Journalist Peter Hitchens says legalising cannabis would be 'national suicide' 

OH MY GOD , THE HUGE MANATEES

Like a twatt.

You shouldn't joke about such things. I've known people who've smoked too much skunk, and they've developed suicidal tendencies, personality dissociation, bipolar disorder, they see people who aren't really there "Beautiful Mind" style and have spent spells in the Loony Bin...

@@bettyswunghole3310 Yeah I have known people who can get the high from 40% abv , 100 proof , that have lost their minds and behaved in an abhorrant manner too . Not a good argument

@@sminkycorp Well... _so have I..._ Where did I suggest that alcohol is "harmless"? You make no "argument" at all...

What utter tosh.

@@quercus3290 Im not anti alcohol,but i think everything in moderation and having the option

Lol tax it. Just grow some in your back yard, fuck the government. After the abuse for the last 2 years +, why would you look for their consent

Spot on 👍

Hitchens is a hypocrite. I bet if he couldn’t have his pint we’d never hear the end of it.

Actually he often says he wants tighter controls on the sale of alcohol, and he has said before that if alcohol were already illegal he would want it to stay illegal.

We’re turning into a third world country by our government, (folk can’t afford food, electricity or gas to keep warm, mortgages increased, ) using a medicinal plant will drag us down to the third world country path, get a life you old cretin it’s 2022 not 1722

I know right the 40s didn't even have tiktok how stupid.

It's you who doesn't have a clue.

@@VinnyCarwash-js8op how is that then ? Did you listen to what the guy said he is so wrong is funny . But you are clearly to stupid to see that

He’s completely tone deaf and really showing his age. It’s been proven that alcohol does more damage and actually can cause death. If he didn’t have his pint at the end of the day I imagine we would never hear the fucking end of it lol.

hes really not

@@calebcostigan2561 yeah alcohol like is a completely terrible poison so why not anther one right? stop paying attention to politics you dont have a brain for it

​@@Banned_and_Redacted really is

and nobody would be able to employ you because of that.

A drugged up electrician,.....I wouldn't let you on my site !!!!

good luck finding anyone drug free in the labour game- perhaps put an advert in the Daily Mail lol

@@celtspeaksgoth7251 why? They employ people that drink...

@phillip wareham your workshop must have stunk....

Just because the effects of skunk aren't "acute" like alcohol poisoning can be, it doesn't mean it's "harmless"... ...Why should Society have to foot the care bill for people who've made themselves mentally ill to the point of being unable to function as normal human beings by abusing too much super strong cannabis?

Have you never been to anyone with psychosis then? And how do you know they've never used weed in their lives?

@@HoratioKJV I have never had psychosis. I have, however, known people who have had *serious* mental health problems basically as a result of smoking too much skunk. They include: delusions (seeing and interacting with people who aren't really there "Beautiful Mind" style), bipolar disorder, personality dissociation and suicidal tendencies. "Skunk" is *not* "harmless".

@@bettyswunghole3310 I know I agree. It's not only skunk it's even weak weed. Any time someone smokes they're playing Russian roulette with their mental health.

paramedics apply the quick fix to short-term health emergencies. ask your professional colleagues at the other end of health care for haunting tales of the accumulative psychological ruination of long-term drug abuse .

Well said that man

So introducing drink + cannabis would help this problem how exactly? Are you ignorant to the very strong correlation between cannabis and psychosis?

Alcohol doesn't produce psychosis as a side effect. And it isn't just about the effects of the substance while you're consuming it, either. I've never heard of a mass shooter being drunk, the last thing a drunk person would be capable of is shooting accurately. But there are many other side effects from weed which we're seeing, and they are society-altering. Not so with alcohol.

All the more reason not to legalise a second, equally harmful drug, then. Wouldn't you say, Pothead?

Spend a bit of time in a psychiatric ward and it's a very noticeably common denominator

@Ihate Coons yes they do considering it is a huge part of the culture. Nothing more common than an English pub

@Ihate Coons so you are good with the higher rates of alcohol abuse and the deaths and abuse at the hand of alcoholics as apposed to relaxed easy going pot heads. By the way the use of cannabis has been used for over 5000 years and has had way less deaths and abuses associated with it than alcohol.

