Good article.

It was a leap of faith as people are so afraid of thinking outside the box. Better education and resources put into mitigation. You could kill two birds with one stone and take care of the great irish drinking problem with this approach.

Conor, there’s demand for numerous drugs….should these also be legal? Cocaine, ecstasy? Just because there’s demand doesn’t mean it should be legal.

Connor what about the proven side effects cannabis can cause in people i.e mental health issues !! no point making money of something to have to put it back into treating people that will suffer from it in the first place

comparing weed to cocaine is ridiculous. also the health argument for cannabis is a joke since when does it matter when children are cramming sugar down their throats and smoking and drinking. they don’t seem too fussed about these. alcohol causes serious mental health problems and has no medical benefits where as cannabis has numerous health benefits

Liam O’ Leary, sigh
I never compared the drugs as the same, I merely said there was clearly demand for cocaine and other drugs, after all if there wasn’t demand then it wouldn’t be coming into the country.

Conor’s example is flawed as demand does not mean it should be made legal just to make money off of it, you have to remember that if Tobacco or alcohol were created today both would never see the light of day due to the problems they cause.

Tobacco still has a way to go but it will eventually be restricted more and more in this country, Tobacco is being killed off one nail in that coffin at a time. 30 years ago you could smoke everywhere including hospitals, look at us now.

Give it another 30 years and either they’ll be banned outright or they’ll be insanely expensive and restricted more and more,

Hey Gordon. What about alcohol and tobacco. What about their side effects. How many people are costing the state for treatment for illnesses relating to these legal pastimes. but its ok though, isn’t it. Cos the government say so.

I agree Liam

The only argument these people seem to have against cannabis is long term health effects. This either makes them teatotalers in perfect shape or absolute hypocrites as they’ve no doubt enjoyed a sneaky beer and maybe a bit of fast food to soak it up.

They dont look like teetotalers in the shape of their lives to be honest.

I follow a lot of these articles and have seen some very intelligent pro arguments with links to numerous academic studies particularly by a lad called Zoltar (legend).

Never once have i seen an anti cannabis comment include an academic research paper. Not once. Every single one is some variation of ‘but what about the health problems’ with no reference to any study proving a significant link with significant health problems (not saying theres none just saying its far less than sugar, alcohol or tobacco).

Then invariably they say ‘well would you suggest we legalise all drugs’ with an audiable smugness.
This helps to highlight their ignorance and poor drug education. Cannabis is not physically addictive, you cant overdose on it, its not synthetic and doesnt need to be processed. Unique compared to any popular drugs.

read my comments at the end thanks ;)

Connor mc gill , Go to st vincents hosp in fairview that deal with people suffering mental health issues due to drugs and tell me its as good and safe as you make out ….

Spend a little time with people in the mental health centres that deal with people suffering form drug induced issues from over doing harmless drugs and come back to me ..

Go see this face to face and not from what you chose to read about it ..

I’m far from clean living and have tried every drug bar heroin , but lets not be completely ignorant about the damage that can be done .. I speak from experience

@Gordon… I’m afraid I have, I wouldn’t be advertising it

Why do people talk about side effects as if prohibition is a safety measure against them? People are going to use cannabis whether it’s legal or illegal, the only difference is that instead of having a safer regulated market, we opt to leave it in the control of the criminal underworld, which in fact makes it a lot less safe (contaminated weed, soap bar hash, underage usage etc).

You are very quick to bundle all drugs into one category which i dont think is really fair. This article is specifically referencing cannabis as am I.

You cant condemn cannabis without condemning alcohol which i have not seen you do thus far. Its a lesser of two evils situation.

As for your sick commrades i hope they make a speedy recovery. But again you have said they all have issues related to drug taking suggesting they were on more than just cannabis when this article is specifically related to cannabis. Also you have stated that these people have over used ‘drugs’. Abusing any substance

Listen over eat and you get fat and there are serious health issues there. Over drink and again you wont be looking too good either. If you drink too much water it will kill you. But any of these things in moderation is called balance. Some people have it and some peolple dont.

*abusing any substance has consequences*

Sad to say, the larger stumbling-block to Irish “coffee-shops”, after the obvious illegality of cannabis itself, is the smoking ban. In Ireland the ban doesn’t just cover tobacco, it covers all “smokable” substances. Just try to light up one of horrible and legal “non-tobacco” cigarettes in a pub and see what happens.

@Gordon
you should read this before you spout your cannabis causes mental health issues worn out argument…

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/5-marijuana-compounds-could-help-combat-cancer-alzheimers-parkinsons-if-only-they-were-legal

Its like i said earlier Liam.

