a joint a day is like...I forget the rest

I know what you mean, I dont pertake anymore but i dont judge eather. A joint a day makes me hungry as s**t.

Gosh: that is wildly incorrect!

Heroin is entirely illegal in the UK - and nothing has changed. Possession punishable by up to seven years and dealing by up to life in prison.

In 2004 cannabis was downgraded from a "class b" to a "class c" drug. Still illegal: possession punishable by up to two years in prison and dealing by up to 14 years. However, less serious than before, and in practice the police could choose to turn a blind eye to small quantities for personal use.

However, vast amount of controversy over that decision: many people misunderstood it to be legalisation. So at the beginning of this year cannabis was again reclassified back to "class b":

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/drugs/drug ... ass-a-b-c/

But heroin is as deeply illegal as it always has been. Just wanted this discussion to be able to be conducted with accurate information - and before various people jump on the plane to come over here!

Cheers - C

In practice possession of heroin is pretty much accepted by a lot of officers across the uk. Simply for the fact that they'd have constantly full detention area's if they pulled every smackhead in for possession. Possession is illegal and if your pulled for something else you will face charges of possession if you posses any when searched as well as whatever you got pulled for. Personally i say legalize the stuff and regulate it to about 85% purity, where its use kills. That should get it off the streets quicker than anything else.
Cannabis possession has been a slap on the wrist offence for years. My first one being some 23years ago after a Roy Harper gig.
In retrospect we are far too lenient in the uk with all substances my favourite alcohol included.

_________________
No no and no

Hi Ninj. Well, a little harsh, but...

I recently spent a day in court to see the sentencing of a burglar who broke in on us with a rusty axe (of the non-guitar kind) to get funds to feed his habit.

Spent the whole morning watching case after case come through: all but one of them were drug related; whether dealing, possession or robbery to finance.

I make no judgement on what other people put into their bodies. But I'm sure sick of paying for the clear-up their behavior requires...

Cheers - C

Ceri.
if anything proves that liberal minded socialist ideas about caring for the community and whole nanny state mentality dont work the current state of our nation is the most damning proof. I say bring back Thatcher and also the birch whilst were about it. Myself i'd punish drug related crime with 10 years national service. Dealing would be life imprisonment (life meaning life). The only extreme i wouldnt go to is the death penalty, deportation to uninhabited islands would suffice for people commiting the most serious of crimes. My main bone of contention with the BNP is that all their racist idiocy aside they have some great policies on punishment. Shame its just propoganda used to lure other people who feel like i do.

_________________
No no and no

Well my theory was that after the Falklands war (since when we've been spending a couple of billion a year to defend that lump of rock) we should simply use the place as a modern penal colony, of an ultra liberal kind. We just deport all those people (and a lot of others) off down there and say to 'em: fellas, stick anything you like in your arms, trash the place, mug each other to your hearts' content - but we don't want you and you're not coming back.

And then say to Argentina: the Falklands are yours if you want 'em. We're not doing anything further to defend the place.

If I ruled the world...

- C

I just hate the argument that pot is a gateway drug...Its only a gateway if you choose you make it a gateway...If gateways are the issue, then some could say that fast food restaurants are a gateway to obesity...so perhaps we should make fast food illegal.

A drivers license could be seen as a gateway to drinking and driving, so perhaps we should make driving illegal.

Credit cards could be seen as a gateway to debt, so perhaps we should ban credit cards for those people who cannot budget themselves appropriately, and all the rest of us who use our credit cards appropriately can suffer for the few that are probably going to put themselves in debt no matter how much the government tries to hold their hand and keep them safe...

_________________
RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

I haven't used pot since the late 80's. And I'm not judging either because I still occasionally have a ciggie which leads people into all kinds of tirades.

But here's what comes to mind. Why in the world would they consider legalizing it now at the same time that they want to put a smoking ban everywhere...?

Why can't they just let each business determine their smoking status? Oops sorry, another discussion.

Pot's already legal in California...The "Prescriptions" for medical MJ are really just licenses being issued thru "Doctors"....any one over 18 can get one.

The dispensaries are all over, and they already pay income tax on the profits.

Been that way for 10 years now....and guess what? The world hasn't come to an end yet...

_________________
'95 Custom Warmoth Soloist Solid Flame Koa Body/Neck, Duncan Classic Livewire SSH, Sperzel locking tuners, Wilkinson VS100 bridge, all black chrome.
2008 MIM Lonestar Strat Black/White Pearl
2008 Taylor 114 CE

I blame the permissive British drug culture on the Rutles and their admission that they had taken tea.

http://www.rutles.org/rstory2.html

And yes, Ceri & nikininja, I am taking the p***!

_________________
I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

Ooo, you're so multilingual!

But you're right, it's all our fault. It's a fair cop - but society is to blame...

- C

Right. We'll arrest them too!

_________________
I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

Hee hee!

Cheers - C

I will try to word my comments here very carefully so as not to rub anyone's rhubarb the wrong way but please keep in mind that as with all of my posts, these are just my own personal opinions.