So? One harmful substance is not enought? You want to add more? I don't see a reason not to allow ecstasy, mushrooms or any another drug, by your idiotic logic...

You've never heard of cannabis-induced psychotic disorder then.

@@HoratioKJV because it doesn't exist

Portugal wasn't a success.

@JMJ-GLY Maybe, maybe not, but sounds like he wants one. Legalize weed and decriminalize the whole lot. This isn't the culture war you're looking for.

@@HoratioKJV Yes it was.

@@TagusMan Source?

@@HoratioKJV Where is your source? As someone who lived in Portugal for a decade, I know for a fact it’s done wonders.

The amount of people who commit assaults is in the millions, so we should make assault legal. This is basically your daft logic.

@@HoratioKJV do you have to work hard on your stupidity or does it come naturally? harming someone else is a far cry from potentially harming ones self

@horatokjv Assault harms others. Smoking does not. Religion is a cancer on humanity. It makes you believe dumb things for bad reasons.

@HoratioKJV Assault harms a lot more than Marijuana. Wtf you saying?

He doesn't disagree, but we're discussing weed not alcohol. Stay on topic.

Do you have an argument against him. The fact is one can smell cannabis in the streets of villages and towns across England; it's links with rampage killings is explicit; and it is linked with schizophrenia psychosis and all manner of unhealthy behavior

Instead of an ad hominem attack give some facts why .Peter Hitchens gave a reasoned argument unlike you.

@DoubtingThomas So cannabis-induced psychosis disorder (CIPD) doesn't exist? Nonsense.

He's *exactly* the kind of T-Rex we need to scare the shit out of the Lefties.

If you read his column every week, you'll see that over the years he has presented meaningful arguments. One of his main oft repeated points is that people who commit senseless crimes are often on cannnibis, but the police ignore this and the press do everything they can to cover it up. He compares what he calls the "Big Dope" movement with Big Tobacco years ago, when they tried to defend tobacco as a "legal substance" and insisted for as long as possible that it didn't actually cause cancer. When someone from your family is killed by some nut high on dope who throws himself off a building and kills an innocent victim, you'll see things differently. That is the sort of thing he talks about. His views may not be fashionable and it may be trendy to call him a dinosaur, but that doesn't mean he's not right.

Are the drugs killing them, before they can do it by other means?

...and look what a dominant world power Portugal is...

Your medical services improved giving this illusion. Drug-related harm in Portugal is still astronomically high.

@@bettyswunghole3310 I guess the Portuguese must be immune to drug damage? Laughter.

Huge explosion in crime and mental illness, though . . .

Pretty sure he's written a whole book on the subject, more than you've done.

@@HoratioKJV I know I've read it, it's called "The War we never fought" and it was published 10 years ago. Whilst this provides a well structured argument, in which his bias shines through, society, international/national political attitudes have changed dramatically in the period since which applies to both medicinal and recreational use, many countries have now legalised or decriminalised and saw the value to the economy and the better use of police resource. Public opinion is that it should be decriminalised and can be seen in numerous yougov polls spanning the last 5 years. But yeah society hasn't changed much outside of that. Writing one book does not make an expert. Is all I'm saying.

​@@Truthnowhere2020 You don't need to be an expert to hold a valid opinion or state the facts. Experts do agree with Peter, however, such as Professor Sir Robbin Murray. Popular opinion doesn't automatically mean right. Most people once thought cigarettes were relatively safe.

@@HoratioKJV there are plenty of experts in the opposing camp, but I don't think we need to get into a name drop. I agree that the public opinion doesn't always mean right but it's a touch hypocritical, by government and some experts, to say that cannabis is more harmful than alcohol for example, either socially or physically. Yet it remains legal and we give people the agency to decided if they want to drink, so why not with cannabis? especially as the government is both growing and exporting it legally as per the 2019 report by the UN's International Control Board.

You're not convincing anybody. Peter is talking sense.

But it wasn't in common use by normal people then. That's the difference.

