Graz

Seeing as the legalisation of cannabis in some US states (who'd have thought it / well done Obama) seems to be working out do we think it will ever happen here?

Makes total sense to me, take it out of the hands of criminals, allow legitimate businesses to produce it and sell it, reap the tax benefits.

What about other drugs? Dope is perhaps the least "harmful" but short of legalising crack, smack and meth most other stuff could be considered.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...internalSearch

Jazzy Jefferson

iTrader: (2)

The criminals will always be there. Legal or not. However its nice to know where ur stuff comes from.

That aside... the tax revenue is huge. Seriously huge. If u want a way out of recession... this is it. The uk of course wont do it. Legalising drugs doesnt get party votes.

Felix.

cannabis is one of the worst drugs around - leads to psychosis and paranoia. Keep them illegal.

and of course criminals will still benefit - you have never heard of illegal cigarette and alcohol sales?

andylinney

Plus it stinks, nothing quite like having to sit in a room with someone who reeks of it and is trying to come across as serious.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Frankly I find the occasional users of recreational drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy far more pleasant to be around than p1ssheads and serial tobacco smokers, but theat's the hypocrisy of our culture for you!

No you can't take ecstasy as it's addictive and really bad, but nicotine and alcohol are fine as there are no downsides to them whatsoever

Legalise cannabis and ecstasy and ban alcohol

RS_Matt

I lived next to a Cannabis farm for 8 months, the headaches my family suffered were horrendous. When Police make a big seizure the first thing they notice is headaches at the holding place.

Cultivation by amateurs/hobbyists has to stay illegal.

mike1210

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/prog.../drugs/survey/

Was quite surprised by the deaths per year.

Tramadol (painkiller) is to become class C on the 10th of June because around 150 people last year died from an overdose.

Yet alcohol can be purchased from anywhere and kills several more.

70% of A&E on a weekend is alcohol related from a BBC program I watched recently.

EddScott

Isn't that the bit they have been considering making legal recently?

Is it? I found some of this left over from the pharmacy handed to me whilst my wife was ill.


Personally I believe de-criminalising (sp) most of the illegal drugs would probably lead to less deaths. The legal high stuff is just dangerous, you have no idea what its going to do. The traditional stuff - speed, ecstacy and coke have been around for years and people know the effects and know how to handle them properly. These new drugs are just plain dangerous.

In my yoof I went through the lot off and on and the only time I've ever truly been concerned for my safety is after taking some of that legal stuff. Says alot in my eyes.

There will always be the criminal element just like **** and booze but the need to cut the stuff to bits before it gets to the end user will reduce making it safer to take. Will never happen but thats my opinion.

mike1210

Yeah along with a couple of other changes, Zopiclone being other change. Tramadol can be dangerous when abused and when I was taking it for chest pain I had awful withdrawal symptoms from it.

http://www.ggcprescribing.org.uk/blo...g-legislation/

andylinney

My day job is managing a GP Practice which also dispenses medication. You'd be amazed at the effects of some of the medication that gets regularly prescribed (thankfully, always with good reason here). I can say that the prescribing of Tramadol is very closely monitored and Zopiclone likewise.

With the exception of the people who demand a course of industrial strength anti-biotics every time they sneeze, people who routinely request these medications are the most vociferous in their requests. One of our GP's has become known as a 'Dr. No' as he refuses to prescribe where it's not absolutely necessary.

Of course, you then get people 'Dr. shopping' and changing surgeries until they find one who'll say yes...

I personally can't even take Codeine without going a bit daft so would never dream of taking Tramadol. Zopiclone should now only ever be issued for a maximum of seven days and again, our Dr. No's will often only prescribe it 2 or 3 days at a time.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I'm in the legalise it camp, take the power away from criminals and tax it. All the various drug enforcement agencies can continue to exist but become monitors and control the flow as well as quantities shipped, to make sure all duty is paid. Lets face it it's tax payers who pay for the enforcement of these out dated laws with no reward at the end, in fact quite the contrary, we pay for their stay at her majesty's convenience so get hit twice for little or no reward.

Luan Pra bang

I recently got tramadol, ibuprofen and Co drydamol on prescription and found they did **** unless I took 1 of each all at once. I think you would need to eat a lot of tramadol to get a narcotic effect.

AndyBaker

Couldn't agree more, I personally don't know anybody who's smoked a doobie and gone home and beat his wife up

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

Agreed.

Though more research is needed to see what the after effects are. My memory is dodgy since my rave days , I will always put it down to that. Good times though , I think

andylinney

That's why big pharmaceutical companies won't get involved, the amount of claims in 30 years time would be incredible.

That's where the big difficulty lies, especially with compound drugs. Would you prefer it was made by an alcohol/tobacco company who only made it from the cheapest possible ingredients and no research back up for say £5.00 or made to commercial pharmaceutical grade with the accompanying research and development costs for say £50.00?

Okay, with something like cannabis that is simply cultivated it's easier but can you imagine going to the kiosk in Tesco for a lottery ticket and a gram of Marlborough Skag... no?

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

I'd buy neither , but for those that would want it , I'd imagine the dearest of the 2 would be best.

daviee

Food is now more dangerous than cigs drink or drugs, no joke obesity is one of the heaviest, pardon the pun burdens on NHS resources, i.e. type 2 diabetes, heart disease, bowel cancer, breast cancer, strokes, high blood pressure etc.