Having had multiple family members having gone thru ordeals with cancer, including my wife and both of my parents, I personally feel that at the very least this substance should be available for medicinal uses. Yes, there are some very good prescription medications available now a days to help combat the side effects of chemo and yes, there is even a synthetic version of this substance and from personal experience I can tell you that none of them work as well for dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy as pot does...and I've spoken with several doctors who (off the record) agree 100% with this. Obviously this doesn't even address other legitimate medical conditions that pot can help with...glaucoma, the side effects of aids medications, chronic pain sufferers, etc..

In addition for people who don't "smoke" the stuff, for people with these conditions there are other ways that it can be administered. In the case of my wife for example when she was going thru chemo, I made her an herbal tea made with pot, raspberry and chamomile. She honestly can't stand the smell of the stuff burning but making it as a tea worked just as well. It can also be used in various food substances...while lots of folks know about the "magic brownies", few folks have ever tried it in something such as spaghetti sauce! Either way the point it that it doesn't even have to be smoked to be effective.

The problem is very simply that as long as our government is ran the way it is, things will not change any time soon. While I have no specific "evidence" to back up my comments, I honestly believe the simple truth of the matter is that the US government makes too much money on this substance staying illegal. Let's look at this logically for a moment...strictly from a medicinal point of view, do you really think that the big pharmaceutical companies...companies which are making a HUGE amount of money on certain prescription drugs...do you really think these companies really want to see pot legalized? I mean we are talking about a substance here that literally anyone could grow themselves (-if- it were legal). Don't you think the big pharmaceutical companies might pay a great deal of money to our law makers to keep this stuff illegal? Now beyond that, pot and hemp also have a great number of other uses beyond medicinal and recreational use. Pot/hemp was at one time, one of, it not the biggest textile industry in this county. You can make everything from paper to t-shirts from the stuff! Again here do you really think that companies such as Dupont for example would really want to see this stuff on the market? Wouldn't they pay A LOT to keep it illegal? What about fuel? Hemp is the only substance capable of producing more ethenal than corn...some statistics suggest 10 times more ethenal than corn. Do the petroleum industries really want to see such a substance put to such a practical use? Sure, this is difficult if not impossible to prove but if you think about it...it does make sense. Big pharmaceuticals, textile and petroleum companies...that's -A LOT- of money and a lot of leverage with our government.

I'm sorry but when you consider these things, it's hard to believe that any of this really comes down to anything other than money and good old fashion greed. I think that there are a great many statistics that have shown that if this were put to a public vote (the way it should be) then this substance would easily be legalized in a heart beat. It's simply that as long as things remain the way they are, the government will never allow that vote to happen...it's not in their "best financial interest". The problem is that again not even looking at this as a recreational substance, a great many people have to suffer needlessly just so that our law makers can line their pockets...and to me that is very sad and quite wrong.

Now to address this from the issue of a recreational substance...well... Personally I feel that as long as alcohol is legal, then pot should be as well. Clearly when we talk about the use of any mind altering substance, it has to be acknowledged that there will always be "users" who do use said substance with some degree of responsibility and there will always be "abusers". Just as you have folks who drink to excess, you also have your Valium junkies, Vicodin addicts, Morphine freaks, etc. (isn't it funny how most folks never worry about a Valium fiend getting behind the wheel of a car?). My grandmother was heavily addicted to Darvon for a great many years of her life (although she could never admit it...she just needed the drug...and that -IS- addiction). It goes without saying that regardless of legality and legitimate uses, you will always have people who use substances for things other than their intended use...it's a sad fact but you will always have people who sniff, snort, shoot, etc., just for the sake of doing it. In my mind the big difference here is that I've never known a single person who has ever died from a pot over-dose. The truth of the matter is (assuming we're talking about smoking it here) you'd pass out from the carbon monoxide LONG before you ever OD'd on pot! More over, I don't think I've ever met a person who's completely ruined their life by being a pot user. Yes, I've known drunks/alcoholics who have completely flushed their lives down the toilet and I've even known a few folks will will -repeatedly- blow their monthly mortgage payments on gambling or even lottery tickets trying to make that "big score". Don't even get me started on crack and heroin users. But pot? That really just doesn't go with the whole "pot head" mentality in my view. I mean what...you light a doobie, put on some good music and watch the grass grow. Where's the harm in that?

So to address the OP's question/comments of "Could Pot Cure The Economy?", I think that pot/hemp could be a HUGE commercial industry in this country well beyond any recreational use. BUT I don't think the "profit" from that hypothetical industry would be significant enough to out weight it's competition. -If- we were just looking at this substance from strictly a recreational point of view or even from a medicinal point of view, then yes, there might be enough leverage there to make it a profitable and worthwhile endeavor but I believe there is considerably more to this issue than just those specific considerations and at this point in our evolution as a society and as a nation, I don't think the government will allow it any time soon. Personally I've seen too many of my loved one's suffer and I have personally seen the good that this substance can do and the relief that it provides so to me having this substance unavailable for ANY reason is wrong but as long as we have lobbyists in Washington with extraordinarily deep pockets and as long as we keep putting greedy, slimy politicians in office who are so easily manipulated with their own personal agendas, I don't think things will change.


Again these are just my own personal opinions and should only be taken as such.

Peace,
Jim