@@nedrain9044 actually regular people used it more. It was cheap & b/c it cant be dissolved & injected, when the syringe was invented docs quit using it all together. it was sold in tinctures mixed w/ opium over the counter. Besides if it were something nobody used then why make it illegal in the 1st place?

@@JCOwens-zq6fd “If it were something nobody used then why ban it” …because more people started using it and it was having a negative impact on society. Call me captain obvious

@@bigeddiespaghetti5618 it was banned because hemp has 50000 uses. It was all political bullshit for their careers! not because they care about society! war on drugs = failed! it cannot be controlled via prohibition!

@@bigeddiespaghetti5618 Quite, it literally exploded as a social phenomena in the late 60s. When I was young I worked in the industry which popularized it: music biz. Once fans of the bands under its influence figured all that out they started to increasingly copy their idols. We need to seriously look into the roots of this development. Who funded the record companies, laid on lavish parties etc. IMHO this is all part of a much wider agenda to control western culture. It wouldn't surprise me if it was linked to this great reset stuff - I mean look at the timing. The problem is that it is now engrained in British culture and increasingly replacing alcohol as people's choice of recreational drug. All helped of course by pubs shutting down through lack of trade. The so called war on drugs was a facade to make the police appear even more ineffective in dealing with crime. But it sounded good in a minister's BS portfolio. All it achieved was to ramp up the popularity even more along with those morons in MSM (funded by whom?). Surely legalisation is only a matter of time (sadly). At least if it is legalised then tax the hell out of it so that only rich people can afford it. Again it wouldn't surprise me if that was all part of the plan.

Peter is very much against the continual supplying of arms to Ukraine

If it were legal, it would be regulated and its strength controlled. That would open the door for criminals to sell stronger stuff, as Peter has pointed out many times. Legalization would only boost crime. We have to admit that this problem has no solution. Like all crime, there is no real solution. If you put 1000 crooks in jail, 2000 will replace them tomorrow. But legalization will only make it worse and is therefore not the answer.

@@robertstewart239 You just made my point for me in your first sentence. Back in the day, we had choices, you could easily obtain mild weed that gave you a light stone instead of leaving you feeling totally wrecked. Sadly, that's no longer the case. As it stands now, skunk is ubiquitous. It's nigh on impossibe to buy anything other than skunk. There's rarely a day goes by when I don't catch a whiff of it when I go for a walk. The market is clearly already saturated with weed that's ridiculously strong. The situation can't really get any worse. If it were to be legalised, then buyers could have the option to buy milder weed, which would be no bad thing IMO.

@@cockleshellzero3893 why do you think skunk has taken over from leb and other resins, it’s down to market demand, people wanted stronger more for your money cannabis and easier to produce. The idea of you only need a small amount of skunk to get the same hit as larger amount of resin didn’t last long as people adjusted to smoking much more skunk for a bigger buzz. If a stronger and cheaper version of skunk came out believe me it would be a sell out.

In America it's gotten stronger due to legalization. And also due to all the red tape involved in producing it legally it has resulted in a black market that's just as thriving as it was before legalization. But it means young people can get their hands on it more easily.

You have nor idea what's hiding under the "legal" label, like charlatans using a same dose & bio-disponibility for CBD as if it were THC. Ware up...

I just wonder if you even watched the video? He addresses this argument, citing Canada and states in the US, saying that legalization doesn't diminish criminal distribution.

@@IR17171717 Yes, and I dispute his claims. Firstly, USA is not Britain - their culture is not ours (same goes for Canada). Secondly, people are habitual, so changes have to be evaluated over sufficient duration. Thirdly, where would you rather get your chablis wine - Waitrose or off Dodgy Mike in the park?

@@llengsuch3426 Not everyone can afford Waitrose. That's why not everyone shops at Waitrose.

​@@IR17171717why though 😂 like its easy to think of a way to stop this. Called a medical card and keeping thc levels to 25% maximum, heck even upping the age of buying it to 25 would cut the risk of psychosis massively. The mental health issues are caused by teens smoking high thc unregulated cannabis.

@@llengsuch3426 Drug taking is drug taking, it's universal the world over. Namely, it's selfish moronic simpletons who want to stupify themselves at the expense of everyone else who has a brain.

