Even the most liberal thinkers among us probably agree that the 'state' needs to retain some control over the substances being produced to cheer people up. Things naturally produced by nature don't usually harm us; the Moroccan cannabis grown on the sunny slopes of the Rif mountains seems to be a mellow lifter of spirits used over centuries, but the skunk produced in Vietnamese factories in the UK is totally artificial and falls into a different, more dangerous category.

And we keep producing manufactured substances to give ourselves an ever quicker lift, without any medical tests to ensure safety.

They boil things up, mixing all sorts of ingredients, and produce little pills to sell to the young clubbers who don't care what they swallow as they dance the night away. Horse tranquilisers seem popular at the moment, possibly safer than the old LSD which made people think they could fly.

But overall we need to keep experimenting to help ourselves; Aids has almost been cured just the same as venereal diseases, but the next big target, cancer, has eluded us so far.

A laboratory grown liver would come in handy too.

I hope you didn't mean that as a general truth H?

What does 'natural' mean?

What a frightening link.

I meant the things that grow without human interference, what the dinosaurs used to eat before they were wiped out.

But, after reading your link, I might have to rethink.

The Chief Constable up in your neck of the woods has seen the light, Dick!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24320717

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...s-8851379.html

Let´s all just have a party then

Yeh, but what was he on himself at the time ?

He claims decriminalisation will put control of drugs in the hands of the Govt.

I reckon he must be away with the fairies.

The claims of cannabis and psych problems can't be verified. How do you differentiate between psych problems being caused by cannnabis, and psych sufferers havine a taste for self medication?

From The Independant this morning ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...n-8856308.html

If you want to stamp out organised crime's lucrative cannabis trade, legalise it and allow people to grow their own..

There was a ridiculous article claiming that today's cannabis is way stronger than back then. The usual dishonest reporting. They compared the weakest back then with the strongest today. The strongest today is only slightly stronger than the strongest back then.

Interesting discussion on Radio 2 today about the COMPLETE MYTH that marijuana can lead to schizophrenia... Now I know, there will be a dozen or more of you doubters Googling like banshees trying to find the PROOF that there is a link but this was a prominent psychiatrist, and expert in the field of schizophrenia clearly stating that it was, and I quote, complete bunkum that there was a link. He went on to detail that there is an exponential rise in marijuana use in the west, indeed there was, on average, a 70% plus, usage of marijuana use in countries like Jamaica yet there has been no significant rise in cases of schizophrenia over the last 30 years.... odd that eh?


I await the Google results with scorn and derision.

As OP I made up my mind a while back about de-crimilisation etc of cannabis as a result of the discussion on this thread. And what I didn't expect to happen up front was that there is a discussion to be had about even harder drugs.

I would value that discussion if the governments would allow a open and honest discussion without politicking it every time.

Sure there are dangers with any decision, positives and negatives.... but to just focus on the negatives is wrong. One could eg ban motorbikes because some people get killed or badly injured by driving them. But that would be crazy.

Switzerland is now another country that has seen that in balance it is far better to decriminalise, save all that legal overhead as well. If they would grow it as well and sell fully safety checked product they could make a nice profit for eg health programmes and cut down the power of the crime lords... which I think EVERYBODY would agree would be better for society!

Jon

How is Portugal getting on?

Was this on Jeremy Vine ?

I was listening and I had some people in the car and one asked how do you get it, I said class A's

I take your point medically I don't know, what I heard was 2 people who spoke one was about a 50 yr old who topped herself and the other was just a kid, it was at the point that I was asked why the younger guy had it, and I said class A's.

its not clear because in many cases the genetic history of the parents maybe unknown.

The same for Alcohol too, I do believe in that you can have a addictive gene in you, whether that be class A / B or Cannabis or Alcohol, sex porn or gambling, or a mixture of all.

If I had it (schizophrenia) then speaking IMO sane now I would want to be put down, and I think they should too, sorry, I can not be around them.

The thing with Jamaica you cant compare with if this what was on Jeremy vine because, the main issues were paranoia, police coming round and all that stuff, that is a cause of UK society, in Jamaica the issue might be more pleasant, not so much police so not a issue that would come up

Yeah... his point was, weed us has grown to a massive level.... schizophrenia levels have not risen in the last 30 years.... No it was the guy they interviewed at the beginning of the piece, the psychiatrist.