Legalise cannabis?

[Harry - LCFC]

Smells like big business wanting a piece of a potentially very lucrative revenue stream. No ta.

 

You think it's a bad thing that businesses look to profit by providing things that people want?

[SMX11]

You think it's a bad thing that businesses look to profit by providing things that people want?

 

I really don't want to see another potential vice to be unleashed and endorsed by a government, particularly if they profit from it.

[leicsmac]

I really don't want to see another potential vice to be unleashed and endorsed by a government, particularly if they profit from it.

 

If it comes to a straight choice between them and the current criminal element profiting from it with all the misery that entails, then I know which I'd choose.

 

I think it's pretty clear by now that enforcement doesn't work unless you're the size of Singapore.

[Rincewind]

They could be one and the same.

[David Guiza]

You think it's a bad thing that businesses look to profit by providing things that people want?

Of course it can be. Big businesses already control far too much in this country, giving them an extra monopoly to play with isn't always going to be a brilliant idea.

To quote Peep Show  'People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people'.

[Harry - LCFC]

Of course it can be. Big businesses already control far too much in this country, giving them an extra monopoly to play with isn't always going to be a brilliant idea.

To quote Peep Show  'People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people'.

 

Why do we assume it's going to be run by a monopoly? Small suppliers have carried the baton fairly well so far...

[ADK]

Everyone says drugs enforcement doesn't work, but drug usage has consistently fallen in recent years.

[leicsmac]

Everyone says drugs enforcement doesn't work, but drug usage has consistently fallen in recent years.

 

 

And ask the Americans just how well their "War on Drugs" is going.

 

Of course, there's lots of stuff that should stay illegal but prison sentences and criminal records for relatively minor drug crimes is a waste of time.

[Finnegan]

"You can't even call this shit a war. Wars end."

[SMX11]

Why do we assume it's going to be run by a monopoly? Small suppliers have carried the baton fairly well so far...

It will be so regulated that only big business could provide it legally (see the banking sector). 'Small suppliers' will still exist because the legal drugs produced by companies will be significantly more expensive with a hefty tax on it.

[babylad92]

wud be a great day as long as it doesnt increase price of weed would love to go to california see how the system has worked and hope uk adapts to it all for it

[Carl the Llama]

It will be so regulated that only big business could provide it legally (see the banking sector). 'Small suppliers' will still exist because the legal drugs produced by companies will be significantly more expensive with a hefty tax on it.

I don't know why you'd make that assumption - The coffee shops in Holland certainly don't give you the impression that they have a capitalist monopoly running the sector.  To add to that, in the USA - the number one country for special interests in big business - it's been small, independent businesses leading the Cannabis Industry charge in the form of the medicinal dispensaries and growing cooperatives, and now in Washington & Colorado general-use dispensaries, that have paved the way for the industry's ongoing rise over there. 

[SMX11]

I don't know why you'd make that assumption - The coffee shops in Holland certainly don't give you the impression that they have a capitalist monopoly running the sector. To add to that, in the USA - the number one country for special interests in big business - it's been small, independent businesses leading the Cannabis Industry charge in the form of the medicinal dispensaries and growing cooperatives, and now in Washington & Colorado general-use dispensaries, that have paved the way for the industry's ongoing rise over there.

From memory it is still illegal to cultivate cannabis in both of these countries hence why no big business involvement. I know that in the Netherlands that shop owners can grow a small amount but I imagine that some are buying from cartels.

[Carl the Llama]

From memory it is still illegal to cultivate cannabis in both of these countries hence why no big business involvement. I know that in the Netherlands that shop owners can grow a small amount but I imagine that some are buying from cartels.

True, in the Netherlands there is a necessity to undertake shady dealings with unscrupulous types, but that's never been a problem for big business before so that doesn't explain it!

 

I'm not 100% clear on the full specifics for the USA, but in WA you can get a producer's licence to manufacture marijuana - you aren't allowed to be a producer and a retailer though.  In the states with medicinal cannabis, the grow co-ops I previously mentioned are there to make the most of the restrictive laws permitting plant ownership.  So it's incorrect to say it's still illegal to cultivate it in regards to the states where it's been (part-)legalised unless you're being a pedant in the highest order and talking Federal Law here.  

[Steven]

Cannabis extracts can 'dramatically slow' growth of brain cancer tumours, new research suggests

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/cannabis-extracts-can-dramatically-slow-growth-of-brain-cancer-tumours-9863097.html

[Steven]

Alcohol is far more deadly than cannabis, former minister Norman Baker says

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/alcohol-is-far-more-deadly-than-cannabis-former-minister-norman-baker-says-9885334.html

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Alcohol is far more deadly than cannabis, former minister Norman Baker says

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/alcohol-is-far-more-deadly-than-cannabis-former-minister-norman-baker-says-9885334.html

 

He must have been smoking the stuff, when he said that.

[Buce]

He must have been smoking the stuff, when he said that.

Spoken like a true alky.

[Harry - LCFC]

He must have been smoking the stuff, when he said that.

 

If you read the article Mr Baker refers to statistics to back up his argument.

 

“These figures (13 deaths related to cannabis use last year, more than 7,000 caused by alcohol) show that we need to be less hysterical about cannabis and worried more about alcohol,”

 

If it's obvious that his beliefs are wrong then it should be fairly easy for you to quash his line of reasoning.

[lavrentis]

You gotta legalise

[Carl the Llama]

I just have to drive for an hour and a half and it becomes perfectly possible for me to walk into a shop and purchase marijuana.  And because of the Schengen treaty I could then theoretically transport this contraband to my home where it could allegedly be illegally consumed without any law enforcement agency at any point having the right to ascertain whether any laws are being broken, let alone act on them.

 

Might as well just call it a day if you ask me. 

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Spoken like a true alky.

It takes one, to tell one. Oh, and learn to spell.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

If you read the article Mr Baker refers to statistics to back up his argument.

 

“These figures (13 deaths related to cannabis use last year, more than 7,000 caused by alcohol) show that we need to be less hysterical about cannabis and worried more about alcohol,”

 

If it's obvious that his beliefs are wrong then it should be fairly easy for you to quash his line of reasoning.

Could that have anything with one being legal, and the other not? Legalise cannabis, and those statistics will be dramatically changed. That in my view quashes his reasoning. He can only make a comparison, if cannabis had been legalised over that time.

 

Just try thinking about it, Charlie.

[sphericalfox]

Could that have anything with one being legal, and the other not? Legalise cannabis, and those statistics will be dramatically changed. That in my view quashes his reasoning. He can only make a comparison, if cannabis had been legalised over that time.

 

Just try thinking about it, Charlie.

 

Are you saying that we should legalise cocaine? I appreciate that you hate dem potheads (and dem gays) but do you really think that we should all snortle for our shits and giggles, then you sir are clearly demented.

[Fox92]

One of my housemates smokes it regular. And I'm talking regular, two or three times a day. It's doing absolutely nothing for him. He doesn't do his work for Uni, he misses deadlines, and when he speaks to us he just slurs his words. It's like it's an addiction now. We'll invite him in to play fifa or something, but he has to smoke first.