FREE the WEED

Dragan

Irishcrx wrote: »

Yes they have broken it as such, but just because it's currently law doesn't mean that their right and we are wrong, it took them over 500 years to make cannibis illegal and it used to be a big part of culture in many parts of the world, so it's only been illegal a small blip on the radar of time.

The law also used to burn people and hang people for stealing apples, did that make it right? Or is it right to convict a young fella of 18 for smoking 15 quids worth of pot on a Saturday in private with a few friends while people go ouit and assault people and get a slap on the wrist. Look at the bigger picture.

Don't forget that i am all for the legalisation of cannabis and i AM looking at the bigger picture.

The problem here is that people are defending the fact that they break the law exactly the same as any other criminal, the simple fact is that you break it because it doesn't suit how you want to live.

Rather than saying this it would be better to point out that hundreds of thousands of people hold down jobs, care for families, have positions of importance etc and yes, they do enjoy a joint.

Once again it is all about scale, you can't say a law is wrong because it does not suit you, you need to point out that there are already a large proportion of towns and cities that currently operate outside that law, that the law may be arcahic in the face of the evidence that weed does not, in fact, drive people to steal and kill and all the jazz.

As i said, that to me, is the bigger picture.

Tigger

Irishcrx wrote: »

The law also used to burn people and hang people for stealing apples,

today is apple day

did that make it right?

without laws stuff would be messy

Or is it right to convict a young fella of 18 for smoking 15 quids worth of pot on a Saturday in private with a few friends

this dosen't happen if he's in private and he's being "good" this would never arise

while people go out and assault people and get a slap on the wrist.

what people where


look at bith sides of the argument pls

i'm pro choice when it comes to drugs but i also feel people are idiots

i think that if it was marketed cleverly enough a drug that kills one in 1000 could be sold commercially as long as it gave a nice buzz

Look at the bigger picture.

what do people mean when they say this
lots of laws are wrong lots of decisions are injust but you are spouting pro weed propaganda without basis in fact

Toiletroll

Tigger wrote: »

today is apple day

without laws stuff would be messy

this dosen't happen if he's in private and he's being "good" this would never arise



what people where

look at bith sides of the argument pls

i'm pro choice when it comes to drugs but i also feel people are idiots

i think that if it was marketed cleverly enough a drug that kills one in 1000 could be sold commercially as long as it gave a nice buzz



what do people mean when they say this
lots of laws are wrong lots of decisions are injust but you are spouting pro weed propaganda without basis in fact

Obviously we are not requesting for commercialisation of it. Prescription / medical use de-criminalised would make sence AND money for this totally broke government

arybvtcw0eolkf

humanji wrote: »

They better be pornographic!

No, but porn wasn't far away

A'dam :pac: < ~~~

Irishcrx

Tigger wrote: »

today is apple day

without laws stuff would be messy

this dosen't happen if he's in private and he's being "good" this would never arise



what people where


look at bith sides of the argument pls

i'm pro choice when it comes to drugs but i also feel people are idiots

i think that if it was marketed cleverly enough a drug that kills one in 1000 could be sold commercially as long as it gave a nice buzz



what do people mean when they say this
lots of laws are wrong lots of decisions are injust but you are spouting pro weed propaganda without basis in fact

If you read through my posts I have looked at both sides of the arguement and I do see the points I just don't agree with alot of them. And yes it does happen that you'll get convicted, when I was 18 we were sitting in on a Friday night having a smoke and watching TV and the house was raided by 6 gards, rather than throw my 15 euro worth away I was nice with them , honest explained they had made a mistake and that I wasn't a coke dealer like they thought never touched the stuff...3 months later got convicted and had to have it overturned so yes it does happen.

Prof.Badass

Doc wrote: »

I have never understood the logic behind talking about the damaging effects of alcohol to justify the legalization of weed. Surly if you find it so offensive you should be calling for alcohol to be criminalized not the legalization of something else.

It's about exposing the inconsistancy of the current prohibition regime.

Alcohol is legal, yet the world hasn't ended yet.

Either you think alcohol should be banned, or that some drugs which are safer than alcohol should be legalised.

