The government and cannabis...

Tell that to the people who use it illegally for various medical ailments and to the MANY doctors that are calling for it to be used as medicine... as I said the medical benifits are not in doubt... you can find numerous journals and studies on this. Its is fact. Surely a positive mental effect is a feeling of calm? Generally being 'stoned' is not mentally negative. As for potential dangers, I don't deny them... why do feel like I have repeated myself???

my best friends mam was quite ill with spondilosis of the spine and crumbling disks in her neck, theyve told her theres not really much they can do to help her, and shes in terrible pain, and is wearing a neck and back brace. After going to the doctors and hospital for treatment and having no luck, she was told to help the pain she should smoke cannabis.

This woman is very prim and propper, has never smoked in her life, let alone took drugs. she agreed to try it just the once, and see if it helped any, which it did, lots!!

She now uses soley cannabis, doesnt take pain killers, and she is extremley happy that the doctor reccomended it to her, as its changed her life for the better!

my point.....ive got first hand experience of doctors reccomending people to smoke weed, so dont try and say it doesnt happen, it does, alot, my dad was told to smoke it for his problems in his back, from our GP, so they obviously dont think its that bad, and to say medical experts and doctors stay well away from weed is wrong, b ecause they dont!!!!

surely that is like saying pissed is a medical benefit of drinking because it de-sensetises?

like saying going under after ket is a medical benefit of taking it?

its not a medical benefit - it doesnt do you any good it simply sedates you...

By the way the BMA - an organisation i would trust far ahead of 'many doctors' as you put it, - which in effect they are, have said categorically that there are no medically proven benefits as of yet, if they where to consider legalising it, they will have to do far more research...

anyways, your using this "medical benefits" arguments for your own gain- lets say the make it a controlled substance only available through a doctor/ specialist to those with ailments that these 'many doctors' have claimed cannabis is a pain relief...

would that be ok? i doubt it cos lets face it, you dont really care do you? you just want to be able to smoke it for yourself or for others to smoke it, as i said earlier this argument is not based on the wider perspective - its based on a users wanting to smoke weed... the 'medical' debate is about the only leg that the pro legalisation side has to stand on...

i say lets put it in pharmacies only for its medical gains which arent even recognised by the British Medical Association - although they have approved research into cannabaloids for medicinal purposes regarding MS sufferers...

cannabis as a controlled substance- would you be happy? i very much doubt it.

ian - you have a good argument but its like a dog chasing its tail and is the same in any area of research concerning validity - you have to go with what you have experienced as well as what youve read in a journal - peer reviewed or not - how do you know that these peers are unbiased - on both sides of the argument?

smoggle - your argument fell apart wen you started talking about 'imperial trade lines' ... i think the UN, EU, EFTA and the hundereds of other trade associations and treaties may have something to say about that! methods of smuggling are slightly more sophisticated than "take a tonne of cannabis down the Khyber Pass for a pittance? " nowadays... which middle eastern countries that arent OPEC have anything to offer us in the way of trade or would be willing too.. minus the fact they have oil?

as i said phillip morris - the largest tobbaco company in the world has already got cartons printed up with cannabis / cannabis free on them... i think we could take an educated guess of who will control the worlds cannabis within 5 years of the unlikley event of it becoming street legal.

it acts as an anesthetic, and gets rid of pain, if your in alot of pain then thtas good news for you! Most pain killers dont really do anything to help you, they just cover up the pain that your suffering from, but its still there, which is the same thing as weed does...how can you tell me that pain killers have medical benefits but weed doesnt, they do the same thing to a person who is suffering!

Its a shit drug dope or weed, cant stand the stuff !

Fucks with your head more than the majority of things knocking round nowadays !

I best lock me doors and windows now...

What's that? Im not fluent in stoner language :spangled:

ur point being?

if the supplier cut it, what favours is he doin himself? all he'd be doin is getting someone else's customers hooked on another drug, a drug which their dealer doesn't sell.
er.....can't see the point in that myself.

anyways, the people i get it from wouldn't go to someone like that either. like i say, its all about goin to the right people and bein very careful of who they are.

no, its only shit to you coz you dont like it. and it only fucks with your head if your heads fucked anyway, which is probs why u dont enjoy smoking it

one thing thats deff for sure is that with the government making it a class c drug, they believe it isless harmful than 1st thought, surely this should be enough of a reason to warrant more research (independant) into its use/effects?

tom - my argument was made in bout 5 mins jus searching thru journals an picking the bits that sounded good

I would be very happy at having cannabis as a controlled substance. As I have said legalisation is a long process that i'm not sure will work, especially not in the short term. Any medical benifits that can be gained should be harnessed. The fact it is illegal now does not bother me as I can still get it and smoke if and when I want to, and you know i'm not a stoner and rarely smoke weed!

History is a major factor in defining who we trade with. That is my point. We trade with countries we had influence over and interacted with. It is not the rule but it certainly isn't the exception. As for the "Khyber Pass", areas like this where marijuana and opium are rife are widely used as they are politically unstable and although many risks are involved they are still the most valid routes. They are also innacessible so modern transport is often forfeitted, thus making routes like this very unsophisticated. When the drugs reach the more developed and urbanised areas, that is when more sophisticated methods come into play.

And Bosh!, "ollied" or "barried" just refers to people me and tom/scruf have lived with who became very unstable after smoking large amounts of weed.