Legalize Cannabis Ireland

PogMoThoin

paul26 wrote: »

Bottom line Marijuana is the most beneficial plant and most human friendly plant to the human race there could possibly be and that is a fact. Most of the worlds most sucessfull people smoked marijuana and admitted it.

Sir Richard Branson
Barack Obama
Stephen King
Aaron Sorkin
Michael Bloomberg
Ted Turner
Arnold Schwarzenegger

and the list goes on just research it.

Add Brian Cowen to that list
http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/2007/0517/ireland/mhkfkfkfkfcw/

Oldtree

Don't be silly, it is a drug. The chemical you want to smoke is mainly THC which is produced at the tip of stalked glands on the surface of the plant.

While I am happy for it to be used for medical use, I am unsure that we should legalise it for general consumption. Do we not have enough problems with drink already? I saw 3 teenagers drinking in the local playground at 1pm yesterday. You are codding yourself if you think that there are no problems with smoking, the least of which is cancer! There are many studies that show that the developing brain of a teenager is impaired by smoking dope.

Ireland has a major problem with drink, we dont need to add another.

"But the money is going to criminals, we can tax it" I hear you say. The criminals would just find some other way of earning that money.

sdiff

Oldtree wrote: »

Don't be silly, it is a drug. The chemical you want to smoke is mainly THC which is produced at the tip of stalked glands on the surface of the plant.

While I am happy for it to be used for medical use, I am unsure that we should legalise it for general consumption. Do we not have enough problems with drink already? I saw 3 teenagers drinking in the local playground at 1pm yesterday. You are codding yourself if you think that there are no problems with smoking, the least of which is cancer! There are many studies that show that the developing brain of a teenager is impaired by smoking dope.

Ireland has a major problem with drink, we dont need to add another.

"But the money is going to criminals, we can tax it" I hear you say. The criminals would just find some other way of earning that money.

Cannabis is vastly different to drink. While there are different types with different effects (there's "indica" the "sit inside and watch TV" one and "sativa" a more energetic one) it doesn't even compare to alcohol in terms of damage to society. You don't get over confident and have the urge to fight or vandalise like alcohol. And there are studies that show cannabis use alone does not cause cancer. As well as this if you're health conscious simply use a vaporizer. I'd argue that legalizing cannabis would REDUCE these problems you speak of, as people have a choice other then drink if they want to have fun. It would hypothetically reduce alcohol consumption which would reduce problems associated with alcohol.

edit: And I disagree with you on the criminals. There's a reason there are so many cannabis related criminal gangs: It's so damn easy to make money with. There's the argument that is often stated "they'll just move on to harder drugs". That doesn't have any standing though because a) they already sell hard drugs so they can't "move onto it" and b) Hard drug usage decreases as people can use cannabis legally without getting involved in illegal drugs, so they have less exposure and are less likely to take the risk

mikom

Oldtree wrote: »

I am unsure that we should legalise it for general consumption. Do we not have enough problems with drink already? I saw 3 teenagers drinking in the local playground at 1pm yesterday.

I saw 3 teenagers smoking cigarettes in the local playground at 1pm yesterday.
Should we outlaw alcohol because of this.

Oldtree wrote: »

There are many studies that show that the developing brain of a teenager is impaired by smoking dope.

I would tend to agree with this.
But street dealers don't care about this as they have no trading code.
License cannabis and you are wrestling control back somewhat.

The issue of children keeps being brought up by those arguing against cannabis.
Let me be clear....
Children should not smoke tobacco.
Children should not smoke cannabis.
Children should not drink alcohol.
Children should not drive lorries.

Only one of these is currently prohibited to both children and adults.
Bit unfair don't ya think.

Oldtree, to quote your sig "A Tree is for life!"
What if eating apples harmed the developing mind of the teenager, and because of this nobody was allowed to grow apple trees.
Sounds insane?
Closer to the truth than more people would believe.

