[Jack_]

Originally Posted by jaxie

I know of someone who smoked a lot of weed and was so fuddled in the head they killed a pet kitten by standing on it's head while they were out of their head. It wasn't deliberate, it was an accident, but it still makes me sick to think of it and the person who did it has struggled to come to terms with it. So no, there aren't always benefits to it. Drugs are dangerous and if cannibis is ever legalised it should be only for medical use and strictly supervised.

For every anecdote like that, there's about a hundred that pertain to someone intoxicated on alcohol. Maybe we should all supervised whilst we have a drink? Perhaps we could just ban it altogether? Ah, but that isn't going to happen because it's so ingrained within our culture, despite the fact it's far more damaging than weed.

People who are against the legalisation of cannabis are on the wrong side of history. The tide is quite rightly turning in many western countries. Britain isn't progressive enough yet for either the Tories or Labour to campaign on its legalisation for recreational use - in fact I think it'd be electoral suicide - but I give it twenty years before this is no longer a debate, but reality.

[ChristmasNeeve]

Originally Posted by Jack_

For every anecdote like that, there's about a hundred that pertain to someone intoxicated on alcohol. Maybe we should all supervised whilst we have a drink? Perhaps we could just ban it altogether? Ah, but that isn't going to happen because it's so ingrained within our culture, despite the fact it's far more damaging than weed.

People who are against the legalisation of cannabis are on the wrong side of history. The tide is quite rightly turning in many western countries. Britain isn't progressive enough yet for either the Tories or Labour to campaign on its legalisation for recreational use - in fact I think it'd be electoral suicide - but I give it twenty years before this is no longer a debate, but reality.

This is so true, except there's a stronger chance that whatever stupid thing that happened while you were drunk wasn't actually an accident, just seemed like a good idea in the drunken haze. Alcohol changes personalities far more drastically than smoking weed does in my experience

[jaxie]

Originally Posted by Jack_

For every anecdote like that, there's about a hundred that pertain to someone intoxicated on alcohol. Maybe we should all supervised whilst we have a drink? Perhaps we could just ban it altogether? Ah, but that isn't going to happen because it's so ingrained within our culture, despite the fact it's far more damaging than weed.

People who are against the legalisation of cannabis are on the wrong side of history. The tide is quite rightly turning in many western countries. Britain isn't progressive enough yet for either the Tories or Labour to campaign on its legalisation for recreational use - in fact I think it'd be electoral suicide - but I give it twenty years before this is no longer a debate, but reality.

Coming from a home with an alcoholic parent, I'm inclined to agree that maybe we should.

[ChristmasNeeve]

Originally Posted by jaxie

Coming from a home with an alcoholic parent, I'm inclined to agree that maybe we should.

Nanny state springs to mind here Jaxie

[jaxie]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Nanny state springs to mind here Jaxie

Ah but the lives that suffer.

[ChristmasNeeve]

Originally Posted by jaxie

Ah but the lives that suffer.

Alcoholism is awful of course but you can't supervise every person that wants to have a drink just because some people become addicts

[Jack_]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

This is so true, except there's a stronger chance that whatever stupid thing that happened while you were drunk wasn't actually an accident, just seemed like a good idea in the drunken haze. Alcohol changes personalities far more drastically than smoking weed does in my experience

Absolutely, you're more likely to fall victim to an assault from someone who's drunk than someone who's high

Originally Posted by jaxie

Coming from a home with an alcoholic parent, I'm inclined to agree that maybe we should.

And that's perfectly understandable, my point is however is that since alcohol is a far more damaging drug - both physically and socially - than weed, it makes very little sense to oppose the legalisation of the latter, but not care as much about the former. Evidently given your experience this doesn't apply to you, which is fine, but what I'd then say is that since alcohol is certainly not going to be criminalised anytime soon, I see very little reason why cannabis shouldn't be legalised too. The positives far outweigh the benefits.