Vote Joe Higgins Straight Talking Politician , He wants cannabis decriminalized

bergkamp10

sdonn wrote: »

Of all the reasons to vote, or not vote, for someone and you pick this? There are much more important issues.

Mind you I do agree that if taxed to the hilt legalising it would bring in cash, but I still think it should be outlawed. The monetary benefits outweigh the medical problems that could occur in the future and in a society that tends to end up paying for the healthcare of vast numbers of people in full, we shouldn't sink to that level. Quick cash at the expense of human health is all it would be.

Then there's always the fact that a vote for a smaller party like the socialists is completely wasted. They will not end up in government, they will not change national policy, and all the people who think they're great going and voting for SP, SF, GP are actually only taking votes from FG/Labour and leaving FF a few extra seats that they don't deserve.

Vote locally in the council elections, that's why they exist - in this election people must think nationally or frankly, we're screwed. The last thing we need is some 4-way rag coalition with FF clinging to power that collapses in a year.

seems to me that the original poster starting this thread clearly recognises that there are a million election related issues, and has used this thread to raise one specific one, so, similarly, if i wanted to raise the issue of using tax payers money to fly butt monkeys into outer space, i have the right to start a butt monkey SPECIFIC thread, if popular opinion concludes that i have a point which is in any way valid. To which people with an opinion on that specific thread should agree or disagree. Like with this thread for instance. Its one thread out of thousands. Its one single topic. Its valid. And while were on this thread, isn't the health service already clogged up with over abuse of every substance known to man. There are pros and cons to everything. Heres two oversimplified condensed examples if i may: eg1 PRO:cannabis for, lets say, multiple sclerosis sufferers. documented evidence of the greater musculature control, which leads to greater confidence, better quality of life, yadda yadda yadda, enjoyed by the patient when ingesting (not necessarily smoking) cannabis. CON: On the flip side, over indulgence leads to depression paranoia etc. Eg2 PRO: i bloody love a good coffee, good strong arabic or peruvian. Proper extra strong gourmet mind, none of that instant tosh. Nice yes? CON: using caffeine in high doses may induce stroke. So, in my humble opinion i suggest One can argue pros and cons to almost anything wouldn't you say? Nothing can be stated in such black and white terms. To re iterate my previous post, when everything is stacked up i believe in a progressive society, judicially and financially, the good would outweigh the bad when legalising cannabis.

Ash.J.Williams

After this weekend i would like to add canabis to the list of homemade remedies that can ease nervey tooth aches....

johnnyskeleton

Kasabian wrote: »

No offence intended but decriminalisation of hash should be way down the list of priorities of a voter in this election.

The beauty of democracy is that voters get to choose their own priorities.

bergkamp10

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

After this weekend i would like to add canabis to the list of homemade remedies that can ease nervey tooth aches....

absolutely. Take a bow, Ash J. Go on! I have soo been there, impacted wisdom tooth with an exposed nerve some fifteen years ago. Even my mam was happy with me skinning up as opposed to the alternative where i had been screaming and having paracetamol washed down with nips of brandy for the pain, once i discussed my theory that it may help. Which it did. Twelve hours of throbbing stopped instantly. You are, in all fairness, bang on with that one

JP Liz V1

I always thought Higgins seemed stoned

bergkamp10

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I always thought Higgins seemed stoned

yup. Still though, one man against the storm. Joe Higgins, theres a personification of rage against the machine if ever there was one. Did massive work trying in vain to stop bin charges on a national scale. Did massive work successfully to stop corrupt property management companies also nationally not just locally. Keep banging the drum joe.

ghostdancer

legalising, and de-criminalising, are not the same thing.


personally, i believe:

decriminalising up to certain amounts for personal use would be a great idea. arrests for small amounts are a waste of Gardai's time, the court's time, and having people getting in trouble over enough for a couple of joints is nonsense.

decriminalising altogether (ie. dealers can't get arrested), not so much.

legalising cannabis, no (although we could probably do with the tourism money it would bring in, americans and british would be flocking here)

ghostdancer

ghostdancer wrote: »

decriminalising up to certain amounts for personal use would be a great idea. arrests for small amounts are a waste of Gardai's time, the court's time, and having people getting in trouble over enough for a couple of joints is nonsense.

decriminalising altogether (ie. dealers can't get arrested), not so much.

legalising cannabis, no (although we could probably do with the tourism money it would bring in, americans and british would be flocking here)

Is this not what they do in the Dam? Cannabis isn't legal there, but a blind eye is turned on the coffee shops

ronkmonster

pclancy wrote: »

Newtadis you're approaching this from a very simple minded point of view of that cannabis causes no harm at all to the human body. It does cause harm. It may not be noticable now or if you're lucky, in the future, but smoking anything will harm your body, your respiatory system was simply not designed to handle hot tar-filled smoke.

It had better be taxed a lot to pay for healthcare costs of the percentage of users that are going to contract lung, head or mouth cancers when they get older and for the psychological impact on the small percentage of the population that should never ever smoke it or they risk schizophrenia.

