Should Cannabis Be Legalized And Taxed?

[lynnmarie]

It has been recently stated in the I paper that legalizing cannabis and also taxing it could cut deficit by 1.2 billion. Do you think cannabis should be legalized and taxed? I am studying politics a level and this is one of the issues i will be conducting my debate on, so I was wondering if you could perhaps post your opinions on this issue here? Thankyou!

[LazyGun]

@ Jom LoL :) Well its stuff like that that informs the debate. Your view does kind of imply the country would grind to a halt on a Monday with all the potheads still coming down from their weekend high - but that kind of assumes that pretty much all the working population would become potheads as soon as it was legalised. Not at all sure why you think that would be the case.

Take me for example, someone who personally thinks we should legalise it. Were it legalised, would i take it? No. Well, maybe once, you just to reconfirm my own youthful experiences and recollections of it. Didn't do much for me then,no reason to suppose it would do anything of worth for me now :)

[ummmm]

I wouldn't smoke it if it were legalised. I even refused it at Glastonbury.

[jomifl]

LG, If the vociferous proponents of 'pot for all' are too be believed then demand would outstrip supply. However I expect that is not close to the truth. I have never smoked pot though I have been present when friends have indulged, it's a bit of a conversation killer. Best done alone in a darkened room I think.

[lynnmarie]

Thank you for your input everyone!

[EDDIE51]

Not Legalised but decriminalised, there is a very important difference.
Decriminalising means the police do not go after users but it is available free of charge in specialised centres. This means there is no profit in selling it so all the drug dealers will go out of business. Not just cannabis but ALL drugs including heroin should be decriminalised and made available free in special clinics. This cuts out the profit so there is no reason for drug dealers to sell it. Other benefits are that it is 'off the street' only available under very strictly controlled conditions in treatment centres. There will be no dirty needles and no contaminated drugs as it would be supplied as a quality controlled prescription medication free of charge. This system has been adopted in Portugal and has been a huge success, drug use is down by 60% and there are no dealers making a profit, crime is down as well. As in the UK 80% of ALL crime is drug related there are massive savings in policing and court costs.
By the way did you know that all the popular street names of varieties cannabis have long been copyrighted by the tobacco and drug companies? names such as Acapulco Gold and the rest are the property of the tobacco companies who still hope it will be legalised so they can sell it at a profit (and take over from the drug dealers!)

[sandyRoe]

And if the market for this was taken away from the dealers they wouldn't just go out of business. They'd look for something else to sell.

[EDDIE51]

Read this link to the effect of Decriminalisation in Portugal
http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html
Amazingly NONE of the doom mongers predictions have come true, there are no 'drug tourists' and drug use is now the lower than anywhere else in Europe USA or Canada.

[jno]

I heard that about brand names too, Eddie (back in the 70s, in fact), but I wouldn't swear it's true - I don't know that you can copyright the name of something that already exists.

As for handing it out free... well, I'm not sure why potheads should get their drugs free when I have to pay as much as £3.99 for my chosen bottle of wine... but I agree money should be taken out of the equation, even if it means the Mexican economy collapses.

[EDDIE51]

sandy what would they sell ? alcohol is legal and available from supermarkets at less than cost price as a 'loss leader' , with all drugs supplied in medically clean pure form free or charge there is no point in selling that. I suppose they could import illegal tobacco , but the smoking population is decreasing and is never going to support the network of dealers we have now.

[sandyRoe]

I thought the OP dealt solely with cannabis. If it was legalised, or decriminalised, the dealers would promote Es or whatever else it is that people use to get high now.

[EDDIE51]

jno, Acapulco Gold, Panama Red , and Vietnamese Green have all been copyrighted since the 1970s read the link
http://legendsrumors.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/tobacco-companies-trademark-marijuana.html
Many more have now joined the list of protected names.

[EDDIE51]

Sandy the question is just about cannabis but no one is going to just decriminalise one drug, in Portugal ALL drugs have been decriminalised .
Decriminalising cannabis could be a first step to full decriminalisation .

[jno]

Eddie, that link says just the opposite?

[LazyGun]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/28/time-end-war-drugs-uk-police-chief

[EDDIE51]

jno read the link , it says the tobacco companies have denied that their copyrighting of the names means they are in favour of legalising cannabis. It DOES NOT say they have not done it just that they claim that the copyrighting does not mean they are in favour of legalisation ( ha ha ) . In other words ''we are not saying it should be legal but if it ever is made legal we own the trade names''
Anyway legalising is a very different thing from decriminalising it, decriminalising takes away all the profit and supplies it free under controlled conditions, legalising it just means commercial companies sell it at a profit and little changes.

[jno]

Eddie, that's from "The Gall Street Journal", it's a spoof. The National Lampoon's a satirical magazine too, or it was in May 1970, I don't know what it's doing now.

The real stuff is in the last paragraph: you can't trademark an illegal substance.

[jno]

(that's in the USA - I don't know if the same is true here but I assume so)

[SpikeyBush]

I'd legalise the lot, lock stock and barrel. Purity is a major issue with harder drugs. Regulated this would lead to consistent strengths and instead of funding organised crime it could fund the exchequer, and setting aside the revenue aspect it would save many unintentional overdoses. What the criminals would move on to remains to be seen, but move on to something else they will do.

[EDDIE51]

spikeybush , Yes I don't see many reports of trading standards visiting the local drug dealers. They would have to register for VAT as well!