Oldtree wrote: »

"But the money is going to criminals, we can tax it" I hear you say. The criminals would just find some other way of earning that money.

But we would still have a tax intake from it which can be used for policing for instance.

shebafay

neiphin wrote: »

everyone knows that weed should not be taken by under 20s, mind not fully developed,
if it was legalised shops would NOT sell it to minors.
they would lose their licence

would some of this be down to your own parenting skills ?

@ neiphin
my parenting skills are not up for discussion here. it is unfair and churlish of you to question that. i certainly didnt bring up my son to use cannabis, and my mother didnt either. as i stated, my experience of witnessing the medical effects of cannabis differs from other people. i did not see any medical benefit to my son or brother from using same.

In The Sticks

I agree with Alex, a complete waste of space having these guys in here, and to think the people of Co. Roscommon elected Luke 'Ming' Flanagan as their TD, Mr. Flanagan condones the use of illegal drugs and says it's ok to smoke. such a role model, no wonder our country is where it is today, it makes me want to vomit.

sdiff

In The Sticks wrote: »

I agree with Alex, a complete waste of space having these guys in here, and to think the people of Co. Roscommon elected Luke 'Ming' Flanagan as their TD, Mr. Flanagan condones the use of illegal drugs and says it's ok to smoke. what a complete arse hole, such a role model, no wonder our country is where it is today, it makes me want to vomit.

Do you actually have any valid arguments or are you just shouting angrily for no reason? I've already disputed every point with medical facts so I'd love to hear your reason for opposing it.

mikom

In The Sticks wrote: »

I agree with Alex, a complete waste of space having these guys in here, and to think the people of Co. Roscommon elected Luke 'Ming' Flanagan as their TD, Mr. Flanagan condones the use of illegal drugs and says it's ok to smoke. what a complete arse hole, such a role model, no wonder our country is where it is today, it makes me want to vomit.

Loud noises.

PogMoThoin

In The Sticks wrote: »

I agree with Alex, a complete waste of space having these guys in here, and to think the people of Co. Roscommon elected Luke 'Ming' Flanagan as their TD, Mr. Flanagan condones the use of illegal drugs and says it's ok to smoke. what a complete arse hole, such a role model, no wonder our country is where it is today, it makes me want to vomit.

This ignorant backward attitude has this country in the state its in. I live in co. Roscommon, I voted for Ming because He was the most honest of the candidates, the only one who called to my door and stayed for 25minutes telling us what He believes in for the people of Roscommon.

Snowc

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

I notice how the OP has still not backed up their argument with solid medical facts and never will be able to. Anyone who wants drugs to be legal is pathetic.

Great post anyone who wants drugs legal are crazy especially if the are being used to cure an illness.I am organising a march to ban chemists in Mayo, if you want I can sent you a pm with details?

shebafay wrote: »

TO THE OP. MY EXPERIENCE OF THE MEDICAL EFFECTS OF CANNABIS DIFFERS TO YOUR THEORIES. MY BROTHER, RIP, DEVELOPED SCHIZOPHRENIA 10 YEARS AGO FROM USING IT AND SUBSEQUENTLY TOOK HIS OWN LIFE. MY SON HAS JUST RETURNED FROM A 6 MONTH STAY IN A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL FOR TREATMENT FOR DRUG INDUCED PSYCHOSIS, SECONDARY TO CANNABIS USE. HE NOW HAS A LOWER THAN AVERAGE IQ AS HE WAS SMOKING IT FROM AGE 15 (AGAINST MY KNOWLEDGE). SO, I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE CAMPAIGN TO LEGALISE CANNABIS, AND INDEED IF NEED BE, I WILL BE ORGANISING MY OWN PROTEST TO MAKE SURE IT REMAINS A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE. HOW IN THE NAME OF GOD IT WOULD BENEFIT THE OLDER GENERATION TO LEGALISE CANNABIS BEATS ME.....