You’ll never get anything but an anecdotal ‘check out all of the people at st vincents in fairview’.

God love those people but it hardly proves anything.

yeah you hit the nail on the head with that comment earlier i have had that exact same discussion many times, not far from putting their fingers in their ears and sayin la la la la la

Conor, I believe it proves that the folk at Fairview have been using cannabis where the CBD/THC ratio is disproportionate; as CBD Cannabidiol has been shown to act as an anti-psychotic. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabidiol

The fact that cannabis can be produced where it is completely safe to use is a very strong argument for regulation + access to testing facilities. The people at St. Vincent’s are there as a direct result of an unjust law……

Agreed Mici.

Although what i was getting at is that there are people there who have for one reason or another abused any number of drugs and not specifically cannabis which is what this article relates to. Abused is also a key word in that point.

The issue goes beyond people getting high. It would make a difference in many peoples lives as medicine, food, fuel, clothing etc etc. I posted and article (poorly cited admittedly and very hippy at times) that is fairly interesting as a casual read.

Or liam try and find something that stays within the Law ??

You know that oul saying if there where no buyers there wud be no dealers and we all wud be alot healthier for it ;)

Cigarettes are considerably more harmful to your health than cannabis.

gordon youd be surprised how much healthier youd be if you smoke weed, it even lowers your chance of getting lung cancer strangley enough…

The dangers of weed were used as a smokescreen in the US to ban it and outlaw the earths most useful plant…its a simple as that.Many peoples jobs depend on this plant remaining illegal..while many people end up in jail for using a plant.Madness.Hemp has thousands of uses-oil,petrol,food,paper,concrete,skincare…it goes on and on.The most useful plant in the world is illegal!!We would never have to cut down another tree for paper because we would use hemp paper…Henry Ford planned to use hemp,not petrol but the oil lobby won out..http://www.hempcar.org/ford.shtml
This the US government own film to promote hemp and its many uses during WWII http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xHCkOnn-A&feature=related

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.activistpost.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fmarijuana-conspiracy-reason-hemp-is.html&ei=qqpZUMi8CaaQiQfMk4DoCQ&usg=AFQjCNG0xzqGNu369JnY9xVflyF-r-8FhA. This one has some interesting tid bits too.

@Adrian Bannon, I was about to make a long speech, about hemp, but you got there before me, cheers.

Liam all that is legal and done thru personal choice , none of it is good for you , But drugs are illegal for a reason , why legalise them to add them to stuff you’ve listed already that cause suffering , drink , smoking , gambling … surely your bright enough to see the list shud be shrunk and not added too ??? More awareness shud be made of the dangers of the legal problems we have …..

Again Gordon, are we not all free men. Yes it is illegal. But why. It is a plant. Surely if someone wants to grow and consume this plant somewhere it doesn’t affect others they should be allowed do so. And before you bang on about the criminality, criminals also sell vallium and sleeping tablets. Should they be made illegal. Do criminals not also sell cheap cigarettes and alcohol. I could go on all day here.

Tell us why cannabis was made illegal in the first place Gordon?.

You arguement comes down to there being to many bad thing available, if weed was on the market, I would quit drinking altogther… If it is less harmful than what is currently avaliable shouldn’t that make it a no brainer to make it legal?

sparx .. give over you free man bollix .. thats for fools that like to think there above the law …

At the moment we can’t even grow this plant to juice or eat raw which is non-psychoactive way to consume this “drug”. Dr William Courtney describes this as a dietary essential which can be later used as a medicine if needed.

Do you think that’s right?

I’d watch this first…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgEP9FdIzT8

Gordon, you realise Germany didn’t win the war. We don’t live in a dictatorship. laws can be changed. And should be to move with the times. But if your happy living in the past with the dinosaurs, then act like it, and leave the internet for people living in the present

Are the thumbs down missing the sarcasm? or are they just frustrated people?

Ok Barry we get the msg !!!! – U frequently post congratulating the Gardai when there is a cannabis seizure. No need to go on and on and on about it. FFS !!! Gasps in exasperation ….

Given the lack of respect for Gardai its only right that they should get praise when they enforce the laws in our country,

As for going on and on about stuff, I think you’ll find that the minority that want drugs legal tend to go on about what they want far far more.

Barry – there is always a minority element of any society that doesn’t respect the police ( witness the sad events in Manchester yesterday). In Ireland, there is widespread respect and admiration for the Gardai and for u to say otherwise is disingenuous. I have a feeling that if u were an American u would vote for Romney in the forthcoming election. Would I be right to think that?

