Comments on: Should cannabis be back in Class B?

By: Sheree M Krider

Sheree M Krider — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:17:06 +0000

Activists in the United States are currently in the fight of our lives to introduce new legislation in our government that would allow for the use of marijuana, not only for social reasons but for life saving reasons also.
Marijuana never should have been made illegal in the first place! It is a known fact that the main reason for “Reefer Madness” was to eliminate the competition with the “Hemp” industry!

So why should the government be allowed to continue to wage war on a plant that has more uses than anything ever designed by 20th century capitalists?

The whole idea of Marijuana being a “gateway drug” and causing psychotic illnesses is a complete HOAX!

We, (the entire population of the world at large) have to begin to take back the God given rights that we were born with! If we do not act now, it will not be an option later.

The idea that a “government” of any type can tell you what you can and cannot consume is absolutely outrageous!

Maybe the United Nations should vote on it…..

Sheree Krider

email to: ShereeKrider@usmjp.org

By: Alan Hehe

Alan Hehe — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:20:51 +0000

The idea that cannabis is, or could ever be, “fatal” is one of the most absurd things I’ve ever heard. IMO, the UK’s crackdown on Canabis is probably being strongly encouraged by the U.S.government, which, with more and more countries and its own States passing more liberal laws on this substance—which is illegal only due to politics (specifically the lobbying efforts of special interest groups such as the alcohol and pharm. companies)-and which is undermining their arguments that it is a dangerous drug. But if the U.S. can get countries to parrot their insane and absurd arguments, it lend them some credence, even if it is false.
Marijuana has no known toxic level; or, I should say, that the toxic level is so high that it would be impossible to reach, certainly through smoking. One would pass out from oxygen deprivation before they could reach a toxic level of THC within their bodies.
With vaporization, which burns only the cannabinoids, but none of the toxic smoke (such as that found in cigarettes) smoking is now even safer.
If there were a way to reach a toxic level of THC–and this may not still be possible–the surest way to do so would be to over-dose on the pharmaseutical drug Marinol, which is pure synthetic THC.
It’s also very hypocritical, since THC is the ingredient in marijuana which makes one “high” that the whole plant is a Schedule One substance in the U.S.–meaning that “it has no medical value and is highly prone to abuse.”
Yet Marinol, which is pure THC, much stronger psychoactively (because it has none ofthe other cannabinoids found in the natural plant which tend to slightly lessen, or smooth, the efects of THC), is classified as a Schedule 3 drug, which means: “it has many medical uses and is unlikely tobe abused”!!!
Total hypocrisy, and totally proving that marijuana’s Schedule (in America, I think the 1,2, and 3 Schedules correspond pretty much exactly to Britain’s A,B, and C schedules) has NOTHING to do with health effects or science, and everything to do with politics, based on the incorrect assumtions that legalizing cannabis would cause a surge in its use, and that it would cut into the profits of–to name the two most concerned–the alcohol and pharaseutical business.
This is not true. Some people like to drink, and do not like and would not smoke marijuana, legal or not. Regulation would get drug dealers off the street, and make it harder for minors to get their hands on–because drug dealers don’t card. But if it were legalized,taxed, and regulated, it would help allkinds of problems, from the arresting and imprisonment of otherwise law-abiding, tax-paying citizens, to regulating it in a maner similar to alcohol, and getting drug dealers off the street, as well as making it harder for minors to obtain.
Just because they legalize something, doesn’t mean people who don’t like its efects are going to start smoking it. The ‘drug war” has had almost no effect on the amount of people who smoke marijuana, and this number would not rise in any significant way. Finally, it would provide the failing U.S. economy with both tax revenue and an alternative source for bio-fuels that didn’t cause food prices to rise.
Finally, since oil is in such shortage, there hundreds of products that can be produced from marijuana’s brother hemp that would save this precious and declining resource for more important things. In fact, in some ways I wonder how much hemp has played a role in keeping marijuana illegal by also rallying textile companies and oil companies behind the alcohol and pharmaseutical companies in lobbying to keep it illegal…Plus, the government just doesn’t want to admit they were wrong (lying) to the American public for years.
Finally, recent scientific studies have also shown that marijuana can retard or actually stop the growth of several types of cancer cells, notable prostate and brain cell cancers.
It is time for the world to base its legislation on science, reason, and compassion, when it comes to this centures-old, completely natural, un-chemically processed substance, instead of the politics of fear and the desires of special interst groups. Prohibition does not work; we realized this long ago, and decided that to legalize a much more dangerous substance: alcohol. What makes sense for a far more dangerous drug, certainly makes sense for cannabis. Prohibition, and the imprisonment of otherwise law-abiding, tax-paying citizens does FAR more harm than this gentle, all natural substance could ever do. As far as stronger strains: when the marijuana is stronger, people smoke less, and it is only make stronger through traditional farming techniques. Just as one would eat less habanero peppers than jalapenos, so it is with higher grades of cannabis.

