legalise cannabis?

[DeludedGuy]

I'm very familiar with your area, DL, I've worked in almost every school and college round there and lambeth Town Hall in Brixton on and off over several years.

Stockwell park School - is that near you? I've repaired their tannoy system many times, spent a lot of time in there, picked up on the vibe. I'm a white fella, picked up mostly good vibes in that place, unlike some other schools I've worked in, especially in Southwark & Camden.

As for you thinking it's a non versus pro issue in this thread, I'd say you're wrong. If that's how you choose to view it, in my humble opinion you're detecting hostility that just isn't there.

All I see is agood natured and mostly sensible debate. Often hostility is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps try looking at things from a different angle.

I mean, I'm basically for legalising it, but I have my doubts and concerns, and I do take on board the POV of those who are against legalising the stuff.

Stockwell Park school is 5 minutes walk from my house, I used to go there after school for some extra classes, not the safest place to be. One girl who was in this extra class was stabbed in the face with a pencil, it was the last time she turned up.

Im not saying this thread has any hostility, I agree that its sensible debate, but what I was trying to say was that most of the thread is non canabis users vs canabis users. IMO, I cant see any use for drugs, there are many other ways of having fun.

[Blub2k]

"IMO, I cant see any use for drugs, there are many other ways of having fun."
Deluded Guy

Just a quick question, do you drink alcohol?

[DeludedGuy]

"IMO, I cant see any use for drugs, there are many other ways of having fun."
Deluded Guy

Just a quick question, do you drink alcohol?

I drink alcohol at parties, and the occasional beer to quench my thirst.

[Blub2k]

But surely a party is when you are having fun and, even though you may not see it as such alcohol is a drug with just as many if not more health risks involved with it. How do you reconcile not taking drugs with drinking alcohol, which is a contradiction?

[DeludedGuy]

But surely a party is when you are having fun and, even though you may not see it as such alcohol is a drug with just as many if not more health risks involved with it. How do you reconcile not taking drugs with drinking alcohol, which is a contradiction?

I knew someone was going to say this, but I dont party very often, and the only alcohol I drink is beer, weak beer at that. Also, beer is the best thing to quench your thirst, unlike weed.

Also, people were saying if canabis was legalised it would take away the taboo factor, I dont think so. Alcahol is legalised, but under age teenagers everywhere still see a taboo in buying it and getting drunk. Legalising canabis would not remove any taboo factor it has.

Also, another reason canabis will never be legalised in this country is becuase the goverment would find it almost impossible to put TAX on it, becuase you can grow it in your house.

[Blub2k]

I didn't say you party "very" often but the fact is that when you do you like to let your hair down and relax and have fun with a beer, only difference is the legal status of the intoxicant not the motivation.
Alcohol is under NO circumstances the right thing to quench thirst as it actually dehydrates and not hydrates, not exactly the point of quenching thirst.
The taboo factor does play a big part in it believe it or not, example being Holland where you will be hard pushed to find a Dutch smoker, they dont see it as being interesting. There are however lots and lots and lots of international smokers who have left their own country and smoke a lot in Holland, thus artificially inflating their statistics as these figures actually "belong" to the persons country of origin as their ban has moved the people to Holland to smoke in an unrestricted atmosphere. The figures are that smoking has decreased since Dutch decriminilisation in the early sixties and the average age of the Dutch heroin addict is now up in the thirties whereas in the UK it is in the low twenties, proving that the dutch population of hard drug users is shrinking as they are getting older and not a lot of new blood (excuse the pun) is coming into the hard drug scene, also as a result of seperation of the gravity of different classes of drug, coffee shops that deal in anything else get shut down in Holland.
The amount of underage drinking is also linked to the taboo as it is considered an adult rite of passage and mature to drink as there is an unrealistic limit on it of 18. I have lived in Germany where kids can drink from 16 and the result is that they tend to have a very sensible attitude to drink. The German national stereotype is of fat beer swilling bavarians in lederhosen, this could not be further from the truth (cept maybe in parts of Bavaria). Under 18's are asked to leave a pub at 12:00 with normally an announcement from the DJ box and they get up and leave "en masse". This may seem strange to someone from Ireland or UK, it definitely did to me, but it shows me that when a culture teaches something as an acceptable norm then people can make an informed decision, bans lead to curiosity and mystique.
Decriminilisation does work and even legalisation as in the Swiss model.

[Blub2k]

Oopps forgot about the tax, seeds must come from somewhere, if it is legalised then people will buy good seeds from legal channels moreso than illegal ones as they will then have the choice and no one has ever in recent years tried to tax dope as the laws dont allow it. How do you know that it will not work? As someone who has smoked and seen a lot of stuff over the years I KNOW people would pay tax if it meant going legal. Government can also theoretically price smugglers out of business by selling under prices which they cant as the only reason they smuggle in the first place is that it is so lucrative, undercut their prices and make it not worth their while and you WILL succeed also in killing off the business of international smuggling, not completely, obviously, as someone will always have an angle, but it will go a Long long way to it.