Are these cheerleaders for drug busts like ‘Barry’ and ‘Patrick Lyons’ part of some elaborate social networking strategy by the Gardaí? Or am I just giving the shickoloneys far too much credit?

Neil McAuley, I’m afraid you’d very very much been mistaken with your assumption. If Romney was the last person in the world to vote for he still wouldn’t get my vote.

You only have to look at the stories on the journal and discussions on boards.ie and other sites to see the lack of respect towards the Gardai in this country and its a awful bloody shame.

Eh Barry maybe read my comment again. I didn’t assume anything, just said it was my hunch. There may well be derogatory posts on this and other sites towards the Gardai periodically, but it’s still very much a minority – as I think u know well.

The police are doing their job. That they arrest growers and seize plants doesn’t in any way show their opinions on whether cannabis is moral good or bad, or should be legal or illegal. That cannabis is illegal does not make the guards bad. If it were legalised, this wouldn’t make the guards better. Don’t blame an apple for not being able to make orange juice.

“Criminalisation simply doesn’t work. Not only does criminalisation not work, it’s actually what feeds the ‘war on drugs’ in the first place.
By ever allowing such a hugely lucrative trade fall into the hands of criminals, the stage has been set for a ‘war’ that can never be won. (Unlike of course The Opium Wars which were won, but then, they were wars for drugs and the right to sell them.)
It’s like the American Prohibition era never happened. Were any lessons learned from the meteoric rise of organised crime? The American experiment only proved one thing; you ban something people want, it won’t stop the market for this product, it merely takes legitimate players out of the market and replaces them with real Darwinian capitalists for whom car-bombs and political assassinations are nothing more than business tactics.
A little something I wrote on the subject last year: http://therustywireservice.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/freak-power-and-british-establishment.html

..his load, over Clare Daly?

classic.

you won’t like Ming when he’s angry….or when he’s not

Cannabis, is dangerous if abused like any other drugs(including alcohol and tobacco)…

Its benefits however far out way its negative effects if used responsibly.

Sensible people would buy the stuff from the licensed providers if it was legalised mainly because there would have been some quality control over it. When something is illegal there is no regulation over how something is produced so all sorts of crap like pesticides is on the product and it is cut with all sorts of rubbish. Would you buy a bottle of whiskey from a regular off licence or would you buy a bottle of high percentage homebrew Poitin from a still that was in the back end of nowhere?

I agree with Conor. Quality control and a legitimate seller give you peace of mind.

Nobody know what was in the hash you used to smoke gordon. If only they did might have changed your personal experience.

would it be labelled as such? The benefit of making it legal would be to benefit from the vast range of qualities that different strains can provide for instance, in an unregulated market like we have now high THC strains are grown by the industrial growers for maximum profit, these high THC strains can be dangerous for people with mental health issues as it is the psychoactive cannabinoid in the plant. If there was a choice, high CBD strains that are anti psychotic would not only be safer but could help these people you talk to in these mental hospitals.

Prohibition hurts the very people it’s trying to help, the kids that have already tried it have already been exposed to nasty additives, they can get it from dealers easier than alcohol, oh and along with that exposing them to harder drugs that these people sell this trend will continue. The people who are pre disposed to mental health issues are criminalised instead of helped likewise the medicinal user and 90-95% of recreational users are exposed to more harm from the laws than from the substance itself. It benefits no one except the profiteers of the illegal drug trade.

Overall a shift from alcohol and tobacco towards cannabis there would be a massive net benefit to individuals and society.

A former government adviser on drugs has told MPs that alcohol consumption would fall by as much as 25% if Dutch-style cannabis “coffee shops” were introduced in Britain.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/19/david-nutt-alcohol-cannabis-cafes

Quantifying the RR of harm to self and others from substance misuse: results from a survey of 300 clinical experts across Scotland…
http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000774.full

Actually, it would be great to have a safe supply for sale…

Less teen would be smoking it as legalisation would weed out the dealers who sell to anybody(excuse the pun)…

When the use of cannabis is legal in Ireland, I will have a license to grow specific strains with high CBD/THC ratio for the purpose of relieving my wife from the debilitating effects of glaucoma. I expect any surplus would be converted to healing oil, to be given as a non-toxic treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses. My motivation for seeking the legalisation of cannabis use is less about making money + more about saving/extending lives.

I can appreciate that the gardai are doing there job, but there is far better things that they could be doing with there time and resources than finding and confiscating a few plants.

Good man Patrick Lyons. Glad u answered the Deptford Croppy’s (see above) call to arms. Any cannabis related thread isn’t the same without u (and Barry) with yer utterly predictable generalisations.