If you think alcohol should be legal but other safer drugs that could replace alcohol (i'm thinking specifically of ghb here) should stay illegal, then can you not see the serious flaw in your logic?

read up a bit, then think clearly about your arguement. I'm not saying they're harmless but most drugs (if regulated) would be safer than you think.

Toiletroll

vinylmesh wrote: »

It's about exposing the inconsistancy of the current prohibition regime.

Alcohol is legal, yet the world hasn't ended yet.

Either you think alcohol should be banned, or that some drugs which are safer than alcohol should be legalised.

If you think alcohol should be legal but other safer drugs that could replace alcohol (i'm thinking specifically of ghb here) should stay illegal, then can you not see the serious flaw in your logic?

read up a bit, then think clearly about your arguement. I'm not saying they're harmless but most drugs (if regulated) would be safer than you think.

100% agreed

ScumLord

Toiletroll wrote: »

A law that could be relaxed... I never cried for 100% legality!...

I would. I don't see the point in making it easier for criminals to make money of cannabis.

The real reason Cannabis will never be legalised is that the cannabis users do fup all to bring legalisation about. Every Irish cannabis legalisation movement I've come across just fizzled out. I keep saying we need to have local meetings and organised events but no one really seems all that interested in taking it any further than bitching about the law on internet forums.

Boggle

The real reason Cannabis will never be legalised is that the cannabis users do fup all to bring legalisation about.

Thats basically because the majority of guys I know who like a smoke are professionals who would lose their job if they came out in support. And, I'd imagine, knacks never had an IQ point between them so are hardly going to mount a serious campaign.

Anyway, while I'm in favor of legalisation anyway - I'm more interested these days in medicinal use. Reason being my brother has a back problem which is inevitably going to ruin his career. At the minute he is struggling around the place in pain and none of the nerve blockers or pain killers are helping him.
Anyway, long story short, he searched on the net and found some medical study showing marijuana to be extremely effective in pain control and he asked me to get him some. Trouble is I had to say no because I wont give him any of the **** (grass) which is sold here as its too harmful relative to good homegrown (anyone who has tried homegrown will attest to this too) and I can't get him home grown.

Do those who object to legalisation also object to its medicinal use??

humanji

Mairt wrote: »

No, but porn wasn't far away

A'dam :pac: < ~~~

It's Venus in the background that makes that picture.

Irishcrx

My mam is suffering from Artritus and you should have seen the tablets and medicine she was on , loads and loads of them all they did was space her out and some made her worst, made her sick, didn't work etc. She looked up marijuana and asked me out of desperation to get her some to try, I can get some quality clean stuff so I did and she said it worked better to relief her than anything the doctors had given and she could get on with her day, maybe when someone you love suffers like this or god forbit someone on here you will start to see things in a differant light.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Irishcrx wrote: »

My mam is suffering from Artritus and you should have seen the tablets and medicine she was on , loads and loads of them all they did was space her out and some made her worst, made her sick, didn't work etc. She looked up marijuana and asked me out of desperation to get her some to try, I can get some quality clean stuff so I did and she said it worked better to relief her than anything the doctors had given and she could get on with her day, maybe when someone you love suffers like this or god forbit someone on here you will start to see things in a differant light.

Yeah but you're not REALLY doing anything about legalising it. So then it doesn't matter.

These kind of threads annoy me because they're just so damn toothless. "I wanna legalise weed!" Well fucking get it done then. Can't think of a way? Too much of an inconvenience? Well then too bad, you're a failure. Kindly shut the hell up.

Boggle

My mam is suffering from Artritus and you should have seen the tablets and medicine she was on , loads and loads of them all they did was space her out and some made her worst, made her sick, didn't work etc. She looked up marijuana and asked me out of desperation to get her some to try, I can get some quality clean stuff so I did and she said it worked better to relief her than anything the doctors had given and she could get on with her day, maybe when someone you love suffers like this or god forbit someone on here you will start to see things in a differant light.

This is my point. Do any on the "ban it" side have a problem with marijuana for medicinal use? Can anyone give one single reason for it to to be illegal for use in the situation above??