Only because far more people use them. Don't risk repeating the same mistake with cannabis.

sounds to me like you are the one in need of a of a Education

Nordic nations LOVE marijuana... they just use it in the shadows.

Brilliant comment!

Like Shaun of the dead 🤣

Wow, you're naive. And clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Horrible smell it is as well. You have to be bonkers to want to inhale it.

we already don't criminalise, is it always the case that people who want it legalised never listen to any other point?

I think he would say that alcohol would be impossible to make illegal at this stage (on practical grounds). But that cannabis can still be prevented from being legal. I think he would say that if alcohol was at the stage of legalization at cannabis then we would have to fight against alcohol as well.

​@@IR17171717it's not impossible just make it illegal 😂

@@gregorwhyte3699 yes, no problems have ever been encountered trying to ban alcohol. None ever.

@@IR17171717 do you not see the irony 🤣

@@gregorwhyte3699 No. And I think you are being a bit simple. Alcohol is so widely available and has been legal for so long that there would be all kinds of problems in making it illegal over night. On the other hand, cannabis is illegal already, so we're in an entirely different situation. You can treat two things differently based on context.

Have you seen LA or Portland recently?

@@staceya5149 I'd have some sympathy if alcohol was illegal. It does infinitely more damage to society.

Hey bro, just because you abused it doesn't mean everyone else will. Everything is bad in excess including sugar. People have been smoking for ever and aren't gonna stop just because it's illegal. Anybody with a common sense would tax it and use the money wisely like schools and NHS. Be sensible with it bro and i promise you will love it. I stopped drinking and only smoke weed for my IBS and just enjoyment. Sorry to say pal but don't diss it just because you couldn't be sensible and couldn't handle it.👍

Same experience dude. Everybody knows this too but stoners prefer to live in close minded denial

@Scyborne I would be happy with any of the above.

I'm in a similar position to you and totally agree

chicken/egg

Nobody is saying legalise it for kids. It should be sold in special shops to people 18+

I bet they drank tea or coffee and smoked a cigarette before they took cannabis so where did this drug journey truly start...

There wouldn't be any 'drugs epidemic'. Anyone who wants it can get it now. Walk down a London street and you can smell it everywhere.

Bs

Nonsense. Yes, it was weaker back in the 60s (still capable of causing psychosis), but anywhere it's been legalised use and strength increases. Any tax revenue generated will go back on treating the rise in mental illness and crime caused by it, just like alcohol. The war on drugs was never fought in Britain, name one person imprisoned, for a meaningful duration, in the last 30 years solely for a small quantity of cannabis, if it was? And, what have we had as a result of this soft approach to drugs? More mental illness, more knife crime. The fact you believe Big Dope's propaganda is more evidence the drug has hampered your critical faculties. Now, subside from spreading this dangerous druggie misinformation.

😂😂😂 You know you can regulate it to make buying it from a street dealer pointless. It should be as easily and strictly regulated as tobacco. That tax revenue btw is already being used up treating alcoholics for doing stupid stuff like driving drunk and fighting in the street. It's clear how much the state have indoctrinated you 🤣. Apparently psychosis is extremely common 🤣 so very common that it's in 1-2% of the population. How many alcohol related deaths and suicides occur? How many perscription addicts caused by perscription benzos? 76% of adults in Scotland now are ODing from street benzos and a large percentage off them had their addiction started by a fucking doctor.

@@HoratioKJV oh bore off 😂 alcohol causes more enduced psychosis than cannabis. You're tax money is already going to treat people with this and failing liver and kidneys. Legalising makes control of the industry easy to manage. You're telling me drug dealers right now are selling CBD and THC cannabis flowers? Why is it medicinally legal then if it's so bad for you? Why has it helped thousands across the UK? You're deluded.

Why, so you can continue to doss around in your mam's basement contributing nothing to society?

Don't be such a boorish hippy loon

@Scyborne nope

How do you know they wouldn't have had psychological problems regardless?

@@apebass2215 Why spit on your luck? Cannabis isn't a necessity, it can remain illegal for recreation without causing any problems.

@@HoratioKJV that doesn't answer my question. It can also be legal for recreation like it is in other countries and not cause any problems.

