, rapes every year in the UK: tens of thousands
Cannabis-related fights, beatings, assaults, rapes every year in the UK: probably zero
Would you care to explain why would you keep alcohol legal and cannabis illegal, when alcohol is infinitely more dangerous and damaging from any way you look at it?
The law is wrong. End of.
And as for cannabis users being dickheds, I suggest you go out and meet new people.
Lager is only 4%ish alcohol so it takes a lot to have an effect compared to vodka which is 40% and it only takes a few doubles and you are drunk. It changes people makes them more violent i work in a pub and the time you get trouble is bout 10.30 when people have been tanked up on stella and start looking for a fight.
Alcoholism is a serious problem faced by society, i have seen first hand the effects drink can do to people and is far worse then cannibis and the effects cannibis can have to a person. Alcohol can destroy lives yet it is encouraged and society takes a blind eye to the damage caused by it.
With Alcohol it needs to be taught from an earlier age the effects, also i think we should try and follow the example of France they allow the children to have a glass of wine or so at dinner, it teaches them that alcohol is not special... They is a view here from some teenagers that it is fun to drink and that it makes them look tough or cool.
on that basis more should be done to make drinking less attractive, a drug in its own right that has far more potential for abuse than cannabis and a drug that i know you personally enjoy.
sorry never read this before i made my point, i also know first hand of the dangers of alcohol, not a nice situation to be in.
believe it or not people smoke cannabis because its funny, luke, drugs like crack and heroin are a serious problem, they're the drugs we need to focus on, cannabis is nowhere near as bad as them, i can gaurantee (i know you won't) but if you smoked a joint you'd realise andunderstand where we're comin from, it's only a laugh, no harm at all in it.
i don't follow your logic, please elaborate as why the rest would follow, and do you agree with me that cannabis isn't as bad a drug as its made out to be, the only downside to it is damaging your lungs, drink damages liver, we breathe in cancerous chemicals everyday from the air that has come from waste we produce from our cars etc etc, so everyday we are breathing in stuff that kills us eventually.
Cigarettes and alcohol are drugs but are legal... and it hasn't made heroin legal has it?
Which goes to prove, it is perfectly possible to make cannabis legal and leave other drugs illegal (even though they should all be legalised IMO).
Cannabis is extremely harmful to mental health - I've seen people with drug induced psychoses caused by smoking cannabis. It is a rare consequence, but probably as relatively common as liver cirrhosis in heavy drinkers. As long as people refuse to acknowledge the dangers of cannabis, I will not understand the argument for legalisation.
If we know something to be harmful, why would we legalise it?
The only reasonable argument I have come across is the crime-reduction one so don't try and justify cannabis on health grounds because it simple isn't accurate.
Oh, and just for completeness, comparisons to alcohol are pointeless anyway because it is ridiculous to argue for the legalisation of an illegal substance on the basis that there are more harmful substances already available. If anything your argument should be that alcohol consumption should be reduced, but that wouldn't fit with the argument would it?
now come on, thats if you've been smoking cannabis for years, and just because alcohol is legal doens't mean comparisons can't be made, people like a social drink, "i'll go to the pub for a pint or two" why can't we have the right to say "i'm going to the cafe for a few spliffs", we're hardly going to have schizophrenia after a few months, bit ike a drinker is hardly going to have liver cancer if he drinks a pint now and again, extreme use of both drugs can turn out bad but moderate use is alright and thats why the only downside i can see is damaging your lungs
I specifically didn't say that it was an inevitable consequence of cannabis use, but it happens and it is unpredictable. I was only countering your assertion that cannabis only harmed the lungs.
Why should we legalise a harmful substance? Shouldn't we learn the lesson of alcohol?
Which is it: drugs can't be simultaneously good and bad.
You can't pick and choose I'm afraid.
fair enough so you agree that alcohol and cigarettes should be made illegal yea?? i am fully aware of the damage cannabis can do, i however am smart enough to know not to abuse it, there is a demand for drugs, humans take their own consequences into their own hands, if a person wants to do permanent damage to their head then it's their fault, normal people, like the majority of us will not.
However, I would like to see more emphasis on healthy drinking and less drug use in general. I have a theory that the reason for much of the town centre binges on Friday and Saturday night is because going to pubs and bars is actually pretty boring without a drink. We should have more imaginative things to do.
I can’t prove it, it’s a guess really. It just makes sense that something legalised where there’s no risk for the seller will be cheaper than something which is banned and carries big risks by being sold…
Legalise drugs, very tightly control where they can be sold and the quantities in which they can be sold and let use in public places remain illegal and have very tough penalties for people that do drugs in public. Use the revenue created to fund rehabilitation programmes, at the moment unless you’re rich and can afford to go to private rehab there’s not much provided for by the state. And no government could increase taxes to fund programmes for drug users, the public sadly just wouldn’t accept that.
Drugs are bad and the government should dissuade people from doing them…but like drinking and smoking the government should never ban the public from choosing what they do with their bodies.
It goes something like that anyway, it's not my job to think it all through. There just needs to be a rethink however because the current policy on drugs has failed.
one word, nihilism.
GHB was legal until last year. Did you support its banning, or did you oppose the move?
there is also no way of telling who will be an alcoholic, and in relation to your second comment, is that the drug users problem or the governments, most people know what the craic is and if you go out and take drugs without research then you're just stupid.
But I do agree that we need more rehab programmes now. Let's not give up, you and me, let's write to our MPs...and let them know that the public will accept it. Another weak argument. What responsibility does the government have for public health in all of this. We as a society would be selling drugs to vulnerable people and would then have to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong and people get themselves into trouble.
And legalisation would amount to tacit approval of drugs, which simply isn't what I would want to see. I agree that we aren't doing enough, but your proposal is worse imho.
And GHB is about to be licenced for "day time sleepiness", but ssshhhh