Boggle

These kind of threads annoy me because they're just so damn toothless. "I wanna legalise weed!" Well ****ing get it done then. Can't think of a way? Too much of an inconvenience? Well then too bad, you're a failure. Kindly shut the hell up.

Given a choice between smoking hash and keeping my job i choose my job every time. Starting or getting associated with a free the weed campaign is a sure way to lose my job.

Promoting it for medicinal use is another thing however so maybe some web guru should put up a website for those who believe that marijuana should be permitted for medicinal use only (complete with testimonials from grannies etc) so that at least the promoters can have the cover of it being an act of charitable desperation! Baby steps - once you remove the myth about smokers=stoners then you can start making headway.

Irishcrx

Lukas Narrow Server wrote: »

Yeah but you're not REALLY doing anything about legalising it. So then it doesn't matter.

These kind of threads annoy me because they're just so damn toothless. "I wanna legalise weed!" Well fucking get it done then. Can't think of a way? Too much of an inconvenience? Well then too bad, you're a failure. Kindly shut the hell up.

I do my part as much as I can, But I have a mortgage to pay and a job to keep i'm afraid.

Dragan

Lukas Narrow Server wrote: »

Yeah but you're not REALLY doing anything about legalising it. So then it doesn't matter.

These kind of threads annoy me because they're just so damn toothless. "I wanna legalise weed!" Well fucking get it done then. Can't think of a way? Too much of an inconvenience? Well then too bad, you're a failure. Kindly shut the hell up.

Actually there are groups who are active in the attempt to get Cannabis legalised. It can be difficult to get anyone to talk to you, because you are hoping to leagalise an illegal substance. It can also be hard for people to come out in public support of it, for obvious reasons.

The biggest hurdle is the lack of studies ( remember, you don't need to back up your facts when making something illegal, only legal ) and trying to find a decent source of captial for funding them.

Since you asked.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Irishcrx wrote: »

But I have a mortgage to pay and a job to keep i'm afraid.

Boggle wrote: »

Given a choice between smoking hash and keeping my job i choose my job every time. Starting or getting associated with a free the weed campaign is a sure way to lose my job.

Yeah, because nobody has ever had to make sacrifices for they want to change or what they believe in.

Boggle wrote: »

Promoting it for medicinal use is another thing however so maybe some web guru should put up a website for those who believe that marijuana should be permitted for medicinal use only (complete with testimonials from grannies etc) so that at least the promoters can have the cover of it being an act of charitable desperation!

So why can't you do it or learn how to do it? (your use of the words "web guru" implies you're somewhat illiterate regarding website design) Perhaps you can hire someone to do it for you? I suppose that's too much effort compared to posting pro-cannabis legalisation messages on boards. That's all the internet is for anyway, you post your opinions, hope someone with less to lose will read it and hope they carry out actions that match your agenda. You get outraged and everybody else will do all the hard work for you. Great, everybody's happy.

Doc

vinylmesh wrote: »

It's about exposing the inconsistancy of the current prohibition regime.

Alcohol is legal, yet the world hasn't ended yet.

Either you think alcohol should be banned, or that some drugs which are safer than alcohol should be legalised.

If you think alcohol should be legal but other safer drugs that could replace alcohol (i'm thinking specifically of ghb here) should stay illegal, then can you not see the serious flaw in your logic?

read up a bit, then think clearly about your arguement. I'm not saying they're harmless but most drugs (if regulated) would be safer than you think.

I have thought about my arguement I don't agree with you that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it.

You believe that other drugs are safer I disagree with you.

This thread isn't about ghd but I don't consider a drug that is used as a date rape drug particularly safe nore would a friend of mine who had it put in her drink.

I have read up on the effects of marijuana due to seeing incredibly negative effects I believed where directly due to its use. At the present time, the strongest evidence links marijuana use and schizophrenia and/or related disorders.

It doesn't matter if I think alcohol should be legal or not the fact is that it is. Weed is not and the two are not the same. I believe it is an extremely weak argument for legalization of weed that alcohol is legal and I am thinking very clearly on this thank you.

ScumLord

Doc wrote: »

I have thought about my arguement I don't agree with you that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it.

