Legalising RECREATIONAL cannabis

Commotion Ocean

Having read much of the thread on the legality of medicinal cannabis, I've been thinking what the opinion of Irish people as a whole might be on the legalisation of cannabis for recreational purposes.

I, for one, am very much in favour of the legalisation of cannabis for recreational purposes.

People say that it is a "drug" and therefore should remain illegal. Let's define and discuss what a "drug" is though. Cafeiene could be considered a drug, so could sugar, tobacco is a drug and I very much believe alcohol is too. So why aren't they illegal?

Why is it legal to go to your local pub, drink 6 or 7 pints for €5 each, last orders is called, then guzzle 2 or 3 more down your gullet to get the last ones in, go out on the roads like sheep being herded and make a mess get sick and people fighting everywhere.

Why can't we just go into a "coffeeshop", spark up a joint, eat a cake, have a cuppa tae, relax, go home and not bother anyone.

Before people say that it affects your work, alcohol can do that too, if you come in hungover, and there would be channels in place for employers to fiire habitual users, just like an employer can fire habitual drinkers that are constantly showing up late, hungover or not at all.

It's a waste of Garda resources seizing what essentially is a harmless plant. 18 and 19 year old lads and girls are getting life-lasting convictions for smoking what is a harmless plant. Think of the revenue it'd bring in. Think ho many gangs would be annihilated through having a legal source available!

And before people use the carcinogenic argument, alcohol is a carcinogen if abused, so too is tobacco. Vaping cannabis or eating it would remove that risk.

I'd love to see cannabis legalised here, but I'd say it'd be met with fierce opposition from the Vintners Association which comprises a good chunk of our government (thus would not pass) and from puritanical, backward-thinking cunts.

What do you think?

ultra violet 5

tldr

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Keep it illegal with a blind eye to be turned

If I had to vote, I'd vote keeping it illegal. It isn't harmless.

jackwigan

LexieOnRale wrote: »

If I had to vote, I'd vote keeping it illegal. It isn't harmless.

Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man

Dr Crayfish

It's never going to go away and it's very easy to grow yourself and a lot of people like it. You can't wrap everyone in bubble wrap and nanny everything, there needs to be some personal responsibility and some people may abuse it or fall by the wayside because of it but that's just the way of the world.
Stop wasting money on policing a bloody plant. I found it so ridiculous a couple of weeks ago when they found all that weed and had Garda with machine guns standing beside it like they'd just captured an ISIS cell.
Prohibition is pointless.

Allinall

What would Hitler have done, OP?

Dr Crayfish

dfeo wrote: »

And before people use the carcinogenic argument, alcohol is a carcinogen if abused, so too is tobacco. Vaping cannabis or eating it would remove that risk.

It was in the news last week that toast that's a little bit brown, or meat from a grill is carcinogenic. Being alive is carcinogenic. If you live long enough you'll get cancer, we need to die one way or another.

Samuel T. Cogley

Legalise it in conjunction with a total public smoking ban.

What you do to yourself in private is entirely up to you, but no one else should have to suffer through it.

Outwith the scope of your question, but legalise most other drugs with the possible exception of Heroin that should be given away in clinics. Other than traffic enforcement, which you'd have to beef up considerably the role of the guards would change over night.

I'd say it'll happen in the next decade. Once the US have it fully legalised, I'd say most of Europe will follow suit

Parachutes

LexieOnRale wrote: »

If I had to vote, I'd vote keeping it illegal. It isn't harmless.

Neither is drink, let's outlaw that too.

Dr Crayfish

sugarman wrote: »

The older generation of holy Joe's need to loosen up to bring this country forward.

Don't worry they'll all be dead soon

Commotion Ocean

Cake of Tremendous Power wrote: »

I'd say it'll happen in the next decade. Once the US have it fully legalised, I'd say most of Europe will follow suit

Not of the Vintners' Association have anything to do with it.

sugarman wrote: »

Legalise it and tax the bejaysus out of it.

Don't tax it too much though, or we'll be back to square one if it's cheaper to buy from your local scumbag.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

LexieOnRale wrote: »

If I had to vote, I'd vote keeping it illegal. It isn't harmless.

Would you vote to ban half the medicines in your local pharmacy too. Because cannabis is no more dangerous than them. The amount of people going around off their faces on legal drugs they're getting from their local pharmacist is unreal.

Harmless drug? Maybe, maybe not. But the fuss being made over it is ridiculous. Just legalize it and tax it. If there was a vote in the morning I'm sure sensibility would rule the day and it would be legalised. If it's purely a government vote, no way, it won't get passed. Too many VFI brown envelopes to go around.

Dr Crayfish

dfeo wrote: »

Not of the Vintners' Association have anything to do with it.



Don't tax it too much though, or we'll be back to square one if it's cheaper to buy from your local scumbag.

