Cannabis should be legalized in Ireland To pull Our country out of ression

weedfreedomtinp wrote: »

We believe that the prohibition of Cannabis contravenes our Human Rights.

I understand you are not able to respond to this right now, but when you get the opportunity please refer to which Article of Human Rights is being contravened by the prohibition of Cannabis and THC.

That high priority be given to the cultivation of Cannabis for the express purpose of the localised production of virtually cost-free fuels through the process of pyrolysis on Cannabis biomass, and as a source of fibre and hurd.

Theres no such thing as a virtually cost free fuel. And bio-diesels made from Ethanol and Corn have only driven up the cost of this simple crop that used to only make a cheap side dish for potatoes. It might have been really cheap to produce ethanol before it was the in-thing to do, but the market has responded to demand, and the price has gone up. It would be the same thing with any substance you try to introduce as a low cost fueling alternative. In this case even if Cannabis plant made an efficient fuel source and had nearly the same Octane as petroleum based products, the development as a fuel would only serve to drive the price up; hence it would never be competitive with Petrol.

That a license for growing Cannabis be issued to those people who wish to pay the license fee, for either medical use or social use.

It escapes memory at the moment but in the US there is one licensing dispute - was it over guns or drugs? Anyway, just because its theoretically possible to get a license, the government is by no means obligated to issue licenses, and can severely limit the quantity of licenses available.

Decrease in general crime rate.

Of course. in general, Aggregate Crime Rate. Not of actual crime. Not of traffic offenses, violence, rape, robbery, etc. Just in drug related offences, with one less drug offence to enforce.

Easing of the drugs problem

How exactly?

Increase in police and court resources to fight and deal with serious crime
Increase in Government revenue through taxation on profits and job creations

Just like tobacco revenues shot up for a while, then leveled off due the large amount of people simply quitting; then the gradual increases in taxation ever since just to keep that figure of revenue steady?

For a short time that may be true, until people stop smoking due to exorbitant cost or simply return to the black market.

Decrease in pollution.

How exactly?

Decrease in the price of fuel and energy for our homes, businesses, factories etc.

How exactly?

Decease in unemployment.

How exactly?

This isn`t directly related to the argument but very interesting all the same


http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe/2009/12/08/czech-govt-allows-5-cannabis-plants-for-personal-use-from-2010/


The interim Czech government, led by chief statistician-turned-Prime Minister Jan Fischer, Monday took another step towards making casual marijuana smoking a worry-free affair.

Fischer’s cabinet defined what constitutes “small amounts” of cannabis for personal use, clarifying the country’s new penal code that from next year decriminalizes cultivation and possession of the plant by individuals.

As of Jan. 1 ordinary Czechs can grow up to five marijuana plants or have several marijuana cigarettes in their pockets without fear of criminal prosecution. Previously what constituted a small amount was not specified and the police and courts loosely interpreted the penal code case by case, often resulting in incarceration of home growers......

we really need to legalise cannibis here, like these hemp shops are all over ireland now and they are selling $hit that isisnt NATURAL, WEED is natural why is it illegal. It makes people happy and the people who smoke weed are usualy the happiest/ law abiding people i know. I can vouch for the fact that if it is legalised it will be much safer than alcohol and the effects on society will not be CLOSE to what alcohol has done.

I am a student of WIT and our christmsa day celebration this year was a joke in terms of damage done and arrests, why?? because of ALCOHOL and how our country lets this be sold when the effects of it obn society are so much worse than weed ever will be.

When me and my freinds smoke weed its just with ourselfs indoors and watching television and its a very relaxed environment, however when we drink alcohol or go out the town is left in a mess and fights usually happen.

These laws are so messed up, weed is totally safe, cancer usually comes from people smoking it with TOBBACO, which is very common in ireland/europe because of the illegality (sp??) of cannibis and the fact that people want to conserve as much of it as they can. We all know that ciggaretes which are commonly used to provide the tobbaco are some of the dirtiest things you can smoke and are full of cancer causing agents and nicotine the stuff that makes you addicited, You dont get addicited to weed you get addicted to nicotine that is added to it.

well knowing this country it wil never happen or else wont happen until the UK does it because we cant thnik for our selfs in this country and copy everything the UK does

SeanW wrote: »

Yes. One of the many benefits of marijuana legalisation would be the obscene amount of Gardai and prison-places freed up to deal with real criminals.

I meant people convicted before it became legal. Would their records be thrown out?

If drugs weren't illegal, the drug barons wouldn't have made enough money to protect the world economy from total meltdown.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/dec/13/drug-money-banks-saved-un-cfief-claims

Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor


Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions

• Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.
This will raise questions about crime's influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. "In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor," he said.
Some of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, he said.
"Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were rescued that way." Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered.
"That was the moment [last year] when the system was basically paralysed because of the unwillingness of banks to lend money to one another. The progressive liquidisation to the system and the progressive improvement by some banks of their share values [has meant that] the problem [of illegal money] has become much less serious than it was," he said.
The IMF estimated that large US and European banks lost more than $1tn on toxic assets and from bad loans from January 2007 to September 2009 and more than 200 mortgage lenders went bankrupt. Many major institutions either failed, were acquired under duress, or were subject to government takeover.
Gangs are now believed to make most of their profits from the drugs trade and are estimated to be worth £352bn, the UN says. They have traditionally kept proceeds in cash or moved it offshore to hide it from the authorities. It is understood that evidence that drug money has flowed into banks came from officials in Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the US.
British bankers would want to see any evidence that Costa has to back his claims. A British Bankers' Association spokesman said: "We have not been party to any regulatory dialogue that would support a theory of this kind. There was clearly a lack of liquidity in the system and to a large degree this was filled by the intervention of central banks."

thebman wrote: »

Yeah but the drugs trade money came from users so :-/

Yes, but the amount of cash in the global money supply wouldn't have been so vast. Had everything been legal, the Irish government for one, would have taken its cut, and would still have blown the money out of the door, with nothing to show for it.

MaceFace wrote: »

Are ya all mad?

Legalising weed? Have any of you being to Amsterdam? It is full of an unholy amount of European trash.
It is the only place in the world I have been where I heard open advertising for "Cocaine, Heroine, Ecstacy". Guys shouting it on the corners.
Do you think the criminals will fade away - no - they will just move on to something else (like the harder drugs).

And, who has ever gone to prison for canabis offenses?

I've had people openly advertise drugs in many countries. The best being in Las Vegas where one guy was on an escalator asking people going in the opposite direction if they wanted coke. In Barcelona I had prostitutes hanging off me on the street I couldn't take two steps without being hounded by one.

Most of those guys are so open about selling drugs because their not selling drugs, their selling aspirins and baking soda to gullible tourists.