Big cannabis farm found after tip-off (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

We need to stop this stupid and unwinnable war against cannabis. It is causing far more harm to our communities than it prevents. If we had a properly regulated system of production and supply we'd have no more illegal cannabis farms, instead we'd have thousands of new jobs. We'd have no more dealers on the streets. Cannabis would be available to adults only through licensed outlets and we'd have some control over the THC and CBD content.

Doctors would be able to prescribe one of the most effective medicines that has no serious side effects at all. At the moment the government has given GW Pharmaceuticals an illegal monopoly on cannabis so they make millions out of a medicine that you can grow in your greenhouse for virtually nothing.

If we introduced a legally regulated system we would solve nearly all the problems around cannabis. Science proves how much safer it is than tobacco, alcohol, prescription medicines and all other recreational drugs. If anyone does have a problem with it they could get help without having to confess to a crime.

CLEAR published independent, expert research last year which shows that a tax and regulate policy on cannabis would produce a net gain to the UK economy of up to £9.3 billion per annum.

It is a scandal that our government, our judges, our courts, our police and our newspapers keep misleading us about cannabis. Find out the truth for yourself and wake up to the lies you have been told.

We need to take the control away from criminals. Bringing cannabis into a regulated market will see a decline in criminals selling it and children buying it. When a country regulates cannabis, drug use goes down and age of first use goes up. The amount of criminals selling it declines and taxation ensures a potential 9 billion per year. With out regulation, dealers sell to who ever what ever age, the only ID they need is money.

By handing the cannabis market to criminals, we are now in the worst case scenario, cannabis user or not.

“I’m fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains.” - Professor Terrie Moffitt, Institute of Psychiatry King’s College London, 2012

"By any of the major criteria of harm - mortality, morbidity, toxicity, addictiveness and relationship with crime - cannabis is less harmful than any of the other major illicit drugs, or than alcohol or tobacco."
- Report of the British Police Foundation March 2000

I think the police can spend their time and tax payers money on better things.
I dislike drug dealers and children using drugs or becoming enticed by gangsterism, so i say NO to prohibition and NOW to legal regulation

"CLEAR published independent, expert research last year which shows that a tax and regulate policy on cannabis would produce a net gain to the UK economy of up to £9.3 billion per annum."

That's based on the price of illegal weed. Once legalised, it reverts to the same price as its cousin hemp, a commodity that commands such a poor return almost no one grows it.

"... cannabis is less harmful than any of the other major illicit drugs, or than alcohol or tobacco."

So what? Smoking cannabis is still harmful, what you have there is a fallacy of false comparatives.

If you're going to argue the legalization of weed you should present (not reference elusive studies, not guess) figures on how policing costs more than an alternate regulation. As a taxpayer I'd be happy if no one smoked anything, then I wouldn't have to pay for any of this crap.

pxatkins wrote:
"CLEAR published independent, expert research last year which shows that a tax and regulate policy on cannabis would produce a net gain to the UK economy of up to £9.3 billion per annum."

That's based on the price of illegal weed. Once legalised, it reverts to the same price as its cousin hemp, a commodity that commands such a poor return almost no one grows it.

"... cannabis is less harmful than any of the other major illicit drugs, or than alcohol or tobacco."

So what? Smoking cannabis is still harmful, what you have there is a fallacy of false comparatives.

If you're going to argue the legalization of weed you should present (not reference elusive studies, not guess) figures on how policing costs more than an alternate regulation. As a taxpayer I'd be happy if no one smoked anything, then I wouldn't have to pay for any of this crap.

Growing top quality, psychoactive cannabis is much more costly than growing industrial hemp.

The estimate of net gain is based on tax revenue as well as cost savings. Tax revenue estimates are not based on current prices but on a tax of £1 per gram per 5% THC.

The current cost of the criminal justice system for cannabis alone is approx £500 million pa.

Thank you for your questions. I suggest you read the report and proposals in detail:

http://www.clear-uk.
org/wp-content/uploa
ds/2011/09/TaxUKCan.
pdf

http://www.clear-uk.
org/wp-content/uploa
ds/2011/09/CLEARplan
.pdf

Some good comments here. I agree with Babs Stanley and SuperSilverSourDiese
l, legalise this drug as its no more harmful than smoking or alcohol which the government freely permits this use of. There is a stigma attached to legalising cannabis even if it would solve a host of problems and generate billions in revenue. The war on cannabis is unwinable and a huge waste of police resources and money thanks to its illegal status, (more so now because of the 20% police cuts) they only ever catch the low ranking minions and scrape the tip of the iceberg in terms of closing down the supply.

Well said stevegg, Babs and SSSD. I see the Taoist monk walked free today - good decision! Why can't people just be left alone, if they're not doing any harm to anyone else? And not much, if any, harm to themselves.

stevegg wrote:
Some good comments here. I agree with Babs Stanley and SuperSilverSourDiese l, legalise this drug as its no more harmful than smoking or alcohol which the government freely permits this use of. There is a stigma attached to legalising cannabis even if it would solve a host of problems and generate billions in revenue. The war on cannabis is unwinable and a huge waste of police resources and money thanks to its illegal status, (more so now because of the 20% police cuts) they only ever catch the low ranking minions and scrape the tip of the iceberg in terms of closing down the supply.

Bu cannabis is harmlful I am afraid and this fact is acknowledged by the NHS. It causes dependency prpoblems, mental health problems and even lung problems. There is ample evidence in the medical profession that cannabis causes harmful psychological effects. One cannabis joint raises the danger if mental illness by 40 per cent. Reserach completed by leading psychiatrist Professor Robin Murray in showed that those who smoked the drug regularly at 18 were 1.6 times more likely to suffer serious psychiatric problems, including schizophrenia, by their mid-20s. For those who were regular users at 15, the stakes were even higher, with their risk of mental illness by the age of 26 being 4.5 times greater than normal.

jewitt wrote:

stevegg wrote:
Some good comments here. I agree with Babs Stanley and SuperSilverSourDiese l, legalise this drug as its no more harmful than smoking or alcohol which the government freely permits this use of. There is a stigma attached to legalising cannabis even if it would solve a host of problems and generate billions in revenue. The war on cannabis is unwinable and a huge waste of police resources and money thanks to its illegal status, (more so now because of the 20% police cuts) they only ever catch the low ranking minions and scrape the tip of the iceberg in terms of closing down the supply.

Bu cannabis is harmlful I am afraid and this fact is acknowledged by the NHS. It causes dependency prpoblems, mental health problems and even lung problems. There is ample evidence in the medical profession that cannabis causes harmful psychological effects. One cannabis joint raises the danger if mental illness by 40 per cent. Reserach completed by leading psychiatrist Professor Robin Murray in showed that those who smoked the drug regularly at 18 were 1.6 times more likely to suffer serious psychiatric problems, including schizophrenia, by their mid-20s. For those who were regular users at 15, the stakes were even higher, with their risk of mental illness by the age of 26 being 4.5 times greater than normal.

Read what the NHS says in this document. Cannabis is the safest psychoactive substance on the planet - for adults about as harmful as coffee.

http://www.nta.nhs.u
k/uploads/healthharm
sfinal-v1.pdf