Weed legalization in Ireland

Why should something which has caused zero deaths (by itself) be more heavily regulated than something which is responsible for approximately 5% of deaths in Ireland each year?

I agree it should be regulated, and for smoking (herb or vape) should be limited to certain areas. Also, weed is a psychoactive drug, not a psychedelic. Other psychoactive drugs include caffeine, nicotine and over the counter pain medications.

@[Deleted User] I agree, I would mainly be growing it myself. Just makes sense with the level of growing tech making it easier and easier. But it is a genuine concern that our lovely Government with their heads up their holes would make it prohibitively expensive via taxation that the illegal trade would easily continue. Won't affect us, we're smarted and would be growing, but most still couldn't be arsed growing so would continue to buy illegally. We need to make sure when it is legalised that we try and not let the Government fup it up for everyone!

How the hell are psychedleic drugs more dangerous to other people than alcohol...?

Bar anecdotal evidence (and very vague at that) there is no way psychdelic drugs are more dangerous than alcohol.

I'm not entirely sure I;d class weed as a psychedelic. It can cause hallouncinations if you comsume a lot of it, but that's not the main effects of psychedelics.

@AllForIt Your anecdote is just that. A single example out of the hell knows how many people are smoking it. Yes, some people should not smoke it. Why should I be penalised when I'm ok on it but your friend wasn't. The same doesn't apply to alcohol, and there would be war if they tried. There are more than enough examples of people who can't handle the drink, or it ruins them or those around them. What you don't see is the amount of "normal" people who are cannabis users, because it's still illegal. It's far more than people think, and most likely people you know regularly consume it. It changes a lot of peoples lives for the better but those stories don't sell as well.

Caffeine kills more people every year than cannabis (deaths from cannabis overdose is still zero). I'd posit Coffee changes lots of people for the worse and they need their fix first thing in the morning and throughout the day. I can tell of a friend who is a monster without it. An anecdote if you wish. Plenty for alcohol. We all have anecdotes.

I think high functioning alcoholics might delude themselves into thinking that alcohol has no effect on their personality. Least of all when you spend 40 years of your life like my father did drinking half a liter of whiskey every night. I’m sure the violent felonies he racked up were totally unrelated

(what did he do? Well, as you do when alcohol has no effect on your personality, you attempt to murder your son over a verbal disagreement. That month he spent in jail before the charges didn’t stick is the longest he’s been sober since childhood)

That's ridiculous when you can grow it without much more difficulty than a Tomato. When it's legal young people will be growing it everywhere, like some of them already do.

I will reply to your question one last time. You clearly didn't understand what I said.

I'm saying that negative effects of psychedelic drugs are long lasting, not just at point of consumption. Therefore if one had a family member who undergoes a personalty change that is worse for the family member than suffering a one off violent attack whilst under the influence of alcohol, for example.

Does the above not sound like a point to you?

You can refute my point all like you, like Klaz did, that's what we're here for, but I am making a point.

I'd still say alcohol is worse in that regard. And coffee to some degree. I'm not sure what you're asking to refute. All drugs have the ability to change people, legal or otherwise. Are you basically trying to say that some people who regularly smoke weed are worse sober than people who have other drug dependencies, legal or otherwise, while sober?

You made the point that psychedelics were more dangerous to others than alcohol. Last post on page 3. At this point, you never specified aftereffects or after taking the drug.

I asked for clarification, you told me about an ex friend that was worse after taking weed than alcohol.

I pointed out that this was anecdotal. This proves nothing other than your ex-friend is worse after taking weed than after taking alcohol. Unless I know your friend, how can I comment?

It's not a representative sample!!

And if that was your point, then the answer is simple: we stop your friend from using weed and society is safe.

On top of that, if you're describing psychedelic drugs, you should be talking about LSD and magic mushrooms. As I said before, weed can cause those effects but it's not representative of psychedelic drugs. Psilocybin and THC - the active ingredients in psychedelics and weed respectively - are different chemicals and have different effects on the mind.

Most of the lads growing it don't live with their parents. Most under-18's do. I def didn't have any place I could grow it at that age.

Professor Nutt et al released a paper in 2009 and scored substances on the harm to the individual and the harm to others from a UK perspective.

In their work they determined of the substances scored on 16 harm criteria and which included both Alcohol and Cannabis. That alcohol was much worse both to the individual and to society in general.

That paper is available from the Lancet.

What criteria are you using to determine that cannabis is in fact much worse, and what are your credentials in this area?

Chronic use of any substance can affect your permanent physical neuropathy - as these MRIs show

I couldn’t find a similar one for cannabis. Of course it has some effects but not nearly this striking it seems according to the experts