Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Drugs Live: Cannabis on Trial | |
Posted by: | Francis Rowe | |
Date/Time: | 04/03/15 12:14:00 |
The difference is that we already know the scale of the problem that alcohol generates and as a society we have taken an informed decision to accept that. With cannabis we are only starting to get data on what the stronger strains will do. They are overwhelmingly used by children and young adults and the early evidence is that there is an elevated danger of catastrophic psychological harm in a statistically significant number of cases. This was prefigured by a lot of anecdotal evidence - I know personally of three boys whose lives have been effectively destroyed by using this drug. In their peer group there are none that I am aware of who have had their lives destroyed by alcohol even though a majority of them will drink and a minority will smoke skunk. These are the short term affects. As with tobacco we won't know the full long term effects for decades and, in the mean time people who profit from the sale of cannabis, either legally or not, will tell us that there are none - just like the tobacco firms. Basically liberalisation of the law on cannabis would be an experiment on our children which the early evidence is already telling us would end very very badly. |