Should Marijuana (Weed) Be Legal in the UK?

Make it legal. Makes tax money and stops wasting police time.

Legalise it but anyone who makes any comment on the internet going on about how high they were while doing something like watching a film or playing a game and being tedious about being a user is not allowed to for a week. So you use weed do you? Don't make it your whole fucking personality.

Legalise but god I hate the smell. I’d rather my neighbours cook kippers everyday.

After being in California a couple of years ago, it should be legalised. I obviously went to a dispensary to just see what it was like. Very clean, very business like, very friendly staff. I laughed when the one of the employees said you can buy anything from 3 grams to 3 ounces. The thing is, in this country (UK) it is almost decriminalised to the point where a user is very unlikely to go to jail, however, may lose their job which I think is absolute bullshit.

Make it legal, tax it, sort out proper drug education, helplines, support network. Stupid not to be making money out of it as it will continue to be bought and smoked regardless of legality.

In the US, it is saving them and making them a lot of money and has chilled out a lot of neighbourhoods, less anxiety as you are not going to be busted and sent to jail for it which is good for mental health.

If you don't think it should be legal, then nor should booze or you are a hypocrite. Booze causes so much violence and damage, its just plain daft to have one legal and not the other.

We now have a lot of evidence from other places that have legalised marijuana to get a good idea of the social and medical effects of legalising. You would think if it had a major negative impact, such as increases in mental health issues amongst young people or acting as a gateway to harder drugs, those that oppose changes here would be able to use those statistics. Yet, they don't seem to be able to provide that sort of concrete evidence.

I do find it bizarre that weed seems to get demonised to the extend that it does, when it appears to be far less damaging to most people than alcohol or cigarettes. I'm surprised (not surprised) that the right wing libertarians that were up in arms about the recent parliamentary vote on the sale of cigarettes were never challenged about there stance on marijuana. If they are so determined that adults should be able to decide what they put into their bodies, then surely they should be leading the charge for decriminalising!

I know quite a few people who have been smoking it fairly regularly for over 3 decades now. They all have jobs, from all walks of life, they socialise and some even do exercise (weirdos). They may not be on the bong for hours on end but they are more functional than many people that I work with who barely have a beer or two at the weekend.

Smoking is not for everyone and there are also many people I know who used to smoke as a teenager/ mid 20's but gave it up because they did feel it was stopping them from functioning properly. I'd say that most people I know that used to smoke it, don't do it anymore. It is far easier to give up than tobacco for instance.

I know a lot more people that have drinking problems although they refuse to admit it. Many in my local who are like this, every day you will see the same 3-4 regs (more that I don't know so much) that go there straight after work and drink from 4-8pm religiously, grab some food on the way home, get up at 7 am, straight in the van and off to work they go.

I would say drinking is far more common place and easier to get into, not because it is legal but because a lot of people just do not like smoking. For every stoner sitting at home being lazy, having anxiety or just not coping very well, there are 10 times as many drinkers in the same pit of despair.

Like I say, it is the hypocrisy of those legal drinkers thinking they are all high and mighty that think they know best. Some people despise alcohol but like a spliff at the end of the day.

I know I'm on shaky ground with my position but while I support legalisation of cannabis I also broadly support the idea of the new tobacco legislation.

Even as an occasional social tobacco user myself (usually when I'm also socially drinking tbh) I think that it is massively harmful both individually and societally (NHS etc.) relative to any supposed benefit, and making it hard if not impossible for people below a certain age to ever take it up is potentially a good idea.

Conversely I mainly support legalisation of cannabis because prohibition has completely failed and simply puts money in the wrong people's pockets while enforcement is a huge pointless drain on resources. I'm not really big on comparing the effects on health but I think it goes without saying that goes massively in favour of cannabis too.

My internal struggle right now is that I'm aware many will argue I'm simply proposing we switch the tobacco and cannabis industries around, and I don't fully disagree.

It's a nebulous position I know but I can just understand the "point" of using cannabis more than I can tobacco, and that's ultimately why I think prohibition of cannabis has failed so badly and why I can see prohibition of tobacco potentially being more successful. I just don't see vast amounts of non-addicted Gen Zers seeking out tobacco. It will happen occasionally sure, but to the point that someone regularly visits a "dealer"? In a world where vapes still exist? I could be proven catastrophically wrong but I just can't imagine it.

This is probably me airing a kink by accident, but while I don’t smoke it I love the smell. I like that it means someone nearby is currently having a pretty good day.

Legalise it.

Free up police, reduce the amount of minor offences that end up in a criminal spiral and have quality control. Fuck shit like super skunk and spice.

I believe it can ruin lives in rare occasions but the same can be said not just of alcohol but food as well. Heart disease is still the daddy for putting people in hospital or the morgue.

I'm not much of a smoker and prefer hash. I go to self analysis mode too often on grass.

If there was a dispensary that could give me something super chill and mild well that'd be a delight.

I’m amazed at some of the above posts moaning about the smell. I love the smell and most people I know who don’t smoke the stuff all also love the smell. Such a heavenly scent.

The smell is rancid, but I know people who normal smoke say the same too, they love that smell, whereas the rest of us think its rank. I think if you do it you probably like it, if you don't then you hate it.

That said, seems like this whole thing is a bit of a moot point if they're phasing out smoking anyway, same would apply.

You can't smell cigarettes at the same distance and it doesn't linger as badly.

Totally true.

They went from smoke-filled dingy dens of iniquity, to rank, b.o. & fart tainted hovels. IN the ones with sticky carpets, you could even start to smell that carpet. Blech.

I still prefer to not smell like an ashtray after, but there was definitely an unexpected downside to it all.