Another great post made even better by the use of the caps lock button.If your son had got diabetes from eating to much sugar would you protest to have sugar made illegal ?

shebafay wrote: »

@ neiphin
my parenting skills are not up for discussion here. it is unfair and churlish of you to question that. i certainly didnt bring up my son to use cannabis, and my mother didnt either. as i stated, my experience of witnessing the medical effects of cannabis differs from other people. i did not see any medical benefit to my son or brother from using same.

If your son doesnt get any use from cannabis then it should be kept illegal?There is plenty of prescription drugs that can cause problems in some people but that doesn't stop being legal.

In The Sticks wrote: »

I agree with Alex, a complete waste of space having these guys in here, and to think the people of Co. Roscommon elected Luke 'Ming' Flanagan as their TD, Mr. Flanagan condones the use of illegal drugs and says it's ok to smoke. what a complete arse hole, such a role model, no wonder our country is where it is today, it makes me want to vomit.

Great post ,Ming flanagan bankrupted this country by smoking cannabis and made matters worst by taking a 50% pay cut.I know my sons role model is Bertie Ahern so he should be safe.

sdiff

Snowc wrote: »

Great post anyone who wants drugs legal are crazy especially if the are being used to cure an illness.I am organising a march to ban chemists in Mayo, if you want I can sent you a pm with details?



Another great post made even better by the use of the caps lock button.If your son had got diabetes from eating to much sugar would you protest to have sugar made illegal ?



If your son doesnt get any use from cannabis then it should be kept illegal?There is plenty of prescription drugs that can cause problems in some people but that doesn't stop being legal.



Great post ,Ming flanagan bankrupted this country by smoking cannabis and made matters worst by taking a 50% pay cut.I know my sons role model is Bertie Ahern so he should be safe.

Haha I lold at this. I know it's human nature to be biased because of upbringing (one could describe it as indoctrination) but it's frustrating how most people against legalization think "Draw a conclusion, look all around the internet for the slightest bit of "evidence"(i.e a biased and infactual opinion piece) to back up their conclusion whereas the logical, "scientific" method is to look at evidence THEN draw a conclusion. I have done the latter and I have no doubt about my view that it should be legal.

rockynavan

hello i have never drank alcohol or smoked tobacco in my life i have smoked pure cannabis for 13years but i like to be different say no to harddrugs

Lab_Mouse

In The Sticks wrote: »

no wonder our country is where it is today, it makes me want to vomit.

the country is in a state because of ** like beverly cooper flynn and the rest of those chancers,not luke flanagan.

hard facts.People smoke hash,irrespective of whether its legal or illegal.With it being illegal its organised crime that get the cash.

legalise it,the government gets tax.People that smoke it dont have to worry about getting done for possession.and as for the people that dont smoke it,guess what life continues on the same for you.

The argrument that making it legal would incline young people to try it is bollix.They come in contact with it anyway,so again they'll either smoke it or they wont.

As for the poster above me who lost a family member and has a sion with shcizophrenia induced by it ,i feel your pain.

I have a bro who is in the same boat,drug induced pyschosis,has been a smack addict since he's been 18 because of it and has spent the last 16 years in and out of prison.

but im of the same view point anyhows,its not good for a small % of users(like alcohol),but its still p1ssing in the rain having it illegal.

and finally

neiphin wrote: »

would some of this be down to your own parenting skills ?

**

Lab_Mouse

tbh maybe just decrimilise it,allow people 1 or 2 plants for them the to grow there own.it would remove the moral uncertainty about the government making money of a drug but fuk knows they have no problem taxing the hell out of gargle!

