Cannabis use, Crime has risen! Options

[Andy Capp]

LOL, which is which?

That depends on the bill payer!

[Biker1]

LOL, which is which?

That's the problems these days - many can't differentiate!

[Simon Kirby]

I'm with Roger here. From my limited personal experience it seems to me that tobacco and alcohol are way more troublesome than grass and it's perverse to criminalise something that is relatively benign when the social and financial cost of that criminalisation is quite high.

[Biker1]

I'm with Roger here. From my limited personal experience it seems to me that tobacco and alcohol are way more troublesome than grass and it's perverse to criminalise something that is relatively benign when the social and financial cost of that criminalisation is quite high.

Google "The effects of cannabis on the brain" or "The effects of cannabis on mental heath" before you make comments like "something that is relatively benign".

[Roger T]

Google "The effects of cannabis on the brain" or "The effects of cannabis on mental heath" before you make comments like "something that is relatively benign".

From how I have seen there has not been any scientific evidence of cannabis use linked to ill long-term health.
At least that's what google tells me.
(I hope I have copied and pasted this right)

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/infofacts/marijuana

Marijuana and Mental Health

A number of studies have shown an association between chronic marijuana use and increased rates of anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. Some of these studies have shown age at first use to be an important risk factor, where early use is a marker of increased vulnerability to later problems. However, at this time, it is not clear whether marijuana use causes mental problems, exacerbates them, or reflects an attempt to self-medicate symptoms already in existence.

Besides from how Mrs T said today while making me a lovely brew, it may have negative health effects but they are certainly no worse than substances which are legal (she meant cigarettes and alcohol) So I think relatively benign is fair. Certainly tobacco and alcohol related deaths outnumber that of cannabis on a user against health concern chart.

Neither Mrs T nor me us have really drunk for a long time. Occasional glass of shandy though. But that doesn't count probably.

[Simon Kirby]

Google "The effects of cannabis on the brain" or "The effects of cannabis on mental heath" before you make comments like "something that is relatively benign".

Like I said, it's relatively benign. Alcohol and tobacco are worse.

[Jayjay]

This a letter from the FRANK site. As a parent, or relative of a youngster I find this so scary.

I have learnt from him the drugs started at the age of 15. It was weed and a bong, in a garage or shed, just for a laugh, just for the adult kicks. To my dying day I will regret not noticing, not realising, not opening my eyes and seeing the signs. At 16 it was cannabis and MD, his personality changed, more aggressive, rude, but I covered that with ‘well he is becoming a man and trying to find his feet’. Money went missing, he went missing, but each time I swallowed the excuses, after all ‘he’s a good boy’. 17 and he wins an apprenticeship against 200 other applicants. Proud is not a grand enough word to describe how I felt. Well paid, he bought his first car, had a pretty girl on his arm, but still I failed to notice the weight loss and shadows over his blood shot eyes. 18 and he lives in a bedsit. Craving his next fix, always needing money, fighting physically with his girl friend, uncouth, rude, dirty, and so painfully thin.

The apprenticeship and future in tatters destroyed by his habit, unable to get out of bed and face a day’s work. His car seized and squashed. All his possessions sold to fund the craving. His visits to home our house and his room are taken up with us treading on egg shells careful not to enflame his temper. Making sure all monies and valuables are hidden. 19...............19 and today I learn that my son is dealing, dealing the cause to other 16 year olds - starting the cycle and funding his out of control habit.

I don’t recognise my own lovely son. The life and soul of our house, the bright as a button brother. He has become the figure of desperation, living between legal and shadow. He hasn’t got long left before he hits the point of no recovery. Yes, he can be saved in later years when the addiction has turned to a cry for help, but the life soul will have been snuffed, just an operating husk left.

My advice to other parents: Be strong! Keep your eyes wide open, listen; the smallest morsel of information might give you a clue. Take advice even if you feel

[Roger T]

Deepest sympathy from myself and Mrs T if that's true but I'm a sunny outlooker with a hint of cynicism and that story from how it's written seems a bit....well, fake? I read George Orwell, and Cathy Glass. I read Harry Potter to the Nephew, I think the second book, but personally I didn't like it. He did though bless him.

[Andy Capp]

I'm not sure being relatively benign is an argument for anything. The most powerful argument I can see for legalising blow, is to reduce incidents of crime that help to fund the habits. I fear, however; that tax would soon rise (like in cigarettes) to help 'save' the black market from one of its most lucrative revenue streams.

