legalise cannabis?

[Theo]

It isn't cannabis that has been linked with Schizophrenia, it is THC. Taking large amounts of cannabis containing high levels of THC for an extended period of time can increase chances of developing psychosis in SOME people.

However. Cannabis containing lower levels of THC, and higher levels of CBD (etc) will be far less prone to psychosis development. THC isn't the number 1 active drug in many strains of cannabis, particularly medical cannabis as the effects are mainly cerebral.

From my personal experience, 70-80% of imported cannabis in possession of drug dealers is of the sativa variety - I.E. high THC. So despite there being an alternative, with slightly different effects, it's no wonder the government and their so-called "experts" are generalising the cannabis as one single plant type in order to promote their scare tactics.

The scare tactics employed by the government aren't just to have a hold on the british public. GW Pharmaceuticals are the only body in the UK with a license granted by the home office to allow them to grow cannabis. What is more profitable? Having med-users grow their own medicine at little to no cost, or having a large pharmaceutical developing a marketable derivative?

[Spud1]

So, in short, you are happy for people to drink their drug, but not so happy for them to smoke it? Stupid for people to die of lung cancer 20 years down the line, but perfectly sensible to die of liver failure at the same time?

I think, me old mate, you can't really be drinking at parties, and then be self-righteous enough to start calling others recreational drug use pathetic. Some drugs are legal, some drugs are not, but how many people die of smoking \ drinking related illnesses in a year in the UK? And how many people from Heroin abuse?

Given the figures, I wonder if we have the right drugs legalised.

Nicotine is addictive, alcohol is addictive. Smoke 30 ciggies a day, it is very detrimental to your health, drink 30 cans of lager a day, and it is also detrimental to your health.

Glass houses, throwing stones, etc.

well said that man I personally believe that alcohol is a much more dangerous drug than cannabis. I've never woken up with a headache/hangover/sign from my body telling me ive poisoned myself after a heavy night of getting stoned - but almost every time i drink lots of alcohol I get a hangover/headache etc..

Thats why these days i would prefer to get stoned than drink, still have a great time but without the horrible after effects the sweet spot seems to be a few drinks mixed with smoking some weed, gives a nice high with no hangover

The biggest dangers of cannabis are surely the method of intake - smoking it with tobacco, ergo is the tobacco thats the biggest danger. I'd be willing to bet that most ppl who become addicted to smoking cannabis are becomming addicted to the nicotine rather than the cannabis..

Now if all you smoked were blunts then its a different story , but anyway vauls right - the wrong drugs seem to be legalised from what I can see. Maybe it would be a different story if cannabis were legal, possibly we havnt found any huge problem because of its illegality, its certainly not as widespread as tobacco or alcohol use - if it were would more problems be exposed? who knows. My bet is still that it will become legal some time in the next 10 years or so, at least for medical purposes. From then its only a small step to make it legal for recreational use aswell.

[LeeumH]

I personally believe that alcohol is a much more dangerous drug than cannabis

Spot on I think it should be legalised although I can't see it happening, the benefits outweigh all other factors in this. Just look at Holland, it's been legal there for as long as I can remember and it hasn't effected their society at all, even some of the top businessmen sit and mellow out in a cafe with a joint every now and then.

Take it in moderation and all is good. IIRC nobody has died from taking cannabis, compare that with the death figures of alcohol and tobacco and you begin to see the point. Only known accidents I know of are those by heavy uses of buckets and bongs, they have been known in a few cases to burn a hole in your lung/s. Chance you take I suppose

[noah]

i think there's a pretty important point missing here: DRIVING

i know a lot of people that are happy to drive while high as a kite, but the same people wouldnt dream of driving drunk.

imo it's just as daft to drive when stoned or drunk - reaction times etc. one friend lost the ability to tell the colour of traffic lights when stoned!

but the bigger problem lies in how to test if someone's been smoking or not. you can test alcohol levels to a good level of specificity and sensitivity, but i dont believe you can with cannabis? it stays in different parts of your system for prolonged periods of time, so how do the coppers know if you smoked it 30 mins previously or 10 hours ago or even yesterday?

you cant really leagalise it until you can control it to the level of other legal drugs (tho you may suggest we cant control alcohol in many other respects)

my tuppence

[Trippledence]

Ecxessive use of anythings going to cause problems. how can you justify banning something for a whole nation because of a few stupid idiots who get stoned everyday. At least if there stoned there killing themsevles passivly instead of tanked up on cheap alcopops and starting fights.

[captaincannabis]

Gange,
12 good reasons why the bush administration should be doin exactly that….

