First arrests have taken place in a "cafe " after Cannabis was downgraded to Class C drug yesterday.
I have never taken any illegal drugs.
Should there be this much concern over individuals who have a choice in taking harmful substances. Would I take it for medicinal purposes?....... probably would.
What don't people undrstand - it is STILL illegal. I have heard stories of these Amsterdam style cafe's being set up all over the country in what was called 'a celebration'. Of what
It is up to the individual to partake in such things but some of these people seem not to understand that they can still be arrested and charged (although it is less likely now - Why?)
Use it for medical purposes by all means, but don't take the P1SS
I say legalise it. If people want to smoke it all day everyday then fine, it's up to the individual. There's no way a war against drugs like cannabis will ever be won, it's far better for the government to legalise it and shove hefty taxes on it. They're fighting a loosing battle here and it's costing money.
RT Agree, alcohol is a far worse drug, if it was invented today it would be a class A drug. I think something like 2/3rds of all crime is commited under the influence of alcohol.
As a matter of interest has anyone any friends who may have taken cannabis and described the effects. Are the experiences good/bad or indifferent ? I feel sure all Ppruners are clean living boys and girls like what I is !
Awwwww...........alright then. A buddy of mine experiment in a country where it is considered legal in specific cafes. Turned him into a depressed idiot, who basically took exception to everything said to him. Then he decided to have a couple of beers and he became a barrel of laughs..........and very hungry.
If you think that you are confused, try asking a magistrate.
We apply the law, and to that end we have qualified legal advisers, and nationally agreed guidelines.
Today in court my colleagues and I dealt with a case of possession of cannabis. Small amount, personal use, no previous.
What the heck are we supposed to do?
We didn't know. Our guidelines are already out of date. The clerk could only guess. The prosecutor was no help. No defence lawyer as the case was too trivial for legal aid.
So a conditional discharge it was then - but we agreed that someone needs to get a grip on this and send out some clear signals.
Posession up to 15 grams now only a summary conviction with a fine of about $200 CDN .... still illeagal just not criminal. A step in the right direction I say. We have a shop like the above in my town as well.
The only experience I have ever had with illegal substances came about because somebody gave me a tiny piece of cannabis resin,and I mean tiny, out of scientific curiosity I tried this, the only effect it had was to give me the best nights sleep I ever had and some very interesting dreams, one was a tad supprised to wake up with no hangover or after effects,we are accoustomed to paying in pain for getting out of our heads. There is something odd about authority, they all have a deeply ingrained puritanism, authority dislikes anything that is fun, legalise it I say. I understand the cannabis undergoing medically trials at the moment for instance has been treated so all the fun alcoloids are removed, why????
Same here Mr B people, assume everybody walked round bombed out of their minds in the sixties, twernt so. Main difference was that addicts could go to their doctors get a prescription and carry on with their lives without burglarising of mugging people to feed their habit,I would suggest getting back to something like that would be a advantage, there wasn't a problem untill the rigid prohibition came in, Incidently thousands of men came back from the war addicted to Heroin, and carried on with their lives and jobs for the most part supported by the system I describe above. Somebody told me that the prison system turned a blind eye to cannabis to a certain extent because it had a tendency to mellow their customers out, which is not a bad thing I suppose.
Bubba - Ya got an extra bed at your place. I feels the need to move to yer town to get some edificatin ( as Mr D might say) beings as I am a cannibis virgin .......
* yer could get a Life sentence here in the 60's for merely thinkin about Mary Jane - hence the virginity *
I experimented with cannabis a couple of times as a teenager. It's a nice feeling everything becomes, well erm amplified I suppose you could say, senses all become stronger and you become detached from reality as if you're in a world of your own. It's very very relaxing. Of course you also get the giggles, it's weird because you start laughing at the most obscure crap. As I said before I'm for legalising it, yes it's a harmful drug but no more so than alcohol or plain ordinary tabacco for that matter. The government could make a huge profit from legalising it.
I´ve been smoking hashish on and off for the better part of 20+ years. It is a very common recreational "drug" where I come from; it has been estimated that of a population of 5 million people, around 350.000 smoke hash on a more or less regular basis. While technically still an illegal substance, the police have far more pressing tasks than booking you for possession of small amounts. Neither will they book you for smoking a joint on the street. They might ask you to put it out, then again they might just as well decide not to see it.
It is first and foremost relaxing. Anybody ever heard of someone being violent while under the influence of cannabis? Me neither. It of course affects people differently. It doesn't, however, give you a hangover and it doesn't make you want to go on a rampage and seek out a fight. It is also a very social drug, much as sharing a couple of beers. Part of the attraction is indeed to share a joint or chillum or whatever with your mates.
I find it strang that society embraces alcohol, with all its rather nasty side-effects, while going to extremes to eradicate a comparatively benign substance like cannabis.
No, the dangerous thing about cannabis is not the drug in itself. The danger is that some people mix it with hard drugs, and that in turn means that people who use cannabis can get in contact with hard drugs, and be tempted to try it. In and off itself, cannabis is far less "dangerous" than alcohol. I suppose my mates and I were lucky, in that coming from Copenhagen we could visit Christiania where hard drugs are banned to the extenct that if you get caught, local "justice" would kick the living daylight out of you and send you walking naked down the street. A very efficient deterrent. So, in our youth we never got into contact with hard drugs. Others did, and while it is not usual for the guy/gal pushing cannabis to offer hard drugs, it does occour and this is when impressionable youngsters can get in contact with coke, e, speed, heroin and so forth.
In my opinion cannabis should be legalized as in Holland, and the money saved on hunting for cannabis be used on the really dangerous drugs.
Obviously, continious abuse of cannabis will have some nasty side effects, much the same as drinking a daily bottle of Vodka will. I've seen people with what is called hashish-psychosis and it's not pretty. Neither is an alcholic a pretty sight, of which I've seen many more.
It would seem that through tradition, alcohol is an accepted "drug" and society is, if not happy than at least willing, accepting the side effects as a fact of life. Alcoholism is considered to be a disease; people smoking a joint are considered criminals. It smacks of hipocracy.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy getting really, totally faced, and I live with the jollies of hang-overs too.
Dancing with the devil, going with the flow... it's all a game to me.
Join Date: May 2000
Location: England
Posts: 1,690
Got chatting to an ex-con whilst riding a bus into town a few years back. He put it thus:
"You are waiting for a bus and two turn up, one is full of lads pissed out their heads and the other is full of lads stoned out their heads. Which bus do you choose to get on?"
Sums it up really.
Cannabis should be made available on the NHS for sufferers of arthritis, MS, and other conditions. My mother is taking hard painkillers everyday for her arthritis which ain't doing her too much good in the long run. If the government came up with a way in which she recieved the benefits of cannabis without smoking it then this could only be a positive thing.
I believe the main reason the government here do not legalise cannabis completely is because the drug barons could show their disapproval in a myriad of unattractive ways.
One question: do pilots and ATCO's in the Netherlands lose their medical certificates should they be found to have cannabis in their system? I heard it can be detected for up to something like six months afterwards.
faced, and I live with the jollies of hang-overs too. 
