| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/1/2009 7:32:44 PM |
Anyway, crack on with your finger pointing y'all!
Not everyone on the thread is finger pointing. I work with people who use drugs, I've worked with people who have used every drug going, heroin, coke, blues, DF's, speed, speedballs, E. I've worked with people who are now dead, I've seen people die of an overdose before they get into rehab. I also live in a housing scheme which 10 years was heroin free and is now full of people with drug issues.
I also have a post grad in alcohol and drug studies and for my degree I did research into the ways that other countries deal with their drug user population and drug issues and we are sadly lagging behind.
Some people might be surprised because of the job I do that I would be in favour of decriminalising cannabis, not legalising it, but decriminalising it. If people want to smoke it let them do it safely. Drugs are bad, drugs are naughty, that message does not work.
I've seen enough 17 year old heroin addicts to convince me of that.
It might also surprise people to know that a hell of a lot of people who work in the drugs field are not only ex addicts but there are many people who use drugs socially within the addiction field as well.
As someone said earlier, you do not know unless you ask someone. What I don't agree with is the, you don't know what you are missing, try it, you are boring if you don't attitude that some drug users have. So what you might have great sex and appreciate the greatful dead more but you also might acquaint yourself with your toilet bowl a hell of a lot and spend hours talking absolute shite that you think is funny, but people around you don't think so.
My last long term relationship broke up because of not only his cannabis use but the fact that his flat was used as a party flat for all his pals who used to smoke it morning noon and night. After the thousandth story about how they were going to go to Peru and find the lost civilisation of the Incas or whatever claptrap they were spouting that they thought they hadn't told me the previous week, I realised that my boyfriend would always care about weed and his boring stoner mates more than he would about me.
I may not do drugs myself and I don't think everyone who likes the occasional joint is either boring or a stoner, my exes friends smoked it all day every day and bored the backside off me, but everyone is different.
But would I like to see it decriminalised, yes I would. People are going to smoke it anyway, you can get it on any street corner, drugs are everywhere. I did an alcohol awareness session with young people 14 and over and the majority of them said they had used alcohol, cannabis and some of them also smoked regularly.
We have gone way past the don't do it children stage. | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/1/2009 8:08:58 PM | Well put Paulinemab
I am not sure would go as far as decriminalising it though.
Yes there are kids of 14 smoking cannabis and drinking on a regular basis and having spoke to some young adults/teenagers they seem to think it is ok and do not realise the damage they are causing them selves which is why I think decriminalising should not happen.
I was stood by a few police officers a few months a go and 2 chaps walked by smoking a joint when a Female officer commented about them smoking it and they jusy laughed and so what she just let them carry on there way, this was not longer after the re-classification of the drug.
So either way I guess it is not going to Policed properly all over the country | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/1/2009 8:26:35 PM | The police to put it bluntly have better things to do than police people who smoke cannabis.
When I worked in places where we confiscated cannabis, which we can't do now, the advice we used to be given was flush it down the loo. You get conflicting advice, basically you have to follow your own organisations drug policy but there are a lot of grey areas.
You can work with young people in a project and state no drugs on the premises, but you know that young people are smoking it, but unless you catch them doing it, you can't take any action.
The thing is, you don't decriminalise cannabis, do you think cannabis won't be smuggled into the country or freely available? The town I work in is full of people who use but full of people who also make a very very nice living from selling drugs.
People can buy themselves a ticket to Amsterdam and sit in a coffee shop and get stoned if they wish, but as someone who is a native Dutch person said, something isn't illegal, you reduce the mystery, you take away the we shouldn't be doing this element.
It's exactly the same as alcohol, the message is fed to teenagers don't do it, it's bad, it's wrong, we have a really heavy binge drinking culture. The young people I see who are maybe 14 or 15 are doing it because they want to shock in a way, they want to be able to say, you can't tell me anything, why are you doing a session on drugs and alcohol, don't you know I smoke 20 a day plus cannabis and I drink as well. A lot of it will be bravado but, you decriminalise cannabis, you put controls on it, you put an age limit on when someone can go and smoke, you don't give out the message that it is bad wrong, horrible, will kill you, you allow someone to make their own choices and if you take away the isn't this bad, awful, naughty, you might find that young people think, ok, I'll have the occasional joint and that's it. Or not at all.