Laisurg

I'm glad to see more being done to legalize cannabis you're on the right track unfortunately many people are uneducated and fear cannabis because they simply don't understand it, to anyone out there who thinks that cannabis would destroy irish society if it was legalized i ask you to watch the documentary the union, not because it has medical professionals commenting on cannabis being positive but also to see how much cannabis use goes on in Canada, and yet they're not all developing mental illness' or all driving cars into walls and most importantly they're not dying, developing lung cancer or any other illness for that matter. (cannabis isn't even legal there by the way)

It's up to you to make your own decisions from there but anyone out there who has an extreme dislike of cannabis or cannabis smokers ask yourself if you've ever seen a documented study with conducted by specialists (not a GP who is simply guessing, yes it is a guess if they don't do an actual study to prove it) that suggests that cananbis is anywhere near as evil as you think it is.

sdiff

Lab_Mouse wrote: »

tbh maybe just decrimilise it,allow people 1 or 2 plants for them the to grow there own.it would remove the moral uncertainty about the government making money of a drug but fuk knows they have no problem taxing the hell out of gargle!

Decriminalizing it is basically saying "ok, maybe it's not that bad, you can use it if you keep quiet about it, but we're going to keep the profits in the hands of criminals instead of honest businessmen for reasons only we know"

paul26

In The Sticks wrote: »

I agree with Alex, a complete waste of space having these guys in here, and to think the people of Co. Roscommon elected Luke 'Ming' Flanagan as their TD, Mr. Flanagan condones the use of illegal drugs and says it's ok to smoke. such a role model, no wonder our country is where it is today, it makes me want to vomit.

Ha Ha Ha pphhhhhhhh. Go back to sleep. Thats just crazy blamed a politition for the state of the country when he was only elected a few months ago.

Legalizing cannabis can only help with the alcohol situation, marijuana is nothing like alcohol. People are always going to want to get a little drunk or a little stoned, or what ever they do and its never going to stop, we are never going to change, we never have we've been doing so since the dawn of man, and well be doing to the end of time.
So instead of making soft drugs like cannabis illegal and leave the market to the underworld criminals who contaminate weed with all kinds of toxins such as tiny shards of glass, plastic, silica sand, and other shockingly dangerous toxins in order to make marijuana weight more and generate larger profits. So I think schizophrenia is the least of our worries.

So for all the people who are arguing against legalization because they think its unsafe to use marijuana, are intact making it unsafer.

If your kid or brother or someone close you know in Ireland is smoking marijuana, their probably smoking contaminated weed or hash, which will have detrimental effects on the youth of this country, and there are still smoking it. 90% of the weed in Ireland is contaminated. The only way to stop this is to legalize it and regulate it to make it safer.

Contaminated weed is going to kill alot of people, inhailing tiny shards of glass is similar to inhaling asbestos and wont turn up for about 10 - 15 years.

neiphin

paul26 wrote: »

So instead of making soft drugs like cannabis illegal and leave the market to the underworld criminals who contaminate weed with all kinds of toxins such as tiny shards of glass, plastic, silica sand, and other shockingly dangerous toxins in order to make marijuana weight more and generate larger profits. So I think schizophrenia is the least of our worries.

So for all the people who are arguing against legalization because they think its unsafe to use marijuana, are intact making it unsafer.

.

+1

Oldtree

sdiff wrote: »

And there are studies that show cannabis use alone does not cause cancer. As well as this if you're health conscious simply use a vaporizer.

Please have a look at this articulate article (I know its a blog, sorry, but it is a PHd)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-teenage-mind/201102/does-marijuana-cause-cancer

In addition there is all kinds of garbage in weed and hash, agricultural wax to camel dung to pesticides and insecticides. Mind yourself now.

If you must smoke, use a proto pipe and clean daily with alcohol and pipe cleaners.

My point about the children drinking in the playground is that alcohol is available to them, as would dope if legalised. How many more of our youth are you prepared to ignore? I think every one of them is important and deserving of my efforts to protect from harm where I can.

I have no problem with adults doing what they want without harming anybody else and can see very clearly that having not legalised dope will lead to adults and children being lead to harder drugs through unregulated dealers, or ignorant friends. But I do not think legalisation is the route to protecting more of our children.

mikom

Oldtree wrote: »

In addition there is all kinds of garbage in weed and hash, agricultural wax to camel dung to pesticides and insecticides. Mind yourself now.

