[setanta]

It's official: you are the biggest wind up merchant on this forum who's posted a meandering essay that displays your total bias on the subject. There's so many of your points(?)that I want to respond to but I don't think you'll ever accept anything I say, no matter how I present my case. Your rhetoric and condemnation is astounding to me actually. Did you even read my comments, where I suggested that people should be given all the facts and dangers surrounding marijuana - just like they do with tobacco and alcohol- and that if the state did legalise it or decriminalise it to a certain extent , at least then it could be taxed and monitored.

Drug taking has always occurred throughout history; cannabis included! It's a naturally grown plant that's been used in many countries and civilisations. You continue to rant on about it not being natural which is so funny when the fecking thing is grown! They're from the same genus (Cannabis!) with hemp often the name used for all but hemp and cannabis are different strains of the plant ... you need to start reading about them before you start announcing that cannabis wasn't used centuries ago and isn't natural when it most definitely was and is.

As for cannabis funding terrorism and crime; criminals will use the black market for a steady cash flow and to lay the blame on cannabis is just plain silly. My example of Prohibition in the States is extremely valid in that criminals will always seize an opportunity to make a fast, illegal buck. It's the illegality of the drug that's the problem with regard to crime and terrorism, not the drug itself. Anything on the black market can be funding terrorism at any moment.... ridiculous to lay the blame entirely on cannabis and really illustrates your crusade here.

As for violent crime, like I said before, alcohol has always been responsible for more death and violence in our society and yet you decide to just turn a blind eye to it. Cannabis is not in the same league as alcohol and even tobacco in terms of addictive qualities and danger to ones health so I think I have a totally valid point in comparing it to them, particularly when you rant on about the government and democracy all the time. They're legal and have always been more dangerous.... where's the logic in that?

Oh, and lets talk about friends and families lives that are being ruined by alcohol right now as we speak or indeed the staggering health bill that countries have to pay for lung disease and heart surgery or cancer. Don't start down that road because cannabis is small fry in comparison to those killers and yet there's no problem with them as long as the governement gets a big slice of peoples taxes in return. Don't bring ethics into this.


It's not about running around and taking advantage of the system by the way... talk about over dramatising your position: you're a reactionary individual who just likes to get a rise out of people rather than to discuss it sensibly. I'm all for free will in a society, particularly when it involves a naturally grown plant and a decision made by an adult with regard to their own recreational time, just like the intake of alcohol, which is a more damaging drug anway -for both the drinker and those around him/her. Let them flake out at home at the weekend rather than smash a few windows or peoples heads in while on drink or drugs. They're not going to damage me on the stuff.

Like I said, if it's legalised adults will have their own choice to make and the middle man - criminals- will be out of the picture and the state will be able to call the shots with regard to supply and taxation and all the rest. And I'll repeat, it's not even in the same league as alcohol, nevermind cocaine and heroin.