I know, let's legalise cannabis

[Workingman]

This is the latest LibDem punt for votes, but can it fly?

We have been at war with drugs for the past 50 years or so and we are no nearer winning than we were on day one. Is that a good enogh reason for changing the law?

It appears that many political parties are slowly coming to the same conclusion as the LibDems, with both Labour and the Tories also questioning the existing law. The Greens have always been for decriminalisation.

I am not sure that it is a bad thing, but I do worry about "mission creep" with other drugs being included over time. I also wonder about how it will be operated once cannabis is removed from the hands of criminal gangs. It is not that I care one jot about their woes, but I do wonder what they will introduce to keep "sales" up.

[Suff]

Cannabis can ruin your life just as alcohol ruins peoples lives. The key for me is that cannabis is more addictive than alcohol, to the larger population and more difficult to work out what is wrong.

I've seen the end result of cannabis addiction and it's not pretty.

I also have the worry that, unlike alcohol, cannabis is a gateway to so many other drugs and the younger community is less and less responsible in this area.

For me it would be a no but from a point of knowledge rather than dogma.

[Kaz]

Cannabis can be dangerous to the developing brain. I have a good friend whose son in law smoked it a lot during his teens. He is in and out of hospital with psychotic episodes, and it's very sad

[Workingman]

I also have personal knowledge of the damage cannabis can do. I am not immune.

I also suspect that many of us of a certain age and with children of a certain age can quote personal circumstances either from family, friends, or friends of our children. However, the one thing they all have in common is that they bought from illegal dealers.

Those dealers only had one thing on their minds: money. They didn't give a stuff for the people we can quote, all they wanted was their cash. The buyers also did not know what it was they were buying, its strength, what it had been cut with, or what suffering the people down the line of production had gone through.

I am not saying that we should go with what the LibDems are proposing, but I do think that we need to look at alternative ways of dealing with cannabis. (no pun intended)

[Kaz]

I would just stick to making it available for medical use, I think.

[miasmum]

I think Luke might be on it in the not to distant future

[Suff]

Well there is always punishing the users. Lots of good community service going begging..

[manxie]

The Manx government at present has a bill under discussion to legalise cannabis for medicinal use in ME and some other complaints, I think it is aimed mainly at cabinoids as in the oils.

There is also some thoughts about allowing cannabis itself available on prescriuption and controlled to cut out some of the illegal activity surrounding all drugs that sadly blight even our small island to some extent, even tho the police here and courts do come down hard on dealers and suppliers who pop over on the boat in the main and get caught here by the port police and sniffer dogs.

Manxie xx

[Workingman]

"Customers" are already punished. Smoke a joint in the wrong place or at the wrong time and you can get a criminal record, with all that entails for employment and other life choices.

Kaz, I am all for it being used as a medicine, but that still leaves it on the streets and in the control of criminal gangs.

It is slowly being realised that the current laws and "The War on Drugs" have not worked. Other countries are now looking at alternatives. Some have gone for wholesale decriminalisation and some have gone for schemes similar to what Manxie has mentioned. I cannot think of a good excuse not to try to change things; we can always come back to where we are today and think again if they do not work.

[Kaz]

It's certainly a tricky subject Frank

Manxie, I know it can give huge relief in certain medical conditions.

(((Shell))) xxx