1, it helps take you out of this **** hole of a world prematurely
2, if people knew how to build proper, the number of cancer victims will drop.
3, my big bro died fetching the stuff on the anniversary of Bob Marleys death. He broke his neck in a horrific freak accident suffering the same injuries superman actor Christopher reeve suffered. My big bro got back up 2 ½ minutes later. He walked down 2 flights of stairs the next day to smoke what he died fetching. His birthday is September 11th. 911 saw my big bros 33rd birthday.
4, it only causes depression in this world
5, try taking it off the streets, you will see bloodbaths all over the world. Gange is the drug that cools people down http://www.lulu.com/134929
6 it opens up that % of the brain still unused. Your imagination
7 write an auto biography, then do it on gange. See which is both more truthful and funny. Gange is the soupl ladel of the mind. Take it back right, it takes you right back. ALL the way back. Legislation needs changing. legalisation is whats needed. Reading glasses to the past. A different kind of vision express. Legalisin that one, gets rid of all the dirty drugs higher up the ladder.Theyre not needed now with this books arrival.
8 when I publish my auto biography, id like everyone reading it to read it on what I wrote it on. it keeps your blood pressure down and at a safe level. It could be unsafe to read it without gange. http://www.geocities.com/jesseakiens
9 it gives some lucky sod a 2000 year memory
10 if you get the smoke right, with the right kind of woman, the side effects you find here will blow your mind. The lads get extensions, BOTH get multiple O`S.
11 if you give your scientists who carry out cancer research, trust me when I say they find the cure before cancer finds them. it brings out the genius in us all. Bobs genius showed in his music. My shows in my writing.
12 My books bigger, better, more truthful, sadder, more colourful, definately funnier, and infinately more inspirational than the bible. spakiens@yahoo.co.uk

come on, free the weed george bush, start administerin it please. It ends all 911`s.
LETS ROLL GREEN CARPETS EVEREYWHERE, NOT RED ONES. START WITH DUMMY TOWN, A PLACE CALLED BELGRAVE. IT ENDS ALL 911`S FOR GOOD. THE PERSECUTION OF ISLAM ENDS ALONG WITH ALL WARS. MY BOOK TELLS YOU EXACTLY HOW. THE CLIMATE NEEDS STABILISING AS WELL. I SORTED THAT ON GANGE TOO.

this is the book cover, imagination grabbin I hope.

a very old head on young shoulders. My mates call me Dirty Beckham. just a dirty lowlife stoner !!

[Ben Rogers]

thread revival!

I havent smoked the stuff for a very long time and dont wish to start again because my head is still messed up the same as it was when I created this thread, some three years ago. I go back on what I said about alcohol, much worse than weed in how addictive is can be.

All thoughts in third person, can't control them very well but I don't get other people talking in my head, anymore but that lasted for just over a year. Went 8 days without sleeping when it was very bad because I believed I would die if I slept, was absolutely exhausted, too tired to barely walk so I had to sleep.

Managed to cut down from 8+ beers a day to 2 now which started because I couldn't sleep even with benzo meds.

Most noticeable thing now is how poor music sounds (lacks power, speed etc) and how bad I feel, also with motivation is a factor, but that seems to have been the case since I can remember. Managed to put up with this for about 4 years now so it doesn't worry me. Ive just kept busy to keep mind occupied on other stuff than my third person thoughts that say Im going to die.

If anyone else has a phycosis try to keep busy and focus on things the best you can that are external, outside your own mind and it won't be so bad. If you're lucky it might even get better one day.

[GoNz0]

i just gave up after 15 years smoking it and never paid for it once.

i gave up through choice, no medical needs for it, room stunk of baccy and dope all the time and we are selling the house. house is now sold and i dont want to go back on it, my memorys 10x better, things really piss me off easy now, even hearing people chomping there food makes me want to slit there throat at the mo, but it will go away ( i hope)

poor bugger i was growing withs at a bit of a loose end without my know how, but thats no longer my problem

*edit, i would love a good nights sleep, thats got to be the hardest part of quitting the dope, having a few beers tonight so i pass out

[Ben Rogers]

Hi mate,

Nice one for quitting and good luck with staying off the dope, life can get stressful and its easy to get back into bad habits. I remember how hard it was to have a proper nights sleep when I stopped smoking it but it got easier (before I started to drink properly) now I can sleep for 8 hours without waking up once having reduced medication to aid sleep by a lot over recent weeks.

The main thing that annoys me now is other people smoking it when Im in the same room, it doesnt effect me physically but in my head it makes me angry. I can understand what your saying also, about getting pissed off more easily now too, sufferered the same - general noise in the background annoys me to such an extent that I stay on my own as much as I can unless I can talk to people all the time and keep them talking so it over-rides background noise but this is mainly down to things in the enviroment controlling my thoughts (words in my head are said as noise takes place) noise such as birds singing, washing machine spinning etc...used to believe strongly that I could control what other people were saying in real life and on the TV!