You don't decriminalise it? People will be able to source it and get it anyway, it really makes little difference apart from making some dealers quite wealthy. | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 2:11:45 AM | Quote : "And Swan, that is the best anti argument I have heard so far, thank you, although right at the end there you state that medication has substituted it, as would booze, therefore reinforcing that it is not necessarily the cannabis at fault, it is merely a trigger to some with that disorder, and quite often only a trigger due to the previous use of class A's, particularly ectasy ( I have a load of bumf somewhere about it, can't remember the term)"
I said MEDITATION 
Read my post again before the spliff next time eh? (Only jesting btw) 
The first time I got stoned was in an 'irish stew' and I had no idea it was in there. The subsequent times were through smoking which led to bongs, bottle and buckets, hot knives etc ... It was the 80s .. hell, we did alot of other things too, then it was the 90s .... then all of a sudden it was the millenium and sh1t I was still relying on it to 'relax' cos of course I didn't have a problem, how stupid of people to even suggest that stuff was dangerous .... the fact that I had serious depression and paranoia was obviously in my head nothing to do with the dope ... then one day I woke up and woke up, moved away, got off it all by myself which I promise you wasn't as easy as I'd kidded myself it would be.
I have not needed any medication since stopping the dope ... I don't smoke, drink coffee or much alcohol, I use homeopathic remedies instead of over the counter ... so NO I don't use any MEDICATION .... I use MEDITATION.
And I'm perfectly sane thank you very much. It was the dope that made me that way, and now I'm off it I'm happier and more chilled than I've ever been.
Just my personal experience. Off to yoga class now! Byee! | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 2:31:27 AM | I like a puff and dont give a flying fook whether you do or not ..I wont ever tout it to anyone i as an adult enjoy getting stoned and if you choose to experience that its your choice .
personally ive found ive made far more errors and misdemeanours under the influence of alcohol than whilst stoned .....end of | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 2:33:17 AM | I agree Paulinemab the police do have more important things to do than get the odd person smoking but it was her attitude that got me, she could have just ignored it all and then it would not have been an issue for me.
I am still not convinced decriminalising it would work but with out it being tried I guess I have no proof either way.
As for people making a lot of money out of it and with the new laws to seize property and money the police could spend more time after these people which in a way will actually pay some towards the time it takes, I know the whole cost would not be covered and that law is very complex for the police to re-enforce but then it should be amended to make it easier to enforce.
What about the series crimes that are committed through people that take drugs not to mention by the dealers/pushers or what ever name you want to call them?
Having 1st hand experience of what drug wars can do to a family I know what it feelings like to have a family member killed due to drugs, which is possible another reason why I am not into decriminalising cannabis.
Swanspirit I have utter most respect for you and what you have done, not sure every one could manage that with out help and support | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 3:07:30 AM | Morning, couple of corrections required.
Pauline I said the majority of drug counselors not all, and nodded along to the rest of what you said over my morning cuppa (damned caffeine), and the y'all... is a parody of the generalisation & labeling that proliferates these kind of threads :)
And Swan  Sorry, mediTation (Just a dyslexia moment), but, actually makes your argument stronger, but mine too 
And if I could start threads I would be posting, "Yoga, Meditation, left wing nutters who can't cope with reality, how do you cope?" (and Swan, jesting too btw )
Yes we all go by our "personal experiences" but it shouldn't cloud our judgment completely.
We are a rational, liberal, society, are we not? No WE are POF!
^^^^ Duckster, apart from your last line, re-read my post and Paulines again, you say you agree with her and then completely disagree. Strewth! | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 6:41:51 AM |
Having 1st hand experience of what drug wars can do to a family I know what it feelings like to have a family member killed due to drugs, which is possible another reason why I am not into decriminalising cannabis.
An experience that no one should ever have to go through. The thing is though, as I said above, drugs are freely available anyway, whether cannabis is decriminalised or not.
I could walk into a house near where I live and come away with any drug of choice, people openly talk about dealing in the street. The local police and housing department are at pains to say no one deals in the area.
There have been families in Scotland who are known to make a lot of money from selling drugs. Plus the drug wars with other local families, violence, intimidation.
There was a family in my local area who were well known drug dealers, everyone knew it, the police knew it, the entire community knew it. Nothing was done until an attempt was made on one of the families lives and an innocent young man was shot and killed in the crossfire. The community then took to the streets to get that family out of the area.
There is a lot of blind eye turning to people dealing and making money from drugs. As for the proceeds of crime going to fund anti drugs initiative, good, but you seize cash from someone, if they can't keep dealing, someone will be along to take their place.
So currently, some dealers are making fortunes from cannabis and harder drugs that people are hooked on.
As I said in a previous post, people can get any drug of choice they like these days, we are losing the war on drugs. The penalties for drug dealing does not deter people from doing it. As for burning the Afghan poppy fields down, it's a difficult issue
http://greenprophet.com/2009/05/05/8743/afgan-opium-farming/
On the decriminalisation issue, a long read but very interesting
http://dassa.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/MONOGRAPH6.pdf
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-big-question-is-the-war-on-drugs-really-making-the-problem-worse-881271.html | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 7:38:45 AM |
Legalise - get the Afghans producing weed instead of heroin... That would not work, a kilo of weed is worth about £1000. A kilo of heroin, after it is cut, is worth about £100, 000.