I see anything that is to eat and drink can be seen to be more acceptable than things that require breathing in. It doesn't make sense to breathe in stuff that by its nature will inhibit the organ from doing the job it was meant to do. Eating and drinking anything could be seen to be natural things to do, but to breath in smoke and powder, doesn't seem 'natural'.

[Strafin]

Basic, standard cannabis in home grown form is probably not that bad. But that is very rarely what people are using. As for the effects, it makes you lazy and stupid. That alone would help to cripple our already decaying society.

[Roger T]

As for the effects, it makes you lazy and stupid.

Not as bad as the Alcohol, which makes you violent and loutish.
Mrs T doesn't approve. We used to go out, perhaps every fortnight for a meal on a Saturday evening, not any more. We order takeaways or cook from home.

[Strafin]

Not as bad as the Alcohol, which makes you violent and loutish.
Mrs T doesn't approve. We used to go out, perhaps every fortnight for a meal on a Saturday evening, not any more. We order takeaways or cook from home.

Also true, but I don't like to get bogged down in the alcohol versus marijuana debate, because I don't think it's a fair comparison. As somebody who has over indulged in both I think they are both quite destructive, but the effects of alcohol are over in a day cannabis messes with your mind and that can take years to shake off.

[Andy Capp]

Not as bad as the Alcohol, which makes you violent and loutish.

No it doesn't. The vast majority of people who like a drink are neither.

Mrs T doesn't approve. We used to go out, perhaps every fortnight for a meal on a Saturday evening, not any more. We order takeaways or cook from home.

I read that the last time a drug had a social calming effect on people was when we had the explosion of 'E' tabs and all night raves. Many of the louts indulged in that instead of spending a lot more down the pub and having a 'good' scrap afterwards.

[Roger T]

No it doesn't. The vast majority of people who like a drink are neither.

So is saying the vast majority of cannabis users criminals or people who steal to fund their habit? I imagine in both cases, it would be the minority.
I would check with Mrs T but she's asleep. I promised I would go to, this was 45 minutes ago. I'll pretend my clock has broken.

I read that the last time a drug had a social calming effect on people was when we had the explosion of 'E' tabs and all night raves. Many of the louts indulged in that instead of spending a lot more down the pub and having a 'good' scrap afterwards.

I remember thoses raves, back in the day. Old warehouse, suspicious fellow guarding the entrance. I went to one. Not as a user, mind. Just to see. It was a bit brash and loud and felt like being in a washing machine.

[Andy Capp]

So is saying the vast majority of cannabis users criminals

As cannabis is illegal, that would be correct.

or people who steal to fund their habit? I imagine in both cases, it would be the minority.

I never said that, BUT it is believed that most robberies and burglaries are perpetrated by illegal drug users, although not exclusively cannabis users of course.

[blackdog]

My Nephew introduced me to Hot Fuzz last weekend. A good chuckle. Mrs T didn't like it though.

You could try Saving Grace next - another on-topic chuckle of a film.

[NWNREADER]

My Nephew introduced me to Hot Fuzz last weekend. A good chuckle. Mrs T didn't like it though.

That definitely sounds illegal, although it is rumoured to be common practice in rural areas......

[NWNREADER]

The debate about legalising cannabis is age-old. Cannabis ranges from almost innocuous grass (that is little more than exactly that) through to the new skunk varietals. A bit like saying alcohol is not harmful (glass of Lambrusco one a week) when some are quaffing meths......

Did anyone read the problems the Dutch Government now see with the Cafes so famous in that country?

[NWNREADER]

The debate about legalising cannabis is age-old. Cannabis ranges from almost innocuous grass (that is little more than exactly that) through to the new skunk varietals. A bit like saying alcohol is not harmful (glass of Lambrusco one a week) when some are quaffing meths......

Did anyone read the problems the Dutch Government now see with the Cafes so famous in that country?

[stewiegriffin]

The law in the Netherlands has always been a bit of a flawed compromise. Legal to sell weed in the coffee shops, but illegal (though overlooked by the police) to bring it into the premises in order to sell it. It's known as the 'back door problem'. The right wing government has a real downer on the coffee shops and is banning foreigners from buying cannabis by the end of the year. The shops will become members only establishments open to Dutch people only.

Having lived there for a few years, I can honestly say I never once saw any problems of crime or related behaviour around the coffee shops. The tourist trade is going to suffer badly when the ban takes effect. Amsterdam will lose a lot of money, many hotels & cafes will go broke. I think the government there will regret the move before too long and the ban may be overturned at some point. It's a big step in the wrong direction if you ask me.