@@apebass2215 No it can't it always causes high rates of psychosis. See the European multicentre case-control study published in The Lancet. It found 50% of psychosis is attributed to cannabis in London alone.

Peanuts are a food, we need food. We don't need marijuana and it's far more dangerous than peanut allergies.

​@@HoratioKJV You're definitely on someone's payroll - you're replying to nearly everyone. I only made this comment a moment ago.

@@matafuko That must be your marijuana-induced paranoia talking.

@@HoratioKJV Haha, okay, you're just really, really concerned. Sure.

Spot on, he just chose to conveniently ignore it this time

Have you never heard of "correlation can be causation"?

The *correct* expression is "correlation does not *_imply_* causation". It *_doesn't_* mean that there is no link between a supposed cause and an observed correlation. It *generally* means that more research is necessary to *establish* the link between the two.

@@bettyswunghole3310 To anyone observing the evidence thus far with sense it's quite obvious the drug is dangerous and not worth promoting like alcohol. Big Dope's propaganda has worked so well on the simple-minded.

@@HoratioKJV Yes, I agree...there's still a lot of old-fashioned thinking about that seems to believe that the "pot" of the 1960s is essentially the same as modern strains of "skunk". It's like comparing a fire cracker to an H-bomb... ...to say nothing of the organised and ruthless criminal gangs that are involved in the distribution of "skunk".

You have to admit that "illegal drugs" shows the whole joke of prohibition. A drug isn't ok or not because it is legal or illegal, most of the problems are because they are illegal, encouraging criminality. You advocating for alcohol prohibition, because you know the demon drink and all that BS. How many lives blighted by the evils of alcohol. Yeah banning it worked so very well. Oh and drug use on the rise in Japan and South Korea....

Elaborate

@@Samuel.Sharman , you first.

He's already written countless books and papers on the subject citing plenty, if you cared enough to read.

@@HoratioKJV I see he has written one book on the subject. And I see nobody liked it, which is why I've never heard of it.

@@lumpyfishgravy His other books include references to the subject. His articles on the matter are plenty. Try reading his book about the alleged war on drugs before critiquing him.

Because they're selfish and ignorant. If it's safe in their minds it's safe for you too.

Why? When he'saking a statement about a drug that affects SOME people terribly, the EXACT same way alcohol does to some. If cannabis is that damaging, despite the fact you can not overdose on it, you can have too much drink and die, it happens every single weekend. This narrow minded thinking is stoppin marijuana being used for at the very least medical needs, where the drugs I'm currently taking are much bigger risk to me that marijuana, they're just if not more like to cause mental health problems, the safest drug i take is used for epilepsy and can cause heart problems after long term use, why then can't I have marijuana when it works to aid my condition better than the drugs I'm on, it's cheaper and the side effects are nowhere near as bad as the likes of tramadol. People who are now in private healthcare can get medical marijuana but the test of us, those of us who can't afford private medical care or can't get insurance due the fact likee they've been ill since childhood. We're left, were forgetten as per usual. It's this very group who will be most affected by the nurses strike.and still we have an NHS who are not willing to talk about the fact we have a cheaper alternative for many health conditions, from epilepsy and chronic pain. I It's 2022 and the UK is refusing, point blank refusing to see the wood for the trees. Spain, Amsterdam, Israel all decent countries that have legalised marijuana. Spain have specific rules no smoking it in public in streets or parks. We don't have to follow America and Canada's route of all out legalisation anywhere. And the sorry but America as a somewhere too look for drug control after the problems they've had with oxy is just ridiculous, their whole system is set up for criminality, whether they prescription or otherwise. We don't see people calling for oxy to be banned here do we? Because we monitor it correctly.

@@libertasdemocratiam887 all I said was listen to Peter seriously, I'm not anti any one particular drug, some take some and are okay, some take some and it ruins them, simple as. By and large society has to be careful with widespread legalisation, it will 100% ruin some, depending on how they're built and their mental faculties.

