government should look at this

[hackman]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =126806429

[helix]

I'd rather it was decriminalized.

[hackman]

me too, doesn't that article suggest the legal medical weed is running the illegal dealers out of business or am i being stupid, maybe i should read it again

[helix]

me too, doesn't that article suggest the legal medical weed is running the illegal dealers out of business or am i being stupid, maybe i should read it again

It is.
That's why I'd rather it was decriminalized than legalized.
With legalization it's just going to be like cigarettes and everything's going to be full of chemicals and shit. Which I'd rather not have with my weed.

[hackman]

i'd just grow me own

and decriminalised means legalise, that's why i was confused

[karmacazee]

me too, doesn't that article suggest the legal medical weed is running the illegal dealers out of business or am i being stupid, maybe i should read it again

It is.
That's why I'd rather it was decriminalized than legalized.
With legalization it's just going to be like cigarettes and everything's going to be full of chemicals and shit. Which I'd rather not have with my weed.

I've always thought this. If they ever legalized weed for recreational purposes, tobacco companies would be all over that shit.

But then again, I think that cannabis growers in Britain (in this hypothetical world of legality) would be like Chelsea flower types, or farmer's market competition types - really proud and passionate about their plants.


It strikes me as odd that the illegal dealers aren't on the front line for applying for dispenciary licences though.

[nowaysj]

We are having a vote here to completely legalize weed, and from what I understand the now current illegal growers are the ones putting up most of the money to fight to keep it illegal. A perverse up side down world.

[kidshuffle]

i'd just grow me own

and decriminalised means legalise, that's why i was confused

decriminalized =/= legalized.

where i live, weed definitely isn't legal, but; i can have up to a half ounce on me and if i get caught, the cops confiscate the weed, and it wont go on my criminal record.

[magma]

Weird, I was brainstorming medical marijuana stuff last night. I'm still not sure what the best method to campaign for is at the moment... I have a feeling Britain wouldn't plump for the Medical Marijuana 'halfway house'; we're too cynical (the anti vote would be too easily centred around "not just ill people will end up with it" and it'll get rejected).... got to be decriminalisation or legalisation IMHO.

It's definitely time for the conversation to start happening in earnest though. We've got a budget deficit to tackle which could be aided by legalisation, we've got a creaking criminal justice system which could do with the massive load taking off it that decriminalisation or legalisation would provide, we've got an enormous and morally dubious black market that could be disbanded and replaced with legitimate business and we've got *fuckloads* of people on mild anti-depressants, painkillers, sleeping pills and whatever else that could be taking a much more manageable substance.

It's all about getting the PR for the campaign right though... if the message is formulated right, the British will go for it... if it's not and it ends up just being yet another bunch of stoners sitting around telling each other "Man, this should be legal", then the Daily Mail et al will laugh it off in no time. We need a popular movement involving people even your Mum thinks are respectable having the guts to champion the drug.

[magma]

Edit: Read the article properly... I reckon that's what you'd expect, tbh. By their very nature, criminal markets will have higher profit margins.. people take on an amount of risk at every stage of the production process (growing, storing, trafficking, selling) and so each person that wants to make profit adds a bit more than a legal operative would take - prices go up artificially.

If you've got a legal license and can afford not to worry about losing crops, getting banged up, paying people to take risks for you and having to distribute money through a triage of street dealers, then profit margins can be much much lower - the value of the market remains the same, but less people are involved... it's more efficient and even if some high-rollers who were taking advantage of the situation lose out, the consumer wins by having available product at realistic prices.

I reckon if you showed a lot of politicos that article they'd be pretty interested. It's fairly strong evidence to support the (until now) theory that decriminalisation or legalisation would utterly smash the criminal infrastructure - can only be a good thing to spread this about, IMHO.

[the acid never lies]

Weird, I was brainstorming medical marijuana stuff last night. I'm still not sure what the best method to campaign for is at the moment... I have a feeling Britain wouldn't plump for the Medical Marijuana 'halfway house'; we're too cynical (the anti vote would be too easily centred around "not just ill people will end up with it" and it'll get rejected).... got to be decriminalisation or legalisation IMHO.