For medical purposes ie pain releif it should be sold in tablet form, if you're going to smoke it then you're going to damage your respiatory system and you are increasing your risks of getting cancer. If you accept that risk then fair enough but who's going to pay for your treatment if you get cancer...therefore the tax will have to reflect that.

Either way I don't think the majority of Irish people would want it legalised and certainly it doesnt have support in the medical community for the above reasons. Nobody argues against its merits for pain releift, hence you can get products such as Sativex.

I'm a potsmoker myself and wish that I could have my own plant growing in the garden without fear of jailtime. But I also work in healthcare and see the effects it has on some peoples bodies and have read the studies about its links to cancer. Therefore I seriously doubt it will ever actually be legal, just as one day tobacco will have to finally be banned alltogether as the cost of keeping all the dying smokers alive will be massive.

What about eating it instead (mixed in with something)? Does that cause problems?

bergkamp10

ronkmonster wrote: »

What about eating it instead (mixed in with something)? Does that cause problems?

only in the same way as over indulging in anything, anything at all causes problems

randomhuman

bergkamp10 wrote: »

randomhuman wrote:

I think we should legalise cannabis, but only if we can please, please ban this kind of bullscheisse at the same time. Cannabis can't be patented because it's a plant, and no patent means no money? What the frak is that dude smoking?

not taking issue with the dangers of cannabis from a carcinogenic stance, thats granted. Dangers of cannabis WHEN ABUSED can be measured against any substance when abused. Alcohol( cirrhosis). Caffeine(stroke). Paracetamol(very easy to overdose, all sorts of fallout there) the wonder drug ibuprofen(intestines of mush). Even the essence of life, WATER, will indeed do untold damage if abused. So everything is dangerous at some point. There is the option of ingesting cannabis, drinks, bakery, etc. Doesn't have to be smoked. On that point, isn't tobacco a plant? That hasn't prevented a million brands, patents, etc, benson and hedges, marlboro etc etc etc. So, The irish govts cut, from the price of a packet of fags, is about 80% (how much are they in eu, 2or3 euro ), irish govts levy on cigs is deliberately disproportionate to eu prices. Thats fine by me. Point is It would in theory be VERY easy to legalise cannabis, and then levy and regulate it. Cannabis can be brought above ground, instantly putting many minor dealers out of business, on many levels, the knock on could mean they cant sustain their operations if the huge illicit funding from hash has run out. There is also the issue of quality control which would be far greater assured if the product is state licensed and endorsed(and who here hasn't been stuck with sh1t hash). Not to mention the millions of garda man hours it would free up. Weighing up all the pros and all the cons (which of course there are, as with everything) measuring it all up, isn't it simply the lesser of two evils to legalise cannabis?

I think maybe you meant to quote somebody else, because what you said here doesn't have any connection to what I said.

Or maybe you misunderstood what I said? I think cannabis should be legalised, I was criticising the video, which was full of ****e.

randomhuman

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

The beauty of democracy is that voters get to choose their own priorities.

This. I'm sick of hearing people telling others what issues they can and can't vote based on. Legalisation or decriminalisation of cannabis isn't an issue that I'd base my vote on (not that I can, in my constituency), but I wouldn't dare tell somebody else that it's not important enough for them to base their vote on. I'd imagine that for somebody who partakes every day, the fact that the law sees them as a criminal is an urgent and overriding issue.

bergkamp10

randomhuman wrote: »

I think maybe you meant to quote somebody else, because what you said here doesn't have any connection to what I said.

Or maybe you misunderstood what I said? I think cannabis should be legalised, I was criticising the video, which was full of ****e.

das ist cool mein buddy. Passen meine jointe. Schnell schnell !

newtadis

i have around 15 people so far willing to back joe higgins ,

newtadis

ive just found this new video have a look if you want a good watch

http://www.joehiggins.eu/2011/02/video-joe-higgins-mep-speaking-at-united-left-alliance-launch-in-dun-laoghaire/

bergkamp10

Jesus, newtadis, you had 'em all kicking off nicely, hasn't been a pip in here for HOURS..... did you convert them all wit ur vid, and they're all off semi-baked and giggling their nuts off?? )

newtadis

bergkamp10 wrote: »

Jesus, newtadis, you had 'em all kicking off nicely, hasn't been a pip in here for HOURS..... did you convert them all wit ur vid, and they're all off semi-baked and giggling their nuts off?? )

lol i agree 100% .
im off to Amsterdam tomorrow so i wont be on for 3 or 4 days ,

i think il spend my money there instead lol

elefant

It's actually 'tolerated' in all of the Netherlands, not just Amsterdam, which seems to be a common belief. I've read the Netherlands makes over half a billion in tax revenue every year from coffee shops.

newtadis

elefant wrote: »

It's actually 'tolerated' in all of the Netherlands, not just Amsterdam, which seems to be a common belief. I've read the Netherlands makes over half a billion in tax revenue every year from coffee shops.