[G4Z]

Well, I am pretty much quitting as well as it happens. I was just away on holiday for a week so its my first 7 days off it for probably 6 or 7 years. I have had one tonight as a little treat but now I have gotten over the 'need' (psychological need really, I think) to use it for sleeping (thanks very much booze) I will be cutting down big time and restricting use to very occasional rather than daily. Its really not been so hard, the hard part is simply giving up something I enjoy. Reason I have done it are partly financial and partly my concern that I am getting to the stage of really damaging my lungs now. Felt fine all last week without it, I have never had any negative side effects from smoking it except for a few occasions where I went without and had really mental vivid dreams but this time around I have not even had that.

[Dareos]

If anyone has the chance, check out the late great comedian Bill Hicks. His take on the whole Cannabis debate is very interested (as well as being extremely funny).

Bill Hicks was possibly (other than Stephen Lynch) the funniest comedian ever to walk the sodden earth of the USA, and I reckon i have heard every goddamned thing he ever said on stage, but to be frank, using a comedians arguments to back up your own point of view, with no suibstantial evidence, is rather poor.

Smoking hurts not only yourself but the people around you, and well, all those cannabis plants lying around...well theres thistles lying around too, eat them before you smoke cannabis.


and don't preach about Bill Hicks either, he was a comedic genius, and he had a far better command of the english language than you did.

[Dareos]

perhaps for clarification i have to post this :

1 : i am an avid fan of stand up comedy, and i follow it like some people follow football

2 : I used to smoke, i have done several drugs, enjoyed many and to be perfectly honest, would rather know my own mind and not try to explain what i was doing when I was under the influence of other drugs.

3 : I am a self satisfied., smug individual

4 : (statement 3 may or may not be true)

5 : A sense of humour is optional

[G4Z]

hummm, Dareos if you really knew as much about Hicks and stand up comedy as you say you do you would know that the reason his act was so funny and the driving force behind him saying what he did was because he thought it was the truth. In my opinion he was right more often than he was wrong, quoting Hicks is as valid as quoting any other philosopher or thinker.

[Betty_Swallocks]

IMO it should be illegal for good as it can mess people's brains up in a very big way. I might have over done it a bit by smoking an 8th to a q a day for 4 years but still, its not nice what it does long term.

You MIGHT have overdone it a BIT?

Just in cash terms that's like drinking 2 bottles of scotch a day. What do you think that would do to you? More to the point wtf did you think smoking all that dope was going to do? At a conservative estimate that's over 30 grand you spent on dope over 4 years and you think you might have overdone it a bit? No **** Sherlock.

What annoys me is when losers like you come on here and say that because YOU can't use something responsibly the rest of us shouldn't be allowed to use it at all.

You didn't give up anyway, you just replaced one drug with a different one. 8 beers a day is well into the damaging levels of use. How's your liver?

Anything is damaging if you take too much of it. Vitamin C can kill in high quantities yet I don't hear anyone calling for a ban on that.

I get a half or an ounce of weed every six months or so and then take about a month to smoke it.
I use it in moderation

You may notice that I have included a link to a definition of the word moderation as it is a concept you are clearly not familiar with.

Sorry if this seems harsh but it winds me right up when people try to drag us all down to their level.

[Ben Rogers]

Not harsh its fair enough - this thread was created in 2005 I think when the problems started for me, that's why I wrote stuff that was stupid.

Granted, I may have smoked a bit too much but not to a stupid amount like two ounce a day or something daft. I only replaced it with alcohol for a time where I had severe sleeping difficulties, now, however that is better and I don't need to drink anywhere near as much in order to sleep.

Losers like me? I didn't have anything else to do as I lived in a rural area - in a village in north devon where they was NOTHING else to do and I was a lot younger when I smoked it obviously and I wasn't aware that it could even cause harm to the brain or cause phycosis in such a way that is prevelent to what it has done to me.

I don't know how my liver is, all I know is I'm not dead yet but I know people who drank way more than 8 cans of beer a day (one drank 30 cans of stella a day who I went to college with) he's still alive, might be a bit ill but he's still ok considering. I didn't drink beer during the day at all, the cans were consumed between 9 and 12pm usually and one can at 6pm but now I only drink 2 during the week and 3 or 4 Friday and Saturday night, if I stay in...never had a problem with booze thankfully which I'm glad about.

I didn't say no one should use it, I said it should stay illegal and never be made legal - how is that saying no one should use it? It doesn't make any difference to most people whether it's legal or not, people will still use the stuff...I was just merely warning users of the dangers it CAN cause to SOME people, sometimes (and even then it involves bad luck or smoking too much usually)

Good luck with carrying on using it in moderation, seriously.

I'm glad I don't have the need to use illegal substances.

Ben

[G4Z]

Look Ben, I don't want to denigrate your experience here but I think its a bit much to say smoking weed caused your psychosis. For all you know that could have been a ticking time bomb in your brain and smoking the amount you did just exacerbated it. You can't draw much more than a correlation between weed and psychosis because people who tend towards psychosis tend to use/abuse drugs as well. In your case it sounds like you also abused alcohol, did that help with your psychosis, make it worse or cause it?