@@JaySmurkzTV and alcohol ruins far more lives today, right now someone is dying from liver failure, ladt night a drunk will have ounched his wife and maybe killed her leaving jis kids with no mother and father while he foes to prison, drunk drivers can take out an entire family in one go....so why is booze allowed? When the affects on society are much greater than that of marijuana? Have you even looked at the olaces outside of America where it's been legalised? Isreal isn't crumbling or anything is it? They have legalised marijuana use the sky hasn't fallen in on them. Rules you can't smoke anywhere outside of your house ir your friends/family. Spain legalised smy hasn't fallen in, same rules apply only dif to Israel is they allow pot bars where you can go and have a coffee or pint with tour weed. The Netherlands, nowt else to say about them really it works, it works really well, the sky hasn't fallen in, it aids their tourist industry, they don't have massive out of control problems with mental health, they don't have violence on their streets, infact it lioks like a very clean nice country. So exactly do you or anyone else get to decide what i can and cannot have access too when marijuana is less lethal and damaging than alcohol? I'd love for you to explain this to the child of a dead alcoholic, why exactly you're so worried about folks mental health but not people who are physically harmed by booze? Or are folk free to make the decision about booze themselves but not about weed? You can't say 100% could damge folk and that's why it should go ahead when booze is killing people, actually kiing people! I don't see anyone now or ever demanding we get rid of bioze do you? Because it doesn't work! You end up with miinshine style products being sold on the blakc market. Right nowgo know how many people are making a fortune selling weed illegally why when it's less dangerous than alcohol, every stat shows this includin the chnaces of mental health problems, aren't we pushing for a legal route so we could tax those people making a fortune? How much would that raise for the NHS? Or the pension pot? You'd sure as hell make enough tax tk set up clinic for those who have an adverse mental reaction to the drug, whuch we don't know nor does any study's on it, whether the people who show adverse mental health reacitons to weed already had the problem laying low in their brains, the weed just kike a head knock, could possibly ckick the on switch next to it. There's an easy solution to deaking with that, tekking folk that people who have mental health conditions in the families (I'm talking bipolar and things like that not depression because you've just lost a loved one that's a normal mental reaction) should either not have weed or aur on the side of caution. The same way I'm well aware i have ti be careful with drink given i had an alcoholic father and ny maternal grandmother was an alcoholic too, i know to check mysrlf and not go OTT. Its more of the nanny state style of thought stippong marijuana being legalised again, and frankly it's ridiculous.

@@JaySmurkzTV I understand what you're saying but that's an argument to get a I'd of alcohol isn't it? If marijuana is so dangerous it would destroy society how dangerous is alcohol? Peter fails to address this. This is one of the few areasni strongly disagree with him on. The war on drugs hasn't worked it's failed, spectacular failed. Children are now being used as drug runners fueling teenage murder via stabbing that's fact. We have criminals pushing the drugs trade coming via the channel. Please tell me how our die hard stance on drugs hasn't lead to the end of this nation, when our young are being killed because of drugs and they're not even taking them, they're getting caught up in this never ending war that breeds corruption throughout politics and police. Can you really see legal marijuana making the situation worse?

@@libertasdemocratiam887 my point is more so if you legalise drugs, it's equally going to damage a lot of people

You can also get radiation for medical reasons in the UK, and radiation is everywhere, bizarre huh?

@@HoratioKJV my point went over your head, child.

@@Wilkofantastico I think my response went over yours. There's nothing bizarre about what you originally said except that you think it is.

​@@HoratioKJVthat is the most fucked comparison I've ever seen 😂 apparently weed gives you cancer now. Keeping on slurping the propaganda.

I like skunk, it's really nice. Think of it as a high class whiskey like a green label. 👍

@@Rebelass74 I don't mind a nice lemon haze myself Spurs. It would just be good if rather than funding gun crime and potentially terrorism, the government used the buckets of cabbage to fund something useful like the health service or education.

@@WinstonSmith22 My man!👍 Be sensible with it though bro. Don't let it overtake your life and enjoy it.👍

@@Rebelass74 Moderation in all things brother. 👍

So let's not have both susbtances in society ruining lives, families and communities.. We need as many stable and functional people as we can get and quite frankly you are a danger to children willing to allow them to take part in this social experiment. Early and long-term weed use creates dependency and induces psychosis. End of. ...