thats correct were going to einhoven first ,

works out cheaper again

plus we wont be treated like criminals for doing what we love to do

Dave2011

newtadis wrote: »

i was looking for some one to vote that was against prohibition of cannabis

as cannabis has many medicinal uses always has always will ,

anyways i emailed a few other party's , not many seen the same views as me ,
i ended up looking at joe higgings as im in dublin


here was there email back to me today



Thanks for your email. Yes, the Socialist Party supports the decriminalization of cannabis. It is quite clear that prohibition doesn't work and has never worked. Our broad position on drugs is that drug use (and abuse) can only be resolved if the primary underlying reasons are resolved though the reasons why people use drugs obviously varies. Prohibition and criminalization clearly do not even attempt to resolve those issues.


Regards,
Stephen Rigney
Parliamentary Assistant

--
Office of Joe Higgins MEP
Socialist Party
150 Pearse Street
Dublin 2
00 353 1 6795030


this is why im voting for these there open minded ,

also it could create a new multi million euro industrie over night ,


what do u guys think ?????

this is a new video of Joe Higgins telling it like it is CLICK HERE


REALLY DO U WANT THE LIKES OF THIS GUY BACK

Cigarettes are worse than cannabis in my opinion, they cause far more deaths than a bit of weed ever will! They should have registered suppliers that pay a license fee for selling cannabis with full health and safety inspections of the facilities and the product and the government can get tax revenue from excise duty on cannabis bags!! One way to get out of recession and keep the next government popular forever!! Crazy idea!!:)

newtadis

Dave2011 wrote: »

Cigarettes are worse than cannabis in my opinion, they cause far more deaths than a bit of weed ever will! They should have registered suppliers that pay a license fee for selling cannabis with full health and safety inspections of the facilities and the product and the government can get tax revenue from excise duty on cannabis bags!! One way to get out of recession and keep the next government popular forever!! Crazy idea!!:)

i agree 100%

think about the amount of Americans that smoke cannabis

they would be flocking here for a pint of Guinness and a spliff

you would have loads of tourists from the uk and so on ,

instead of letting Amsterdam take all the tourism in Europe

this is a multi million euro industry

why not net some of the money for the country instead of giving it to big drug dealers who want prohibition, so the price stays high ,
selling irish people ****e weed that does cause harm , so infact legalizing would reduce that as the weed would be better grown , there would be no sand all over it and now there is other mixtures that they can put on weed for weight , all due to greedy dealers ,


i personally think

bergkamp10

newtadis wrote: »

lol i agree 100% .
im off to Amsterdam tomorrow so i wont be on for 3 or 4 days ,

i think il spend my money there instead lol

jammy b@stard. Enjoy.

bergkamp10

elefant wrote: »

It's actually 'tolerated' in all of the Netherlands, not just Amsterdam, which seems to be a common belief. I've read the Netherlands makes over half a billion in tax revenue every year from coffee shops.

spot on there elefant me aul flower. If i may refer you back to the point i made a while back about the irish govt and the potential markup from licensing considering they make 80%markup from the humble fag.

bergkamp10

Dave2011 wrote: »

Cigarettes are worse than cannabis in my opinion, they cause far more deaths than a bit of weed ever will! They should have registered suppliers that pay a license fee for selling cannabis with full health and safety inspections of the facilities and the product and the government can get tax revenue from excise duty on cannabis bags!! One way to get out of recession and keep the next government popular forever!! Crazy idea!!:)

absolutely dead on. How many gazillions of crazy toxins are in a cig... Phucking BENZENE !! Anythin from asbestos (rothmans circa1990) fibre glass type stuff(b+h) google ciggie ingredients. What is it they say... What god made man must not put asunder...

mikom

Just a heads up....

The first phase of the Newstalk YouTube digital debate has now ended and we have received more than 1,700 questions and almost 20,000 votes. Now, it is over to the party leaders.
The 10 most popular questions have been sent to the party leaders who will record a short video response to each.
These video responses will be uploaded on the You Tube channel hosting the digital debate on Friday February 18th and the public will have an opportunity to vote on the best answers between then and February 24th.
Below is the list of the Top 10 most popular questions
.......


OTHER ISSUES
Will your party commit to legalising and taxing cannabis for personal use, thereby generating a significant new source of tax revenues, saving Gardai and court resources, and allowing access to those with a medical need?

Prepare for waffle.

effemall

" Cannabis can't be patented because it's a plant"

this is not true as new varieties of plants are patented all the time in the horticulture industry

newtadis

bergkamp10 wrote: »

jammy b@stard. Enjoy.

i certainly did thanks , but its nice to be home ,

tell you what guys there is no recession in Amsterdam that's for sure

newtadis

ive just voted there a few mins ago , good luck joe

Timulus Package

Does anyone know if Joe has given up his teachers pension?

newtadis

he has given it up he has also said he will only take a average persons wage