Cannabis debate!

[Quazi Washboard]

Here's something a bit interesting.
Did you know that Winston Churchill was a drug addict? He was addicted to nitrous oxide.
Anthony Eden MP. British Prime Minister, 'lived on Benzedrine' throughout the 1952 Suez Crisis.
Sigmund Freud. Wrote effervescently of the "exhilaration and lasting euphoria" of cocaine and its "stimulative effect on the genitalia". Even penned a (now hard-to-find) essay, 'UberCoca,' extolling its virtues. "
Robert Louis Stevenson.
Wrote Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde in six days and nights on a cocaine binge. "That an invalid in my husband's condition of health should have been able to perform the manual labour alone of putting 60,000 words on paper in six days, seems almost incredible," said his astonished wife, Fanny.
King George V used to take a mixture of opium and cocaine.
Louis Armstrong smoked cannabis constantly.

[Col.Kurtz]

We've all heard about arthritis sufferer's turning to cannabis because prescription drugs have unpleasant, even dangerous side effects. Not saying cannabis is totally safe, but it's illegallity is holding back research on it's medicinal qualities.
As the spectrum of this discussion has widened to include more illegal drugs, I'd just like to mention that 'drugs' covers a vast array of substances, prescription drugs are often misused/abused, codeine is a derivitive of heroin, and is used in things like cough mixture and painkillers. Valium is an extremely addictive drug, yet doctors dole them out like sweeties. Attempting to withdraw from taking it is very dangerous without medical guidence, and can induce psychosis.
All I am saying is that it is not just illegal drugs that can be dangerous, alcohol and cigarettes are potentially dangerous drugs used for recreation - what is different about cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, cannabis, LSD etc...?

[Kiki]

Think it is a hard topic for discussion! but what gets me is the dealers who dont really care who they deal with and the desperate situations that young vunerable people get into with drugs and arent really able to get out of easily!The thing s that i do see around me saddens me , Better Educationand I do feel more help should be given to these lost souls , so more advice so there is less ignorance! I would say no to drugs most definately!

[Quazi Washboard]

Originally Posted by Kiki

Think it is a hard topic for discussion! but what gets me is the dealers who dont really care who they deal with and the desperate situations that young vunerable people get into with drugs and arent really able to get out of easily!The thing s that i do see around me saddens me , Better Educationand I do feel more help should be given to these lost souls , so more advice so there is less ignorance! I would say no to drugs most definately!

But that was my point earlier about having cannabis controled by the government. If they sold it at the same price as the dealers, but in proper places like coffee bars, like they do in Holland, and treat it in exactly the same way as alcohol, eventually the dealers will be out of business. Of course, it won't compleatly solve the problem of kids taking it, after all kids drink alcohol right? But at least we wouldn't have pushers targeting children in the streets.
That's gotta be a step in the right direction hasn't it?

[Col.Kurtz]

Do dealers actually target children though? - or do kids pursue the drugs? - they need a reason to take them after all. I wouldn't be comfortable with mass market advertising of them if they went legit either, shouldn't replace the dealer with an advertising exec with a big budget .
Alcohol advertising has an appeal to underage as well as over 18's - drugs would end up the same if commercialised.

[actionman2005]

i think on my personal opinion that cannibas SHOULD be legalised (i don't smoke it my self)but have friends that smoke and have friends that like a drink the smokers just have their munchies and bounce silly jokes/laughter to each other and cause no problems but the people i know that drink ....some are very aggresive (not all drinkers)but my statement is if you fill a room with people that smoke and another that drink ......the room with the drink has the problems-use it dont abuse it is my motto i disagree with the other drugs that are out there though as i have lost good school friends in the past--who is someones son/daughter it is a topic of rights and wrong really what if your son/daughter wants to try it......they may want the stronger buzz hence the stronger things out there.......one day it could be your son/daughter....vicious circle isnt it i smoke cigerettes that is more addictive than them all

[Quazi Washboard]

Originally Posted by Col.Kurtz

Do dealers actually target children though? - or do kids pursue the drugs?

Probably six of one and half an hour of the other. Although, nowadays they don't actually stand outside the school gates with a bag of hash, they get one kid to sell the stuff to the other kids for them. Which is probably a more effective way to get them to buy cannabis than trying to sell them the stuff themselves because of the peer pressure factor.
If it were to be legalised, I don't think it should be advertised, but then, I don't think alcohol should be advertised either.
They gave up advertising cigarettes on TV and I don't think it actually made any difference to the amount of fags smoked in Britain.

[janet]

I dont think that drugs should be made legal. It cost the country too much money as it is due to cigarettes and alcohol problems, it would only put more pressure on the health service.

[Quazi Washboard]

Originally Posted by janet

I dont think that drugs should be made legal. It cost the country too much money as it is due to cigarettes and alcohol problems, it would only put more pressure on the health service.

Do you drink alcohol at all Janet?

[janet]

I do quazi,but not much and i dont smoke.

[Quazi Washboard]

Originally Posted by janet

I do quazi,but not much and i dont smoke.

So, you're saying that as long as they keep your particular drug of choice legal, everything else should be illegal?
Obviously you don't drink much because you are responsible about the way you take the drug of your choice, but that doesn't mean that others can't be equally responsible while taking the drug of their choice.

[grannyclaret]

i suppose going back to the prohibition in america ,once it was legal it stopped the moonshiners cashing in ,but i still cant get my head round the fact that drugs are a good thing ,,,it does more harm than good in my humble opinion ,,,,

[Quazi Washboard]

You're absolutely right Granny, all recreational drugs are bad. Alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, heroin, caffine, amphetamines, we take them because we find the effects pleasurable, but in the long run, they are bad for us, they cut our lives short and spend our money.
But what can we do? There's no way that we're gonna get everyone to give up their own particular vices, so the way I see it, every step should be made to take drugs out of the hands of dealers and children and try to ensure that they are taken responsibly.

[Quazi Washboard]

A friend of mine recently came up with a novel suggestion concerning the legalisation of all drugs.
He said that all drugs should be legalised but that they should all hold different ages of consent.
The lighter drugs like caffine and cirtain e-numbers found in sweets would be legal at age 18, nicotine and cannabis at age 21, then a huge gap to the strongest and most addictive drugs like cocaine, heroin, LSD becoming legal at age 40, alcohol at 45 and amphetamines and "e"s at 50 when we could really do with a super stimulant.