It's definitely time for the conversation to start happening in earnest though. We've got a budget deficit to tackle which could be aided by legalisation, we've got a creaking criminal justice system which could do with the massive load taking off it that decriminalisation or legalisation would provide, we've got an enormous and morally dubious black market that could be disbanded and replaced with legitimate business and we've got *fuckloads* of people on mild anti-depressants, painkillers, sleeping pills and whatever else that could be taking a much more manageable substance.

It's all about getting the PR for the campaign right though... if the message is formulated right, the British will go for it... if it's not and it ends up just being yet another bunch of stoners sitting around telling each other "Man, this should be legal", then the Daily Mail et al will laugh it off in no time. We need a popular movement involving people even your Mum thinks are respectable having the guts to champion the drug.

There's a lot of anti-cannabis PR to undo, I reckon many people are still spooked byt the whole 'weed can make you go schizo' scenario the Labour PR machine spun so well.

[particle-jim]

There's a lot of anti-cannabis PR to undo, I reckon many people are still spooked byt the whole 'weed can make you go schizo' scenario the Labour PR machine spun so well.

these same people ignore the "alcohol can annihilate your liver and kill you" scenario though. funny that

[magma]

There's a lot of anti-cannabis PR to undo, I reckon many people are still spooked byt the whole 'weed can make you go schizo' scenario the Labour PR machine spun so well.

Yeah, word. Since Blair's exit especially they've done a real hatchet job on it.... the amount of disinformation in the public conscience about psychosis, skunk, addiction etc is terrible... there was a big trend around 18 months/2 years ago to try to mention weed smoking alongside as many stories aout violent offenders as they could find.

However.... the British public is pretty smart and generally full of common sense. Most people I speak to whether socially or through work/family couldn't give a shit either way... what rightfully should happen in that situation is that the people passionate enough to actually do the campaigning do the hard work and everyone else says "Yeah, I suppose so... go on then...". Weed's problem has always been a lack of people willing to step up and open up an honest debate.

I swear the whole thing comes down to general attitudes about "drugs". Nobody wants to champion weed because they're scared of what their Mum or their employer might think.... they don't seem to realise that neither of those opinions matter once it's legalised... the ends definitely justify the means in this case.

I'm writing too much... I've been thinking about this a lot recently. We need a massive "happening" to spark interest.... I've always liked the idea of a massive flashmob style joint-smoke in one of the London parks (or maybe coordinated in a few places across the country) with lots of cameras and no trouble whatsoever... but it'd only work if you got hundreds (minimum) involved.

[firky]

We need a massive "happening" to spark interest.... I've always liked the idea of a massive flashmob style joint-smoke in one of the London parks (or maybe coordinated in a few places across the country) with lots of cameras and no trouble whatsoever... but it'd only work if you got hundreds (minimum) involved.

Who's this 'we'? I smoke weed but I don't want to see it legalised and I don't want to be identified with those who do want it to be legalised. I see the real car crashes of the humble herb, the families literally torn about because someone was murdered for weed or just too stoned to drive and had a bad RTA.

As for "flashmobs", don't need them. There's hundreds of people blazing in London's parks everytime the sun is out, in the beer gardens of pubs where and at many of the free little festivals that are held outside over the summer. The less attention that receives the better, there's still places where the police turn a blind eye and you can skin up and blaze in public in this country, personally I think it's better not to make a big deal out of it.

(I know of a dozern pubs up and down the country which are more like amsterdam's coffee shops than pubs, I'd rather keep them out of hte eye of the public and media )

[hackman]

I see the real car crashes of alcohol, the families literally torn about because someone was murdered by a drunkard, or just too drunk to drive and had a bad RTA.

[firky]

I see the real car crashes of alcohol, the families literally torn about because someone was murdered by a drunkard, or just too drunk to drive and had a bad RTA.

I don't really do much with the alcohol of substance misuse

[the acid never lies]

I suppose it's all good talking about direct action, it just seems to me that there are far more worthwhile causes to be campaigning for given the horrendous things this government is going to try on us for the next few years... yeah cannabis makes sense to me, but I can't get passionate about it in the same way as I can about attacks on education and public services, for instance.

[hackman]

I see the real car crashes of alcohol, the families literally torn about because someone was murdered by a drunkard, or just too drunk to drive and had a bad RTA.

I don't really do much with the alcohol of substance misuse

my point is the reasons you listed for weed to stay illegal can all be applied to alcohol which is legal

[firky]

Which is all the more reason to keep it illegal.

[hackman]

or make alcohol illegal