Govt ignores 200k petition to legalize cannabis

[VectraMan]

26 US states have decriminalised cannabis to some extent, and in 4 of those it's completely legal. It's a bit sad that the US is leading the way whilst we're still running around hysterically over-reacting. It's still illegal even when there's clear evidence of medical benefit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legali...._jurisdiction

[d000hg]

THC, Nicotine and Alcohol are 3 very different drugs. Comparing any of them to the other two is the basis of a poor argument.

[original PM]

It grows naturally...

for me legalise it and tax it

it will then start to make money for the economy rather than costing the economy as the laws need to be enforced.

[pjclarke]

THC, Nicotine and Alcohol are 3 very different drugs. Comparing any of them to the other two is the basis of a poor argument.

Indeed, alcohol kills around 8,000 a year in the UK, THC zero. But point taken, and heroin is different to amphetamine - however we do attempt to classify disparate controlled psychoactive substances into classes (A and B in this case) based in theory on their harmfulness, and these classifications have legal standing.

My chart was from a lecture by Professor Nutt based on work he did in which he applied 9 measures of harmfulness, both to the user and society and came to the conclusion that cannabis is less harmful than our two legal drugs, indeed he argued

the challenges of dealing with the harms of alcohol is probably the biggest challenge that we have in relation to drug harms today.

A truly evidence-based drug policy would look very different to the one we have; people know this, that the emperor has no clothes. This is not a good thing for respect for the law. I like my Sauvignon Blanc, but I'm not an advocate for any particular substance, I think adults deserve to be given the best information we have and allowed to make their own minds up ...

[d000hg]

I'd certainly say alcohol is much more a problem to society than tobacco, not due to the number of deaths but just impacting peoples' quality of life and being a general nuisance.

I'm not sure you can really attribute deaths to cannabis, tobacco, alcohol easily though, and there's more to a drug's dangerousness than whether it will kill you.

[The Spartan]

It grows naturally...

for me legalise it and tax it

it will then start to make money for the economy rather than costing the economy as the laws need to be enforced.

Exactly this ^

The government could raise extra tax through producing it and selling it through pharmacies etc

[smatty]

Yeah, right, lot's of agreeing head nods and concerned looks, sound bites and then.....feck all.

Well there's no guaranteeing that they'll take it anywhere or that anyone will listen if they do, but it's far more likely to have an impact than any online petition.

For legalisation I can't see it happening because so many people think that drugs being illegal means nobody takes them, the actual option infront of us is to have a multi-billion pound industry with severe health consequences managed by criminals or have it managed by doctors.

[d000hg]

Exactly this ^

The government could raise extra tax through producing it and selling it through pharmacies etc

Opium grows naturally too. So what? "You can make money from it" is hardly a great argument.

[The Spartan]

Opium grows naturally too. So what? "You can make money from it" is hardly a great argument.

Not just money the government would control the supply for it, the government makes truckloads of cash from tobacco and alcohol. How is this any different?

[d000hg]

Not just money the government would control the supply for it, the government makes truckloads of cash from tobacco and alcohol. How is this any different?

They're not being asked to legalise tobacco and alcohol.

The government is already trying to control the supply of illegal drugs