I'm sorry but why are people mentioning the Vintners Association? People are hardly going to stop going to the pub and staying in smoking dope. You can't substitute one with the other ffs.

stimpson

Legalise it? I'd make it compulsory.

RayM

Fully legalise it, let people grow it and have it available in shops and coffee shops

Decriminalise its use, but keep the sale or supply illegal. Encourage people to grow their own.

JupiterKid

Yes of course it should be legalised. The Dutch did this over 40 years ago,and it did not lead to a hard drug epidemic. Now it's legal for recreational use in several US States.

The drinks industry would fight this tooth and and nail even alcohol does far, far more damage than cannabis.

Any so-called "studies" citing cannabis as a "gateway drug" - you have to question if the alcohol industry is behind this. Very few research is completely unbiased or without strings attached.

DickSwiveller

Keep it illegal with a slap on the wrist

dfeo wrote: »

Having read much of the thread on the legality of medicinal cannabis, I've been thinking what the opinion of Irish people as a whole might be on the legalisation of cannabis for recreational purposes.

I, for one, am very much in favour of the legalisation of cannabis for recreational purposes.

People say that it is a "drug" and therefore should remain illegal. Let's define and discuss what a "drug" is though. Cafeiene could be considered a drug, so could sugar, tobacco is a drug and I very much believe alcohol is too. So why aren't they illegal?

Why is it legal to go to your local pub, drink 6 or 7 pints for €5 each, last orders is called, then guzzle 2 or 3 more down your gullet to get the last ones in, go out on the roads like sheep being herded and make a mess get sick and people fighting everywhere.

Why can't we just go into a "coffeeshop", spark up a joint, eat a cake, have a cuppa tae, relax, go home and not bother anyone.

Before people say that it affects your work, alcohol can do that too, if you come in hungover, and there would be channels in place for employers to fiire habitual users, just like an employer can fire habitual drinkers that are constantly showing up late, hungover or not at all.

It's a waste of Garda resources seizing what essentially is a harmless plant. 18 and 19 year old lads and girls are getting life-lasting convictions for smoking what is a harmless plant. Think of the revenue it'd bring in. Think ho many gangs would be annihilated through having a legal source available!

And before people use the carcinogenic argument, alcohol is a carcinogen if abused, so too is tobacco. Vaping cannabis or eating it would remove that risk.

I'd love to see cannabis legalised here, but I'd say it'd be met with fierce opposition from the Vintners Association which comprises a good chunk of our government (thus would not pass) and from puritanical, backward-thinking cunts.

What do you think?

How to begin to respond to this vapid diatribe. The great problem with trying to even debate this subject is the inevitable boring platitudes one is confronted with. Your whole post is a carnival of inanity, cliche and idiocy.

1. It's simply not an argument to say that because A is legal B should also be legal. Alcohol has caused an untold amount of misery to a great number of people, but it's simply not feasible to make it illegal. It is so ingrained in society that a ban would be futile and a waste of time. Coffee is a drug but last time I checked it doesn't have many negative, brain altering effects.

2. You, and a number of other posters, have made the tiring remark that a person should be allowed do whatever they like with their own body. How can you make such a remark? A person who smoke's himself into dullness and laziness is affecting other members of his family, and will probably require medical care, paid for by you and me.

3. Your last few sentences show you to be intolerant of others who hold opposing opinions. Do you really think that's a sensible way of conducting debate? I think you need to grow up a tad.

Finally, I would plead with people to think seriously about this issue. Don't support it just because it's currently fashionable to so, or because Philly McMahon says it's a good thing. Think for yourself.

Dr Crayfish

JupiterKid wrote: »

The drinks industry would fight this tooth and and nail even alcohol does far, far more damage than cannabis.

Why do you think that? I would have a smoke once in a while but it certainly doesn't stop my absolute infatuation with going to the pub and alcohol in any form

C. Montgomery Gurns

JupiterKid wrote: »

The drinks industry would fight this tooth and and nail even alcohol does far, far more damage than cannabis.

Does it?

Most alcoholics I have known don't need a can to help them get out of bed every morning.

Most alcos don't need a can on their lunch to get them through the working day.

Most alcos can manage tasks like going to the shops without needing to down a can first.

This whole alcohol= evil weed= great stuff is a load of bollocks frankly.

Legalise it, it would have the benefit of eliminating an entire criminal organisation.
This would be a far more effective way of fighting crime than a war on drugs.
Just because it's legal, it doesn't mean huge numbers are going to use it, if anything legally produced & processed product with warning labels may reduce the number of consumers.

TallGlass

The day I see cannabis legalised is the day I will finally say to myself we are a modern society. Until then, we are backwards and follow everyone else, very rarely do we do things first.

That comes from someone who doesn't even smoke let alone smoke it.

DickSwiveller

Keep it illegal with a slap on the wrist

TallGlass wrote: »

The day I see cannabis legalised is the day I will finally say to myself we are a modern society. Until then, we are backwards and follow everyone else, very rarely do we do things first.