You believe that other drugs are safer I disagree with you.

It's not right to say cannabis is "safe". Nothing is safe, it's even easier to overdose on water than it is any of the recreational drugs.

I believe cannabis just isn't dangerous enough to put so much money and resources into ensuring the public at large don't use it. It's not physically addictive, no one has yet proved that it's linked to any serious illnesses and even if the links are proved to schizophrenia the amount of the population that would be affected would be tiny. It's like banning nuts because some have an allergy. Cannabis could be contributing to the states income instead of draining money out of it.

I think if you weigh up all the pros and cons it's clear that cannabis would be less of a problem legalised.

Doc

Some people think cannabis is harmless just because it’s a plant – but it isn’t harmless. Cannabis, like tobacco, has lots of chemical 'nasties', which can cause lung disease and cancer with long-term or heavy use, especially as it is often mixed with tobacco. It can also make asthma worse.

A study following 1600 Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life.

Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26.

In New Zealand, researchers found that those who smoked regularly, and had smoked before driving, were more likely to be injured in a car crash. A recent study in France looked at over 10,000 drivers who were involved in fatal car crashes. Even when the influence of alcohol was taken into account, cannabis users were more than twice as likely to be the cause of a fatal crash than to be one of the victims. As the drug can stay in the system for some weeks, the effect can be more long-lasting than users realise. So - perhaps most of us would also not want to be driven by somebody who had smoked cannabis in the last day or so.

I just dont think its a good idea.

Terry

Toiletroll wrote: »

Alcohol is terrible in my opinion. I am hugely successful in my life so far financially and anything I want I can have, except weed (sometimes). I like to smoke very day because its my ideas that make me money in my life.

I dont drink alcohol because its for MUGS in my opinion...

I sit in smoke weed all day and come up with ways to make money for businesses and it pays me really well! So tell me why I shouldnt be allowed to smoke weed?

Toiletroll wrote: »

Apologies to anyone I have insulted if they added something constructive to the post. I responded in a belittled the people who didnt. I am quite busy and only skimming over these posts as I didnt expect to see so many.

I contribute a lot to this society and I dont like alcohol. I just want to smoke weed.

Lets see... If you drink alcohol every weekend and enjoy it etc, then you are as likely to become dependant on it as Weed... Weed will allow you to contribute, being pissed of your head will not.

Weed does not take over your consious. If you look at driving tests done in Holland for police you will see that the people who did the test stoned scored higher...

Weed (when used to it) does expand your mind... Some of the best creative people have been drugies...

Some of the posts here are so blind that it is difficult to not belittle the posters

Toiletroll wrote: »

Im sorry - I didnt realise he got banned

Thanks for that... Wish I saved my breath...

I just see this whole thing as an expensive war against people who are not criminals. I contribute alsmot 100% of my waking time to my business and other peoples business. I dont feel like I should be seen as a criminal.

The government could make so much from taxing it. The world is in crisis and legalizing weed might be better than letting the over 70's die as punishment for working all their lives to better the country.

The new budget looks like it was thought up by a bunch of clowns... I dont feel safe in clowns hands

Wait...
What?
So your business is to sit down all day and get stoned?
How does this contribute to society?

Toiletroll wrote: »

Legalising cannibis could very well reduce its popularity... Of course it could also increase it... If tourists visitied etc and spend their monies...

We have enough drunken English jackasses crawling around the streets as it is.
We don't need Holland's share too.

I was waiting for someone in a car once before and the DS came along and told us to get out of the car. Then I wouldnt give him the pin number for my iPhone and he took it off me and I have not seen it since (10 months ago). We are already living in a police state so wake up.

I had nothing on me but because we were sitting in a car in a particular estate that was good enough reason for them to take my iphone off me and keep it or whatever they did with it.

You didn't get your phone back because you didn't look for it back.
Go to your local station and get it back, or did you just imagine they took it?
Losing your phone can't be too good for business.

ScumLord

Doc wrote: »

Some people think cannabis is harmless just because it’s a plant – but it isn’t harmless. Cannabis, like tobacco, has lots of chemical 'nasties', which can cause lung disease and cancer with long-term or heavy use, especially as it is often mixed with tobacco. It can also make asthma worse.

