Medicinal Cannabis

Phil_aka_Pip

I just signed the petition, “Please save my son Alfie by allowing him to legally use medical cannabis!.” I think this is important. Will you sign it too?

Here’s the link:

https://www.change.org/p/please-save-my-son-alfie-by-allowing-him-to-legally-use-medical-cannabis?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_signer_receipt&utm_campaign=triggered&share_context=signature_receipt&recruiter=472444098

Thanks,

LoFi

It's an odd one, as cannabis oil (CBD) can be prescribed in the UK.From https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/news/news/cannabis-oil-prescribed-nhs-first-case-its-kind-uk-67271  :

"Last year, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) classed CBD as a medicine in the UK. "

EricTheWeary

She was on Jeremy Vine the other day, very interesting and balanced approach. The long term effects of him having cannabis oil are unknown but the long term effects of the drugs he is prescribed in the U.K. are known and will shorten his life ( although not as much as not being treated at all obviously). In the meantime cannabis oil can give him a much higher standard of life. 

usedtobe

Done.

Phil_aka_Pip

She was on R4 yesterday. I really don't get the politicians' fear of cannabis (although I do get that they fear Daily Wail readers very much).

57Deluxe

I suppose I should too in the event that I am called a Hypocrite, what with my use of a Cannabis Rex speaker an all...

randella

Phil_aka_Pip said:

I really don't get the politicians' fear of cannabis (although I do get that they fear Daily Wail readers very much).

You've pretty much answered your own question there.

It's only a matter of time before the whole lot is legalised, regulated, taxed, and treated as a health concern.  Sooner the bloody better if you ask me.

Phil_aka_Pip

@randella I agree. further, I would decriminalise all drugs, as prohibition just doesn't work. I don't see that there is anything morally wrong with chemically-assisted recreation; one of their arguments against MS sufferers using cannabis is "what if they get high?", and I say so what if they do, why would that be your concern.

JezWynd

Done.

randella

Aye Phil, I'm with you.  That's what I was alluding to with '...the whole lot'.

As for getting high, jesus wept.  Anyone who thinks that's a coherent argument needs to be put on the painkiller stack I was prescribed a few years back - I was off. my. tiny. tits.  For months.  Then I no longer needed any of it so I stopped taking it all and then the real fun began.

Bear in mind this is the 'safe, controlled' (i.e. synthetic) stuff you get down the GP's.

It's a bullshit stance and it really is only a matter of time.

starwarsnosebleed

Done

Travisthedog

signed

There is a growing body of "evidence" to suggest that cannabis really could be a game changer in so many walks of life. My Aunt has had MS for the last 30 years and its really starting to beat her now, but she imports CBD oil/paste/vape and it has given her some measure of her life back and has been a better pain relief drug than anything they can giver here that's synthetic

BigBearKris

I work in environment that supports people with mental health and various learning disabilities and have seen in real life how cannabis helped a person with severe epilepsy. From pain, through less frequent seizures, quicker recovery etc. Instead we (as a nation) choose to prescribe various medication which can be helpful but also cause a series of sides effects that can affect the quality of life of said person.

thomasross20

I looked into this for Sheena but she didn't want to hear about it, which was her choice. I think there's something to it, though...

randella

thomasross20 said:

I looked into this for Sheena but she didn't want to hear about it, which was her choice. I think there's something to it, though...

Absolutely, as it should be - her perogative.  If there's anything to it at all it should be investigated and, if there's a benefit, offered to the patient who is then well within their rights to decline.

Not just medicinally though - recreationally too. The amount of money that's pissed down the drain chasing, convicting, and imprisoning.  The number of people who get caught up and tarnished for life.  Hell, even the inconsistent way in which the law is applied - here in Manchester you'd have to try very, very hard to get nicked for a half-ounce of weed.  In fact I think they've actually given up on soft drug users altogether.  Nip down the road to a small town in Derbyshire, find a bored copper, and that half-ounce is going to land you in potentially very deep shit.

The whole system's flawed and any amount of research into the matter shows that.  How many countries, even very conservative (small-c) states in the US, are going to beat us to the punch before Paul Dacre stops dictating drugs policy in the UK?

I understand the dangers of drug use, and the damage it causes - but people who are at risk (kids smashing joint after joint of heavyweight weed because they're bored witless, heroin users escaping their shitty realities, the coked-up banker who's terrified of losing his job) need to be treated not as criminals, but as a health and social care concern.

You are *not* going to stop them taking drugs by keeping them illegal, all it does is hand the incentive and profit to the criminal gangs.

I'm sorry @thomasross20 - I ran a bit off-piste with that one.

iseverynamegone

Done. 

Once they can work out how to tax it it will be legal anyway. Look forward to town centres ridding themselves of gangs of pissed pillocks wanting a fight to be replaced with smaller groups bumbling around eating kitkats and apologising for bumping  into each other. 

underdog

I don't smoke cannabis, haven't since I was a teen and didn't like it then but I live in a country where public services are cut year on year and taxes go up and up without ever helping, I'm all for legalising and taxing it.

Not only would the extra tax income be huge, but it would of also remove the "gateway drug", it would stop teens getting on first name terms with a local dealer so they can have a smoke and could prevent an introduction in to both petty crime and harder drugs.

Same with the sex industry, why not just make it legal and above board, tax it, give the workers a safe environment and remove the layer of crime and criminals that control it.

Teyeplayer

Wis duly awarded @underdog these are my sentiments exactly.

ICBM

Done.

Given that legalising drugs properly would virtually destroy organised crime overnight, you sometimes have to wonder who is paying who to keep them illegal...

The benefits of legalisation, regulation and taxation of *all* drugs - not just the ‘soft’ ones - are staggering, and far above any possible cost, even though many of them *are* harmful, even in properly controlled form. (But so are tobacco and alcohol.)

There are even less obvious benefits, such as removing the market for dangerous ‘legal highs’ which wouldn’t exist if the real drugs were available legally and cheaply.

Flink_Poyd

underdog said:

Not only would the extra tax income be huge, but it would of also remove the "gateway drug", it would stop teens getting on first name terms with a local dealer so they can have a smoke and could prevent an introduction in to both petty crime and harder drugs.

Same with the sex industry, why not just make it legal and above board, tax it, give the workers a safe environment and remove the layer of crime and criminals that control it.

Most teens would know the name of a local dealer firsthand anyway. Why? Because the majority of dealers are someone you know already. In some dodgy areas it may lead to petty crime but the majority of kids get high, let it wear off and go home, not go out and start a crimewave. The true gateway drugs are already legal, cigarettes and alcohol, alcohol being a big cause of petty crime already. 

Phil_aka_Pip

I'm not sure I believe in "gateway" drugs. I once met a chap who didn't smoke (legal baccy or wacky baccy), he didn't drink, he never dropped pills ... but he did do heroin. So it isn't universally true that people get to 'hard' drugs via 'soft' drugs. Neither is it universally true that 'soft' drug users will end up on 'hard' drugs if left for long enough: most of the pot-smokers I've known have no interest in anything other than pot, and even those that tried other drugs (eg speed, acid, mushrooms) never ended up using them habitually.