Everything in moderation drink, drugs and food if not abused will not kill you.

There is more information on food packaging now showing salt, fat, calories, sugar intake etc. than there is on a packet of cigarettes showing tar and nicotine levels and known dangers and very little information on drugs on health risks and dangers wonder why.

andylinney

Because everyone consumes food, not everyone drinks, smokes or abuses drugs. But of course, you're right anything in excess is potentially dangerous.

The reason you don't see as much information about illicit drugs is that it's almost impossible to do any meaningful research. They're so inconsistent in their manufacture that no one can really say how you're going to react to taking them. It could be that cartel A uses reasonable quality flour to bulk out their product, there's no saying of course that cartel B doesn't use a nice little mixture of caustic soda, cat litter and ground up floor tiles with a bit of bleach.

It's for that reason that occasionally we get notifications of bad batches of certain drugs killing off or seriously harming users and that makes research on the actual compounds obsolete the moment a new batch is cooked up.

Willowsdad

iTrader: (2)

I dabbled quite a bit when I was younger, and I realised by my mid twenties that anything that makes you feel good in the short term makes normal life feel a bit dull. Which is why so many youngsters live for the weekends. I had a friend who after a weekend on the pills, would barely be able to string together a sentence till at least Tuesday! Youngsters will experiment as it's human nature, but I don't think it should be legalised. Kids will still buy the cheaper dodgy stuff anyway.

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

Suppose if the legal stuff would be expensive , therefore there will always be the illegal cheap stuff that people will buy. But that would at least eliminate some of the risk and the number of casualties ? Surely it's better than nothing .

Let's face it , kids will try drugs at least once. I'd like there to be a safe version of it available rather than the chance some poor kid dies trying their first hit. Not bothered about the legality side of it so much , just the quality control. Did everyone on here wait until they were 18 before having a drink ? Would u have bought some cheap cider , or try some hooch your mates uncles friend made in his shed ?

JackClark

Cannabis should be legal, the rest can stay underground. Smoking it should not be encouraged, **** combustion http://lotusvaporizer.com

Petem95

Cannabis should definitely be legalized. Just google for studies on cannabinoids. These are the components of cannabis - THC is the one which gets you 'high', but there are something like 80 of them in total. CBD is another key one which has been shown to effectively repair brain damage (including that caused by alcohol binge-drinking) and has significant neurological benefits. Certain types of cancers can be treated effectively with cannabis oil.

The endocannabinoid system in your body contains the same cannabinoids as the cannabis plants. This system is extremely important and regulates many of the functions of your body and promotes homeostasis.

From the perspective of big pharmaceutical companies this should never be legalised as a huge spectrum of conditions could be treated by people effectively growing their own medicine.

stipete75

NZT is some good sh7t.

markjmd

iTrader: (11)

Although it ultimately makes little difference in terms of the limitations it places on any research, a lot of what you're saying here paints a very misleading picture of how the narcotics supply chain really works. The cartels, the big boys at the top manufacturing and exporting large volume quantities across international borders, generally ship pure uncut product. Let's face it, they've got no interest at all in bulking the volume of their merchandise out, as that'll only make it harder to smuggle it through customs or conceal it in a cargo hold or wherever, and they have more or less endless acres of jungle and cheap local labour to harvest new product from if a shipment does get intercepted by law enforcement. It's the guys lower down the chain, from importer to street-level pusher, who do the cutting and bulking out, and again, logically it's absolutely in their interests to do so - they have a supply volume which is never guaranteed and from which they have to extract the maximum profit, and a captive market in the form of users craving their next fix, who are never in much of position to complain about the quality of what they're buying.

andylinney

I stand corrected. My knowledge stretches as far as dealing with the NHS, serveral health care product distributors and the NICE / local guidance that I pass on to our clinicians.

I don't do much international smuggling anymore

Turbohot

Alcohol will never be banned. It's a way of life. Even the politicians are glorifying it with a pint of beer in their hands; in order to look like the common people's persons.

The Pink Ninja

iTrader: (23)

Problem with the UK is they are too blind to see the advantages it would give to them, Revenue for one but above all the properties from the modern day cannabis plants to help in the health system, Just look at what the US have done over the years, Removing the THC from the plant leaves the CBD which is a medical marvel for all sorts of pain relief...But as with a lot of things the UK are blind to all this and decided to go the opposite way and go from a Class C grade to a Class B which puts it in the same category as amphetamines a man made chemical??

warrenm2

Great film!

paulr

Not while our tabloid press exists.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Being a DJ and really into the club scene over the last 12 years or so, I'd say a majority of clubbers/fellow deejays I know take something or another. Whether it's speed, coke, MDMA or anything else, if they're buying off a trusted dealer/person and they know it's a good batch (good as in safe and well cut), it's rare to see anyone hospitalised from my point of view. Now when you have kids buying anything they can get hold of (think hipster kids listening to deep house wearing snap backs as a stereotypical generalisation) at some big festival, then you see the bad side IMO. For me when you're at a smaller underground night and a mate if away with the fairies doing nobody harm...

My opinion? Legalise and heavily regulate the powders, pills aforementioned above and make something that you will NEVER rid clubland of, as safe and clean as possible. Take the money from the shady dealers and make the cuts as clean and safe as possible.

Oh, and the above is from someone who's never taken anything narcotics wise apart from a couple sniffs of poppers one night.