But it's also a drug that doctors believe can help slow or reverse cancer, especially lung cancer.

A study following 1600 Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life.

Depressed adolescents are a dime a dozen these days, I find it hard to believe allot of studies as that focus on adolescents. I remember taking part in one of these at school and treating the hole thing as a joke as did most of the students in my class. I've experienced the exact opposite when it comes to depression. I really don't believe cannabis is the root cause of these problems. Responsible use like we encourage with alcohol is the best way to deal with it.

Either way anyone under 18 should avoid any drugs while their brains are developing.

As the drug can stay in the system for some weeks, the effect can be more long-lasting than users realise.

This just isn't true, the active ingredient will not stay in your system for weeks, the high only lasts for a few hours.

Boggle

Yeah, because nobody has ever had to make sacrifices for they want to change or what they believe in.

Pick your battles kid. At the minute my career is too important to risk over something which really only has aesthetic enforcement as far as the end user is concerned.

So why can't you do it or learn how to do it? (your use of the words "web guru" implies you're somewhat illiterate regarding website design) I suppose that's too much effort compared to posting pro-cannabis legalisation messages on boards. You get outraged and everybody else will do all the hard work for you. Great, everybody's happy.

Effective campaigning 101.
First, find an angle which empathises across a wide spectrum of the public; done.
Second, present yourself professionally. A cobbled together website by some amateur with little or no time and little or no experience in webdesign or internet propagaton (or whatever the correct term is) will carry no weight with anyone and so wastes your opportunity.
Third, get yourself a figurehead or an image. Iagine the granny with the crippling arthritis being denied the only drug which she has found to work.
And it goes on with pretty basic stuff that any idiot out of school should manage to comprehend. But to answer your point: you don't have one.

Perhaps you can hire someone to do it for you?

With what? Can I petition for tax-payers money for my little cause??

That's all the internet is for anyway, you post your opinions, hope someone with less to lose will read it and hope they carry out actions that match your agenda.

Or to contribute ideas to anyone who has the time or resources to mount an effective campaign.


So do you have a problem with medicinal use or what??

Boggle

Some people think cannabis is harmless just because it’s a plant – but it isn’t harmless. Cannabis, like tobacco, has lots of chemical 'nasties', which can cause lung disease and cancer with long-term or heavy use, especially as it is often mixed with tobacco. It can also make asthma worse.

Links, info, etc??

A study following 1600 Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life.

Over 18's only so. And was that clinical depression or signs which could be interpreted as depression? Or were there underlying factors (socio-economic etc)?

Three major studies followed large numbers of people over several years, and showed that those people who use cannabis have a higher than average risk of developing schizophrenia. If you start smoking it before the age of 15, you are 4 times more likely to develop a psychotic disorder by the time you are 26.

Living in cities also increases schizo rates. Tell you what; ban it in cities and legalise it for us dumb country folk and that'll level the playing field.

In New Zealand, researchers found that those who smoked regularly, and had smoked before driving, were more likely to be injured in a car crash. A recent study in France looked at over 10,000 drivers who were involved in fatal car crashes. Even when the influence of alcohol was taken into account, cannabis users were more than twice as likely to be the cause of a fatal crash than to be one of the victims.

Twice as likely? Is that an adjusted figure to allow for a smaller %-age of the population who smoke (which is suspect as it is based on aa large assumption re level of smokers) or does it mean that for every 1000 dead drink drivers there are 2000 dead potheads?

As the drug can stay in the system for some weeks, the effect can be more long-lasting than users realise.

Shouldn't trust Fox News for your info. The effect is gone after a few hours although trace quantities can still be detected. Not the same thing.

I just dont think its a good idea.

Is that reason enough for you to ban it though? Have you even tried it?
And as I asked earlier, are you against it full stop or just for recreational use?

Toiletroll

Boggle wrote: »

Links, info, etc??

Over 18's only so. And was that clinical depression or signs which could be interpreted as depression? Or were there underlying factors (socio-economic etc)?