How do you think that the Taliban get their weapons? They swap opium with Russian warlords for weapons. I don't think that they would be interested in procuring cannabis, some how. | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 7:54:39 AM | Jats : "And if I could start threads I would be posting, "Yoga, Meditation, left wing nutters who can't cope with reality, how do you cope?" (and Swan, jesting too btw )"
No offense taken Jats.  | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 7:58:34 AM | I would absolutely discourage the use of this drug.
As a society we seem to have a lacksidasical attitude towards it. I can honestly say when you have seen a 17 year old who has been admitted to a high security psychiatric unit for drug induced psychosis and the appauling effects it has, people would certainly feel differently towards it.
:) | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 8:36:47 AM |
I would absolutely discourage the use of this drug.
As a society we seem to have a lacksidasical attitude towards it. I can honestly say when you have seen a 17 year old who has been admitted to a high security psychiatric unit for drug induced psychosis and the appauling effects it has, people would certainly feel differently towards it.
:)
They probably wouldn't you know. People would just take their chances that they wouldn't be affected by it. No matter the horror stories people will still smoke it and if they are going to do so, they might as well do it in a secure controlled environment. | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 9:09:06 AM | I think the old saying "everything in moderation" should apply.
The times I smoked grass, I did enjoy it. Particularly many times of laughing, silly conversations, unwinding and enjoyable inhibitions.
These days it would be a trip to Amsterdam, a trip down memory lane at Christmas with old college mates, a camping trip when someone pulls out some hash to seal the moment. Definately not an every day occurence, but I wouldn't look down on anyone that did do that.
I have friends who smoke it every day, some are succesful as far as work and relationships go, some are not. Who's to say if the ones who are unsuccesful would be so if they hadn't smoked?
Would I encourage it, hell no. Same as I wouldn't encourage a non-drinker to drink.
I also wouldn't encourage someone to drive faster than the speed limit, but to all the people who say they would never smoke weed because it's illegal, can you put your hand on your heart and say you've always stuck to the speed limit? | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/2/2009 9:42:56 AM | You see a lot of drug opinion is based on children.
Dont let adults do it / or legalise it because % of kids will get hooked and die etc. Perfectly ok for society to do many other things that affect a far greater % of children.
Dep on the circumstances you are in you choose to do various things. Different drugs do different things . When people say you are scared/boring etc for not trying things that has to be put into context.
Trying certain drugs on your own wouldn't be most peoples recommendation. | |
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sjxx
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Joined: 4/9/2009
Msg: 66 | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/4/2009 6:48:28 AM | Having 1st hand experience of what drug wars can do to a family I know what it feelings like to have a family member killed due to drugs, which is possible another reason why I am not into decriminalising cannabis.
Unfortunatley that is a akin to saying - I have seen what cars can do to people because my uncle died in a car crash -- so criminalise car driving.
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/8/2009 6:02:49 AM | So the use of Heroin and Crack has fallen and treatment centres need to refocus to deal with the "party" drugs, ACCE (pronounced 'ace') by drug workers, short for Alcohol plus Cocaine, Cannabis and Ecstasy.
This is good evidence to support the argument that recreational drugs do NOT lead a majority of people, to Heroin and Crack.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/the_p_word/newsid_8084000/8084968.stm | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/8/2009 6:05:24 AM |
Discourage mainly for the knock on effect it has on so many social issues and the effects it has on crime and other people in our day to day lives.
I could make that argument far more convincingly against "alcohol" | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/8/2009 9:26:18 AM | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Make your mind up either its not worth it .....full stop..........or its ok in moderation or on rare occasions .....
Pants youve got to the ripe old age of 27  without the need for marijuana in your life so why bother starting now ..........Curiousity is what leads us all to try something new and if your really curious as to the effects give it a go......The only risk you'll be taking is that of liking it and wanting more .......although the popular consensus is that its non addictive so one puff does'nt mean your hooked....
The choice miss inflamed undergarments is yours.........>>>>>>> | |
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| Cannabis.... Would you encourage or discourage?
Posted: 6/8/2009 9:42:47 AM | I have seen more damage done to individuals and families due to alcohol than marijuana, personally i have taken it on and of over the years and it has never led to more serious drug use, it's recreational like a glass of wine.
I don't smoke so have it in food, i used to take it for medical reasons a couple of years ago and it helped immensly, it was actually recommended by a doctor.
I have friends who smoke marijuana regularly and they have good jobs, great family lives and are of sound mind.
Some people do have bad experiences but some have those with tobacco and alcohol. | |
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