Cannabis

[Khandro]

Thailand has decided to ban its use and Germany, from April 1st, is to make it legal.

Who is right?

[sandyRoe]

I know little about it but many years ago a Player's extra strong cigarette seemed to have more kick than the weed available then.

[Khandro]

^^ You should have tried Capstan Full Strength 

[bednobs]

they are probably both right, and what they are deciding is right for their population and country

[davebro3]

Germany

[Old_Geezer]

Germany is being more sensible IMO.

[jno]

I'd sooner the diminished police force spent its time solving real crimes rather than chasing hippies, stopping only to commit the occasional sex murder

[david small]

Cannabis is very often the pathway to mental illness. The information is available for those who research this subject.

Peter Hitchens often explains the unwillingness to discuss this subject. As a recreational drug it's become tolerable to many, often cited as preferable to alcohol. Unfortunately, as I write above, consequences such as mental instability can and do occur more frequently than reported by the government and the press.

 

[Prudie]

Who is right? No idea. Who do I agree with? Thailand

[jourdain2]

They are totally different governmental/law systems and the populations have very different mindsets.  Impossible to compare the 2 really.  

[andres]

Thailand .

[mibn2cweus]

Banning something makes none the wiser.

[youngmafbog]

I'm with Thailand.

Experiments around the World to legalise it generally end in tears.

And these days how are they going to define 'Cannabis' given all the srtains and strngths?

[Khandro]

BA to david small, because it is my contention from experience, that though not all people who smoke pot go on to class A drugs, all people on class A drugs began by smoking pot.

It can also lead to a debilitating lethargy and a 'so what?' attitude to life, leading to a lack of resolve and even clinical depression.

Legalizing its use, as the Germans egged on by the Greens are foolishly doing, gives out a signal to the young that it is a normal and an acceptable thing to do.

[Untitled]

"It can also lead to a debilitating lethargy and a 'so what?' attitude to life, leading to a lack of resolve and even clinical depression."

is this really a reason to criminalize something?

[Untitled]

the serious problem with cannabis is organised crime and i suspect legalization or criminalization does not make that much of a difference...  if you legalise then the same organisations will simply set up shell companies and carry on... if you criminalise then the amounts of money involved override any level of deterrence 

the root causes of the drug trade or not in europe they are in south america and afghanistan... the whole issue is an excellent example of how little isolated nation-states simply cannot really do anything about these massive global issues! 
 

my inclination would be to legalize purely to reduce harm and to clear out the huge number of minor drug offences that clog up the justice system... but i accept that doing so would certainly have unpleasant consequences and ultimately it is playing about at the edges 

[Khandro]

Untitled //the root causes of the drug trade or not in europe they are in south america and afghanistan... // 

 
Oh no, you don't know the Germans!     Under the new legislation  Adults over 18 will be allowed to possess 25 grams of cannabis and grow up to three plants at home !!!!!!!.

Cannabis clubs will be allowed to supply up to 500 members with a monthly maximum of 50 grams per member.

 

What is going to happen in Germany is what is happened to the detriment of Amsterdam & Zurich, who when they relaxed the laws found that the whole world of drug users (of all kinds) flocked into their towns.

[Untitled]

and so what? the root cause of the problem is unaffected

[Atheist]

Three plants would see you through the year, provided they are big varieties, which tend to be weaker. They'd cost next-to-nothing, and would not involve mixing with drug dealers. A cannabis smoker does not have a joint, then another, then another, although some do have one first thing and then continue through the day.

I think the harm from alcohol misuse is worse than cannabis. Downsides of cannabis include mixing it with tobacco, having to buy from dealers who might push more addictive stuff, overdosing from oral ingestion.

 

 

 

[Khandro]

Atheist: It is giving a green light, not just to a town, but an entire country of over 80 million. Please read my above post at 8:00 am. 

If only a small % smoke dope who would not have done, it's a lot of people, and if only a small % of those go on to hard drugs it's still a lot of people, and the class A drugs today are being laced with substances from China which make them many, many times more addictive than heroin.

So with typical German idiocy, they think they are solving the problem of dealers but making it many times worse for the future.  

[Atheist]

Khandro, I think you are presuming that cannabis is a 'gateway' drug. The fact that it is illegal means that people who want to try it need to buy from dealers who might well be urging them to try something a bit better (and powerfully addictive, unlike cannabis which is not powerfully physically addictive, as is nicotine). If tobacco was made illegal, many would still buy it, but from dealers, and they could be tempted to try other stuff.