Caused by prohibition.
The solution is obvious.

Clean weed can also be vaped rather than smoked.

Oldtree

I was prompting harm minimisation as a current issue while you await legalisation. There is no such thing as clean weed. Did you read the above article?

sdiff

Oldtree wrote: »

Please have a look at this articulate article (I know its a blog, sorry, but it is a PHd)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-teenage-mind/201102/does-marijuana-cause-cancer

In addition there is all kinds of garbage in weed and hash, agricultural wax to camel dung to pesticides and insecticides. Mind yourself now.

If you must smoke, use a proto pipe and clean daily with alcohol and pipe cleaners.

My point about the children drinking in the playground is that alcohol is available to them, as would dope if legalised. How many more of our youth are you prepared to ignore? I think every one of them is important and deserving of my efforts to protect from harm where I can.

I have no problem with adults doing what they want without harming anybody else and can see very clearly that having not legalised dope will lead to adults and children being lead to harder drugs through unregulated dealers, or ignorant friends. But I do not think legalisation is the route to protecting more of our children.

First line of the article "The greatest health danger of marijuana is due to smoking, "
No problem, the health conscious user can vaporize or cook it.
The garbage in weed is caused by it being illegal.
Your point on children - weed is also available to children. The law doesn't stop it. Children can easily go to a dealer and buy it off him - he won't ask for ID. If it were legal the dealers would go out of business. If it were legal ID would be required to purchase it. Furthermore, more damage is being done to children when it's illegal - as you say with all the adulterants that are added.

Ash.J.Williams

HarryPotter41 wrote: »

Yes, a boost in the tourist industry due to leaglizing cannibas, excellent, just what the country needs. More people off their trollies. And as I don't smoke I won't bother putting down my cigarette and please give me the links to research showing the huge amount of deaths attributed to caffeine each year.I also agree with OscarBravo on the issues relating to the work place. Any employer ( and indeed fellow employee ) has to expect people to turn up capabale of doing the work that they are paid to do, and if cannibas is legal whats to stop them having a sneaky spliff at lunchtime. Would you argue then that they are capable of doing their work fully after that?

I do not no a single professional person who would have a spilff at lunchtime..I smoke daily but wouldn't dream of it in work...it just wouldn't be possible.

mikom

Oldtree wrote: »

I was prompting harm minimisation as a current issue while you await legalisation. There is no such thing as clean weed. Did you read the above article?

I had read that article through the glory of "Google alerts" over 3 months before you posted it.
Gotta keep up with the news.

"no such thing as clean weed"
Well in that case you may as well say there is no such thing as clean sirloin steak, maple syrup, or salt.

Oldtree

I wasn't aware that sirloin steak, maple syrup, or salt were mind altering substances!!! :P

mikom

Oldtree wrote: »

I wasn't aware that sirloin steak, maple syrup, or salt were mind altering substances!!! :P

There was this one time when I had Canadian pancakes..........

saa

Aggh the amount of misspelled instances of legalise is ridiculous.

We would need more measures to prevent drugged drivers, my biggest concern would be the inability for this country to deal with anymore cases of psychiatric problems of which there would be an increase, its just the risk that goes along with this drug and we're not able to handle that.

SteelyDanJalapeno

The ignorance of the majority of people in the world is just unreal,

Go do your own unbiased research and open your minds for gods sake, i don't just mean cannabis use.

In general, don't go around believing what your told by the neighbours,

Shur jaysus, half the parents in the country give their children some form of sugar everyday, thats basically murder!

mikom

saa wrote: »

Aggh the amount of misspelled instances of legalise is ridiculous.

We would need more measures to prevent drugged drivers, my biggest concern would be the inability for this country to deal with anymore cases of psychiatric problems of which there would be an increase, its just the risk that goes along with this drug and we're not able to handle that.

Oldtree

I don't think thats a good argument, killer sugar is legal so legalize dope.:P