Great craic man. Ah in fairness come on like no point burying our heads in the sand about the problem.

John your argument makes sense. However doesn’t soft drug use lead to harder drug use not always but it does. So if we have more use of cannibis more are likely to move to more serious drugs.

How about playing hard ball if caught with drugs you get your hand cut off and if caught selling you do life in jail or death penalty. Problem solved. Bit drastic but drastic times. There needs to be a fear or a punishment so heavy it would deter people selling or using.

Prohibition never worked. Your suggestion to cut off hands or imprison for life are less realistic then my suggestion of legalisation. Debate is well overdue here

@Declan,

Not sure if I subscribe to the gateway drug theory as you describe it. Maybe its because weed is illegal and therefore the dealers who sell it also sell the Class As. If it was legal then people who have much less exposure to hard drugs and less temptation etc.

@John I am for legalisation but I dont use the medical benifits argument, if it has medical benifits then great but I’m guessing most are for legalisation on a personal choice/recreational issue. I agree with everything elso you said tho

Instead of thumbs down put down your solution to the problem. Obviously the thumbs down are from cannabis users or do gooders who think the problem will just go away by slapping wrists.

@declan – are you contending that our prisons are so empty and plentiful that we should fill them with non-violent, weed smoking (presumably, one-handed ) hippie types for possession of some hash? No offence intended, but these overly severe right-Wing wank fantasies do nothing to forward the debate. Sticking with weed for a second, it’s not a question of if it will be legalised it’s only a question of when and how. Besides, wouldn’t legalising a minor substance like weed remove the need for the people you are concerned about to interact with dealers of harder drugs in the 1st place?

@skeptically
Agree. I just threw in the medicinal argument to add weight to the point that this drug quite benign. If it were legalised for that reason alone there would be an exponential increase in migraine sufferers! I was visiting Amsterdam recently, dope is available and buses run on time proving a civilised society can coexist with this drug!

Declan, hand yourself in now and we’ll only take a finger. it’s for your own good.

“the findings of several major scientific studies, that human breast milk naturally contains many of the same cannabinoids found in marijuana, which are actually extremely vital for proper human development.”

http://www.naturalnews.com/036526_cannabinoids_breast_milk_THC.html

Declan.
Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol, less harmful than tobacco, and less harmful than a large chunk of the pharmaceutical drugs consumed every year.

It has myriad benefits, it is calming, it’s got medicinal uses – the plant itself has countless uses – anything around you that is not made of metal or glass can be made from the cannabis plant – even biofuels and cement. It’s exceptionally nourishing. And it grows very fast so it is also better for the environment than many of the things it rivals (eg petrochemicals, cutting down trees, quarries etc).

If it were legalised it would cut a source of revenue from criminal gangs, save valuable police time – and court time, it could be regulated so that adolescents (who really shouldn’t consume ANY intoxicants while their brains are still developing) couldn’t get it as easily as they do now. It would benefit our economy in a lot of ways, create some jobs too. It would benefit countless MS sufferers / cancer patients etc.

The real question is – why on earth is it *illegal*?
Reefer Madness was total propaganda, it didn’t contain one iota of truth.. Ditto to the “if you smoke dope you’ll end up on heroin” fallacy they taught us at school. If anything the “gateway” is caused by this illogical approach to drugs education. If you smoke dope you realise that you don’t suddenly have a desire to do any other drugs, but it does make you question whether all those other things were as bad as they were made out to be – which would give rise to further experimentation.. Its about time we showed kids the courtesy of giving them honest drugs education. It’s the only way to prevent bigger problems down the road.

If it was legal maybe we could all be a little more adult about it (plus, it removes the taboo, most of my Dutch friends don’t do drugs despite the fact that they’re so easy to come by in The Netherlands).

Yes, cannabis is actually more prevelent in Ireland than it is in either the Netherlands or Portugal, two European countires who have decrimalised its use. People often use cannabis for the first time as they see it as ‘The Forbidden Fruit’, making it legal would take the glamour away from it and there’s noting in cannabis that makes the user want to try harder drugs, the gateway theory is a complete myth.

no one, because the guards has them

Oscar brophy knows his stuff!

Oscar, Unless we have the most efficient anti-drugs operation in the western world the Guards are merely scratching the surface. So there are a lot of drugs out there and people must be buying them. Who?

People, as you said. Names you want?

I never said I was right in my opinions I just wanted to see what debate would happen. We need solutions to the drugs epidemic that has en gufled this country. Whether it be legalising it or cutting off hands lol or prison we need solutions.

However I don’t think one solution will fix this problem a multi action plan is needed in my opinion from stiff penalties to proper support structures to possibly even legalising to some degree.

You’re correct there is no one solution.However regulating a substance makes it easier to control the flow and distribution of said substance that is why we regulate tobacco and alcohol.

Kevin you have a very valid point. Suppose the focus is on cannibis by the comments but I am more talking about drugs in general.

It is an epidemic .

I think they should legalise regulate and tax it!!!

Totally agreed a policy overhaul badly needed.

Absolutely. By legalising this drug we would have fewer criminals. There is a link between cannabis use at an early age an development of schizophrenia. Legalisation will result in tight control making access to this drug from the young more difficult. Legalisation will result in tax revenue which we could use to build a better future for our children

Do the same as drink? Don’t let them smoke the herb before a certain ago. Stop expecting the state to do everything for you.

Thumbs down to lazy parents.

**Portlaoise

Eh, no. http://www.logainm.ie/131233.aspx