Just found a new petition to have the Drug cannabis removed from misuse of drugs act (the post title is a link to it), which I invite you to sign if you are a British citizen and agree. Unfortunately you can only sign it if you are British or an ex-British citizen so sorry to all my readers in other places who may have wished to sign it.
I obviously support the legalization of cannabis and think it would put much less strain on our already stretched Police and Prison services if it were legal. As well as decriminalising the many people who use cannabis from all walks of life in Britain every day. All arguments for keeping cannabis illegal are weak in my opinion, even the ones claiming it causes mental illness, as the worst offender for causing most illness and mental illness is legal in Britain and it's called alcohol. If people are allowed to choose whether they wish to indulge in alcohol use legally despite the many health problems it could potentially give them why shouldn't they be able to choose to use cannabis in their own homes?
5 comments:
I've heard that the taxes derived from legalizing cannabis would more than pay for the cost of overseeing it (in the US at any rate). I hadn't thought about all the time spent on criminal investigations and the like, but that sounds like another area that would yield a savings as well as putting resources where they would be more effective.
Do you happen to know what the experience has been in other parts of Europe where it has been legalized?
I'm glad the government isn't regulating the potency of the product and who's allowed to sell it. Think of what the tobacco companies would do if they marketed marijuana like they market cigs and beer. The taxes charged would probably be huge as well. I don't mind being a criminal if it means the purity of the product is assured. Support the grower, not the industrial giants.
You British are so much cooler than us colonists. It is decriminalized in Texas if it is under 4 ozs. That did not stop a cop from busting my son with a joint, taking him to jail. He had to spend 6 months on probation and I think I aged 10 years in that time.
Look forward to hearing it passes.
Cybercelt: Canadians are colonists too.. big city cops have been looking the other way on posession of small amounts for years now, but due to pressure from the South we haven't formally decriminalized it yet.
Whatever: the biggest expense is the cost of incarcerating drug offenders. I may need a source, but half the people behind bars in the US are there for drug charges. And in answer to your question, I believe that when the dutch decriminalized weed, consumption actually declined in Holland (I may need a source for this too).
I read a few years ago 75% of people in prison here are behind bars for weed related offenses, but I don't think that is correct now. I know that things definitely got better in Holland after it was decriminalised. I doubt it will actually happen in Britain any time soon as the government use it as a tool to get straight people to vote for them around election time, as they know the weed smokers don't bother to vote.
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