By: shiruus

shiruus — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:18:41 +0000

i have been smoking cannabis for 40 yr.s and have not expierienced any harmful side effects.i have never been seduced into any other drug use because ot it.in fact smoking pot has helped me stay out of jail.i have ptsd from my service in the army during the vietnam war and there are more than ten people whom i did not kill or seriously injure(they certainly deserved that and more)only because of my use of cannabis.it helps me maintain a peaceful mind;thank God!!!!!

By: Lobito

Lobito — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:36:25 +0000

The plain fact is that NOBODY is going to be locked up for
5 years (if at all) for using cannabis. A law which people know is not going to be enforced simply encourages contempt for all laws. Another piece of nonsense from Labour? Or a calculated and cynical move in its tireless campaign to break down cohesion in society?

By: alice

alice — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:44:18 +0000

Prime is right it should go back to class b i live in an area that has so much since taking it to c , ih ave noticed that there are so many people with mental health prombles assiciated with it. The streets are not safe younger children are trying it more the its easier to excess it.

By: Tom Morgan

Tom Morgan — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:26:11 +0000

So Gord Almighty actually went and did it, the ****.

To “Heath Ledger” - its people like you that give cannabis a bad name. Why cane it ‘non-stop’ all day every day? It is the same as anything in life; you can have too much of a good thing. Moderation is the key, not criminalisation!

By: Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:30:45 +0000

I believe that reclassifying cannabis will not make any diffirence. People use it because they like it. As someone who has smoked cannabis for ten years non stop and who has tried every strain and every way of smoking cannabis i should know.Cannabis make you less sociable and effects the memory and the mind.Even though i have stopped a while ago, i still feel spaced out every now and then.I feel like i am losing it.What is needed in the UK is a village where cannabis is legal and where it can be freely enjoyd.Like amsterdam.It will be a eye opener to people like Gordon Brown when they realise that half of the country smokes cannabis.He’ll probably put some tax on that as well.LOL

By: Grant

Grant — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:10:46 +0000

Our police resources already cannot cope with the levels of drug culture in our country so I don’t see what they are going to achieve by spreading their resources even thinner.

There are far more people who die from alcohol and tobacco, so can’t see the argument for making less widely used drugs more legal.The impact of doing so is going to be almost zero (if there is an impact at all).

I’m not a drug user, but really feel the way forward is to legalise it and make a fortnue from taxes, not to mention a boost to tourism and the economy.

By: Matt Brown

Matt Brown — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:26:16 +0000

I can see where Gord Almighty is coming from…. the young thug who smokes a 1/4 of hydroponic a day for 5 years, gets a bit schizophrenic and then stabs a single mum on a bus.

Yes, he deserves to be treated as a criminal.

But the normal guy who likes to relax with a joint after a hard days work? He should not be persecuted.

By: A. Thompson

A. Thompson — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:22:25 +0000

I think Gordon Brown is simply not listening to the people. Criminalizing everyone who uses cannabis to a greater extent then they already suffer is plain stupid. The war on cannabis and its users is totally immoral, we are all hard working tax payers aswell, and as adults do we not have the right to decide for ourselves what we choose to consume? Why should we be forced to buy from the tax-less, often import, black market where we can be exposed to much harder drugs by a government that thinks persucuting people over cannabis is better then quality control, safety and regulation of cannabis. Surely a government with the true well-being of its people at heart would see that these would be far better alternatives for all concerned. Lets just hope David Cameron is man enough for the job, as in my eyes its too late for Gordy..