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Cannabis facts
11:46am Friday 28th December 2007
Comments (4)ALED Jones hits on his best argument yet for the legalisation of cannabis, as he believes that it is so much stronger these days than in the 1960s.
As he points out, alcohol is regulated under strict guidelines with indications of strength etcetera, something that is not possible with cannabis under prohibition.
As regards its strength, both the Advisory Council on the Misuse of drugs and the European Drug Monitoring Centre have reported only modest, if any, increases in its strength in the past 30 years.
I, along with many others, can confirm this. Strong cannabis has always been available (as in Holland), with little evidence that it causes any more or less harm than weaker strains.
I'm sure Mr Jones is very happy living in his cotton-wool world, where alcohol is not a dangerous drug, and his misconceptions of cannabis are fuelled by political propaganda.
As someone who I'm sure has never touched the stuff, how on earth would he know?
One thing cannabis is not, is a controlled drug. One thing is clear, there is no justification to threaten millions of adult cannabis users, who do no harm to others, with prosecution for their own free choice.
The evidence is clear. Alcohol kills, cannabis does not. If there is no victim, there is no crime.
Steve Clements, The Legalise Cannabis Alliance, York.
Your Say YourYork Press
winston matthews L:CA, Horley , Surrey says...
12:11am Sat 29 Dec 07
Lets legalise and use the money.
Derek, Norwich says...
10:53am Sat 29 Dec 07
"One thing cannabis is not, is a controlled drug."
Despite what politicians and police tell us, illegal drugs are not controlled drugs in any plain English use of the word "controlled".
Because cannabis is illegal, there is no regulation of the supply side at all and if you don't control the supply side, you don't control the product.
Specifically, there is no control or regulation of the strength, make-up (cannabis is made up of two main drugs, THC and CBD) or purity of street cannabis. Worse, there isn't even any valid monitoring of what's on sale. Because it's illegal the trade can't be studied.
There's no control or regulation of the trade in terms of who does it, who they sell it to or where they sell it from. No age limits, no weights and measures controls and the only qualification needed to be a dealer is unaccountability.
All these claims of increased strength are based on no hard facts, because we haven't been measuring it in anything like a statistically valid way.
Possibly of far more importance than a simplistic measure of strength in any case is the ratio of THC to CBD, but if our recording of THC levels is bad CBD is something we have never, ever monitored. This is very important if we are concerned about the mental health effects of cannabis.
It really is time to nail this government lie once and for all: Cannabis is NOT a "controlled drug" and cannot be whilst it remains illegal.
Alun Buffry, Norwich says...
11:20am Sat 29 Dec 07
what it is about is personal freedom - freedom of belief and of privacy. Freedom to do what one wishes in one's own home provided one does no harm to others.
what is is about is protecting people and minimalising harm.
no sensible Government would give that job to profit-motivated drug dealers
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john-boi, Dorset says...
4:38pm Fri 28 Dec 07
While they all sit there sipping the finest Malts or chilled Sauvignon Blanc or puffing on a cigar pontificating about the dangers of Cannabis how hypocritical and blind the majority have become over this whole issue.Cannabis even if we accept the very shakey research linking it with mental health problems Cannabis is still a far safer alternative to alcohol for adults