Should marijuana be legalised?

No

Yes, and like Ahnold says: "It's not a drug, it's a leaf." And it's not marijuana, that's the slang term, it should be called cannabis, the proper term.

Dean wrote: Blacksword wrote: Of course it should, and it's full medical potential should be explored in earnest. This may not go down well with the pharma industry though. You can't patent something that grows naturally, as a marketable drug. For this reason clinical trials are few and far between and seldom talked about. The pharmaceutical industry does this all the time, not just for drugs derived from cannibas (www.gwpharm.com/Sativex.aspx - a cannabis derived cancer treatment that's been approved for 8 years now), but for thousands of drugs derived from naturally growing plants, after all, that is where the pharmaceutical industry came from - extracting "medicine" from plants, not artificially synthesising new wonder drugs from molecular building blocks.   ...to paraphrase Dara O'Brain's diatribe on herbal medicine (which, from the position you are arguing, that's what cannabis is): "...then we tested it all, and the stuff that worked became 'medicine', and the rest of it is just a nice bowl of soup and some potpourri."   (Which isn't strictly true since most plants will kill you as soon as look at you, but why stand in the way of a good witty line). Blacksword wrote: In any case, marijuana doesn't have to be smoked. It can be drunk and ingested. It can be vapourised, and the THC delievered in steam. As far as I'm aware there have never been any actual proven cases of fatal cannabis overdoes, anywhere in the world. Certainly, where the post mortem concluded 'cannabis overdose' I think it is broadly acknoweldged that habitual smoking of the drug is probably not conducive to improved memory, or the safe operating of machinary or automobiles, and may have a tenuous link to mental health problems in teenagers whose brains are Still developing. But the argument that marijuana should be illegal because of the health implications doesn't stand up. Following that logic, most anti depressant drugs and over the counter painkillers should probably be banned. That still isn't a case of making it legal in the sense that people are talking of here. Here in the UK there is a sucession of difference between prescription-only medicines, 'behind the counter' medicines, 'over the counter' medicines and grow-your own herbals (feverfew and camomile for example). An example of that is Codeine - as an opiate it is a controlled substance, the legality of codeine is dependant on the strength of the preparation.

Thanks for the link about Sativex. I didn't think that had been approved over here.

The lines of reasoning seem to be 1) People should able to do what they want with their own bodies. 2) There are medicinal benefits which should be fully exploited. 3) It's less dangerous physiologically than alcohol.

It may seem over simplified, but IMO there are no reasons for cannabis to have an illegal status.

I'm certain if government could come up with a failsafe way of legalising and taxing it, whilst not losing middle England voters, they would free the weed in an instant. For all their moral drum banging I doubt many of them really give a sh!t, to be honest.

Probably yes, although I feel the public largely overstates the "safety" of weed.  Yes, we know nobody ODs and we know alcohol is worse blah blah.  Yet regular weed use does have consequences for the lungs which people conveniently ignore and depending on what studies you believe there may be other consequences as well.  Last, there is the motivational suck of casual partying which I've witnessed, having had many friends who use.  Some people handle it well and have successful lives.  Others get really caught up in partying to the extent where other aspects of their lives suffer a bit from inattention, and weed even more than drinking seems to exact a toll on motivation based on what I've witnessed....one of the guys in Genesis was asked about drugs years ago and said basically "just get on with your life."  Excessive partying takes from your potential in subtle way if you are the kind of person who doesn't recognize it and remain conscious of it.   Not everyone will suffer this fate, I understand, but some will be affected by using.  And I think all of these negative possibilities are routinely ignored or glossed over by the "pot is safe as popsicles" crowd. 

That said, criminalizing personal home use is insane. 

I honestly feel better when i'm straight over when i'm buzzed or have been drinking so not a lot of incentive to get high for me. Still i would call myself a casual user. It's great when i take the dog down for a walk on the beach or if i'm going to a show or concert. In the town where i live it's so readily available it's unbelievable. Maybe it's like this everywhere but legal or not there's a lot of stoned people out there. I would vote to legalise it though because i think someone being thrown in jail for having some weed on them is beyond ridiculous.

Edited by Mellotron Storm - September 20 2012 at 15:35

Yes, for anyone over 18.

lazland wrote: Give me a pint of Hobgoblin anyday.

Edited by Snow Dog - September 20 2012 at 14:15

^that is indeed a fine beer.

thellama73 wrote: Guldbamsen wrote: Suicide - weed - government....?  That's like throwing Barbara Streisand - hardcore punk and wellington boots together in the same discussion. I think you've just come up with a great idea for a comeback album.

Guldbamsen wrote: Suicide - weed - government....?  That's like throwing Barbara Streisand - hardcore punk and wellington boots together in the same discussion.

I think you've just come up with a great idea for a comeback album.