That comes from someone who doesn't even smoke let alone smoke it.

I'd rather we remained a backward country so.

Samuel T. Cogley

DickSwiveller wrote: »

How to begin to respond to this vapid diatribe. The great problem with trying to even debate this subject is the inevitable boring platitudes one is confronted with. Your whole post is a carnival of inanity, cliche and idiocy.

To this we shall return.

DickSwiveller wrote: »

1. It's simply not an argument to say that because A is legal B should also be legal. Alcohol has caused an untold amount of misery to a great number of people, but it's simply not feasible to make it illegal. It is so ingrained in society that a ban would be futile and a waste of time. Coffee is a drug but last time I checked it doesn't have many negative, brain altering effects.

Why, because of the rampant crime it would produce? Not sure you've thought that argument through.

DickSwiveller wrote: »

2. You, and a number of other posters, have made the tiring remark that a person should be allowed do whatever they like with their own body. How can you make such a remark? A person who smoke's himself into dullness and laziness is affecting other members of his family, and will probably require medical care, paid for by you and me.

You seem to be suggesting that legalisation would increase the number of people 'who smoke's himself into dullness and laziness' an might I add inject or snort themselves also. That's simply not supported by any evidence.

DickSwiveller wrote: »

3. Your last few sentences show you to be intolerant of others who hold opposing opinions. Do you really think that's a sensible way of conducting debate? I think you need to grow up a tad.

Your opening few lines...

DickSwiveller wrote: »

Finally, I would plead with people to think seriously about this issue. Don't support it just because it's currently fashionable to so, or because Philly McMahon says it's a good thing. Think for yourself.

I couldn't agree more.

Dr Crayfish

C. Montgomery Gurns wrote: »

Does it?

Most alcoholics I have known don't need a can to help them get out of bed every morning.

Most alcos don't need a can on their lunch to get them through the working day.

Most alcos can manage tasks like going to the shops without needing to down a can first.

This whole alcohol= evil weed= great stuff is a load of bollocks frankly.

What? So because the alcos you know don't need cans to get out of bed, it's not that bad? Is that what you mean?
Is that seriously your argument for alcohol V weed? Jesus!

C. Montgomery Gurns

Deleted User wrote: »

Legalise it, it would have the benefit of eliminating an entire criminal organisation.
This would be a far more effective way of fighting crime than a war on drugs.
Just because it's legal, it doesn't mean huge numbers are going to use it, if anything legally produced & processed product with warning labels may reduce the number of consumers.

Holland has legal cannabis and the state prescribes heroin to the small number of rapidly aging Dutch addicts, really only leaving the trade in cocaine and ecstasy as their moneymakers. It has the same level of home based gangland violence as we have.

Worple

It's a naturally growing plant that's probably been here longer than we have.

I say, legalise humans and tax the ****ery out of them

C. Montgomery Gurns

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

What? So because the alcos you know don't need cans to get out of bed, it's not that bad? Is that what you mean?
Is that seriously your argument for alcohol V weed? Jesus!

What I mean is that anyone I know over their early 20's who uses cannabis is addicted to it to the extent that they need to be permanently under its influence.

I've known some alcos, but very few of them who need to be drunk at 8am on their way to work in order to function.

pablo128

Weed is legal in Lanzarote, and has been since 2012. I only found out the other day. It's only legal in the coffee shops though. It's still illegal to possess it in public, but it's a start.

Dr Crayfish

C. Montgomery Gurns wrote: »

What I mean is that anyone I know over their early 20's who uses cannabis is addicted to it to the extent that they need to be permanently under its influence.

I've known some alcos, but very few of them who need to be drunk at 8am on their way to work in order to function.

The alcos may not ingest first thing in the morning but they probably feel like death from the night before and spend the whole day clinging on for their next drink.
Anyway, the functioning stoners you're talking about, that's purely anecdotal evidence from you. Some people may get to that stage with it, and that's their problem, not anyone elses.

We're never going to have a society where people live the perfect ideal life some people dream up for us. People like getting stoned, some people will take it too far and come to rely on it. Whatever, let it happen, it'll only be a small minority. There will always be people with problems, we are only human.

JupiterKid

C. Montgomery Gurns wrote: »

Does it?

Most alcoholics I have known don't need a can to help them get out of bed every morning.

Most alcos don't need a can on their lunch to get them through the working day.

Most alcos can manage tasks like going to the shops without needing to down a can first.

This whole alcohol= evil weed= great stuff is a load of bollocks frankly.

I should know about the dangers of alcohol as I am an alcoholic in early recovery. And yes, alcoholism can reach a point where you need a drink in the morning to function for the rest of the day. On the other hand, I smoked weed in my 20s (and still do very occasionally) without any addictive or ill effects.

You,know the saying, walk a mile in my shoes...