Living in cities also increases schizo rates. Tell you what; ban it in cities and legalise it for us dumb country folk and that'll level the playing field.

Twice as likely? Is that an adjusted figure to allow for a smaller %-age of the population who smoke (which is suspect as it is based on aa large assumption re level of smokers) or does it mean that for every 1000 dead drink drivers there are 2000 dead potheads?

Shouldn't trust Fox News for your info. The effect is gone after a few hours although trace quantities can still be detected. Not the same thing.

Is that reason enough for you to ban it though? Have you even tried it?
And as I asked earlier, are you against it full stop or just for recreational use?

Agreed - Fox is the enemy!

Doc

What I posted can be backed up by the following:

Cannabis intoxication and fatal road crashes in France: population based case control study (2005) Laumon B et al. British Medical Journal, 331, 1371-1377.


Marijuana abstinence effects in marijuana smokers maintained in their home environment (2001) Budney AJ et al. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 917-924.


Marijuana use and car crash injury (2005) Blows S et al. Addiction, 100, 5, 605.


Self reported cannabis use as a risk factor for schizophrenia in Swedish conscripts of 1969: historical cohort study (2002) Zammit S, Allebeck P, Andreasson S, Lundberg I, Lewis G. British Medical Journal 2002; 325: 1199-1201.


Cannabis use and psychosis: A longitudinal population-based study (2002) Van Os J, Bak M, Hanssen M, Bijl RV, de Graaf R, Verdoux H. American Journal of Epidemiology; 156: 319-327.


Cannabis use in adolescence and risk for adult psychosis: longitudinal prospective study (2002) Arseneault L, Cannon M, Poulton R, Murray R, Caspi A, Moffit TE. British Medical Journal; 325: 1212-1213.


Cannabis use and mental health in young people: cohort study (2002) Patton GC, Coffey C, Carlin JB, Degenhardt L, Lynskey M, Hall W. British Medical Journal; 325: 1195-1198.


A longitudinal study of cannabis use and mental health from adolescence to early adulthood (2000) McGee R, Williams S, Poulton R, Moffitt T. Addiction; 95: 491-503


Mental health of teenagers who use cannabis (2002) Rey JM et al. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 216-221.


Prospective cohort study of cannabis use, predisposition for psychosis and psychotic symptoms in young people. Henquet C et al British Medical Journal, 330, 11-14.


Tests of causal linkages between cannabis use and psychotic symptoms (2005) Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ and Ridder EM Addiction, 100 (3).


Cannabis-induced psychosis and subsequent schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: follow-up study of 535 incident cases (2005) Arendt M et al British Journal of Psychiatry, 187: 510 - 515.

Yea I derive all my opinions from fox.:rolleyes:

dr.bollocko

Doc wrote: »

Yea I derive all my opinions from fox.:rolleyes:

And google.
Don't forget google.

Doc

Also:

The British Medical Association (BMA) says it is not 100% behind a report by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee backing the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The BMA, which has previously supported more clinical trials into the medical use of cannabis, says legalising cannabis is not the answer.

It believes only cannabinoids - part of the cannabis plant - should be used in medicine.

Cannabinoids are the active ingredients of cannabis. The BMA says crude cannabis contains many toxic ingredients as well. It is also worried about how cannabis will be prescribed, saying that smoking the drug is harmful to health.

It wants to see the development of "targeted medicines" using cannabinoids.

ScumLord

Doc wrote: »

Also:

The British Medical Association (BMA) says it is not 100% behind a report by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee backing the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The problem with them is it's only there job to point out the negative side effects. Everythings bad in their eyes. Fair enough, there are harmful side effects but are they really so bad as to go through all the trouble caused by prohibition?

Doc

ScumLord wrote: »

The problem with them is it's only there job to point out the negative side effects. Everythings bad in their eyes. Fair enough, there are harmful side effects but are they really so bad as to go through all the trouble caused by prohibition?

I don't think that they would only point out the negatives if the positives really outweighed them.

At the end of the day I've outlined my reasons in this and other threads and while I understand that many people will ignore or dismiss them as minor concerns I do not believe them to be so and wouldn't like to see anyone else have to experiance the same thing.