Possession never was, only the sale and production.

So we should get rid of drink driving charges by your logic, so the courts aren't flooded with them? You do understand if the punishments are thorough enough fewer people find themselves in court, as less people break the law. Japan criminalises marijuana successfully without flooding the courts. You're clearly ignorant to the level of harm cannabis causes. Is it just a coincidence this country has had a mental health crisis alongside the increased use of it? I think not. Correlations can be causations.

Drunk driving is illegal and the contrast between alcohol and weed is not the immediate effects of their use, but rather the mind altering psychosis caused by the latter over time.

Then go after the dealers. I live in York which is full of dealers. Give me ten burner phones and the youngest looking lads on the force, and I could arrest every dealer within four months. They don't even try.

@@WhatIsBacon Going after the supply is futile there's too much of the stuff to do that, new suppliers will crop up, and people can grow it themselves. Killing demand is how you truly kill supply.

@@spencer2978 Since the DSM was updated to IV in 1972 and schizophrenia diagnoses was set, schizophrenia rates have not risen AT ALL. It remains at about 0.8% of the population, like it is across the World. THC can trigger psychosis, but cannabis definitely does not cause you to go insane without predisposition to it.

amen to that

😵‍💫🤣

No they won't lol

Heroin and cocain? Why stop there.

He's not the only sensible person who doesn't want to touch filthy skunk. Speak for yourself.

So let's not have both susbtances in society ruining lives, families and communities.. We need as many stable and functional people as we can get and quite frankly you are a danger to children willing to allow them to take part in this social experiment. Early and long-term weed use creates dependency and induces psychosis. End of. ..

Shame you don't have the self discipline to control yourself and have to ruin it for everyone else. Pre-WW1 all drugs were legal and available over the counter from your pharmacist. People were trusted to be adults. Sadly now we have the likes of you....

In The Lancet medical journal, look up the European multicentre case-control study on the incidence of psychosis in cannabis users. Or search for the 74% increase in psychosis Scotland faced after effective decriminalisation.

@DoubtingThomas Philosophically you might be right but I very much doubt that any British politician or legislative branch is going to sanction "taking the lead" on legalising crack & heroin. Most in this country are social democrats, that type of libertarianism is a non-starter. Truss has been reprimanded from overseas over tax cuts, in what is supposedly a sovereign nation with a shiny new Brexit badge, but there is a line that you are required to tow at the top table of international politics. It will take a leader that enjoys enormous support to take bold decisions in the national interest and that is not the culture of this country, particularly outside of war time.

Basically it is too late to get tough and we're already paying the price for that. It wouldn't have to apply to addicts literally though, they could always be offered help. There's tough and there's over the top. But as Ali says there's that question of money and they won't even give nurses a rise after they finally came out on strike (again way too late). The truth is that the British are not very clever at dealing with things and prefer to let them pile up.

Nobody is advocating for advertisement

Why does it work for Japan and South Korea then? Why did it used to work for this country?

@@HoratioKJV '''''''''Why does it work for Japan and South Korea then?''''''' because they use very harsh punishment which western countries will reject as too harsh '''''''Why did it used to work for this country?'''''' let me guess you mean before the late 60's because the boomers had not become adults and discovered marijuana yet so in the 50's early 60's there were very few marijuana users

@@robinsss Putting people in prison for marijuana is not too harsh. Sweden is a Western country that still enforces the law this way and has one of the lowest rates of marijuana use in Europe. People knew about marijuana in England long before 1960.

@@HoratioKJV Because the west was traumatised by WW2 and has prioritised “harm reduction” over everything else, which is why the law isn’t upheld, police are scrutinised and called racists for doing their job and illegal immigrants can flagrantly exploit the asylum seeking process in this country.

@@robinsss So then being harsh does work, western countries just dont like to do it, except for the US anyway, who has applied the harsh penalties exclusively to their black population.

The "social decay" comes from the illegality.

You mean how our societies were in decay pre-WW1, when all drugs were legal, over the counter from your pharmacist, without prescription?

Where's the harm in banning the cannabis recreationally just to make sure?