Cannabis, otherwise known as marijuana is currently illegal for recreational use in the United Kingdom and is classified as a class B drug, however medical use of cannabis is permitted when prescribed by a specialist doctor. Despite cannabis being illegal for recreational use, there are still many people in the UK which still decide to go against the law and use cannabis for either health benefits or just for illegal highs.
Attitudes towards the legalisation of cannabis is rapidly changing throughout the years, with many members of the general public now openly admitting to taking cannabis. Data from the Home Office shows that 6.5% of adults aged between 16 to 59 have used cannabis in the last year, which is roughly around 21 million people who are willingly choosing to break the law. Cannabis is a low-risk drug, and is less addictive than both alcohol and cigarettes, which is why so many people are in support of it being legalised (43% according to a You Gov poll). Peter Reynolds, president of CLEAR and expert in science, medicine, law and politics of
cannabis said: “Legalising cannabis would stop oppressing and criminalising a huge proportion of our society. About 5% of people in the UK use cannabis on a regular basis, and the fact that we turn them all into criminals through a law, which we can’t enforce anyway, is just ridiculous, so it would have big social effects in that sense.”
If there is such a big support system around the legalisation of cannabis, then what is stopping it from being legalised? Many people still feel that cannabis is a dangerous drug as it can lead to major mental health problems such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and schizo affective disorder. Cannabis can also lead to changes in mood, delusion, disorientation, hallucinations and the list goes on and on. This is why there is such a huge divide and split in people’s opinions on the subject on whether it should be legalised or not, as there are so many pros and cons.
So what are some of the pros? Why do people want cannabis to be legalised in the first place? Cannabis has several health benefits, some examples include; killing cancer cells, shrinking some of the most serious types of brain tumours as well as being effective in dealing with multiple neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. This is one of the main reasons people believe cannabis should be legalised in the UK.
Abby Hughes, medical cannabis advocate and UPA chair and outreach lead at United Patience Alliance commented on the benefits of cannabis being legalised: “There would be a reduction in opiates across the UK, income generation, taking cannabis off the black market and the dangers. We would see an understanding of our strains and what people are
actually using.”
Another popular reason people believe cannabis should be legalised is due to the increase in job opportunities in the cannabis industry, creating hundreds, if not thousands of jobs for the unemployed. When cannabis was legalised in Colorado this created up to 18,000 new jobs in the industry in just over a year, which is a staggering number. The UK suffers from high rates of unemployment, therefor the legalisation of cannabis could be a very efficient way of not only tackling this issue but also giving the public what they want.
Peter Reynolds said: “Legalising cannabis would provide huge employment and business opportunities. We would have businesses producing cannabis, distributing it and returning it in licensing outlets, this would create tens of thousands of new jobs and contribute massive amounts in VAT and tax to the economy. So instead of being something that is costing our country a lot of money, it will be something that will earn our country a lot of money.”
Many people believe that legalising cannabis does not encourage youngsters to smoke it. For example, in Colorado, after cannabis was legalised there was actually a drop in the amount of young people smoking it, which is the opposite outcome to which most people would think would happen after something being made legal. This may be due to the buzz and excitement of doing something illegal being gone, therefor teenagers are not as interested as they were before.
Cannabis is the most widely used recreational drug and according to data published from the House of Commons Library , it accounts for 75% of drug related offences. Legalising the drug could only potentially raise this number even higher. Is this a risk the UK is willing to take?
Cannabis is often referred to as a ‘life ruining’ drug, with people finding that cannabis users are more likely to drop out of school, lose their jobs and ruin relationships, which are all negative aspects. According to a study from the Clinical Research Center (CRC Health) among postal workers, it was found that employees who had tested positive from cannabis had 55% more industrial accidents, 85% more injuries and 75% in being absent from work. This evidence shows that cannabis effects and impacts the lives of people in their school, work and social lives negatively overall. Smokers of cannabis who are teenagers or teenagers who have been exposed to cannabis in their lifetime are also more prone to have lower grades than non-users and are also less likely to graduate and get into either college or university. This is due to the drug affecting their brain at an early age and impacting their ability to organise and compare information.
Canada became the second country to legalise Cannabis, after Uruguay on 27th November 2017. This was done with intent to protect public health, protect young people and to reduce criminality linked to the illegal market, otherwise known as the ‘black market’. It was estimated that 1.5 million Canadians consumed cannabis within the first year of it being legalised. In the first year of it being legalised, the illegal market continued to overshadow the legal market with $5 billion to $7 billion in illegal cannabis being sold in the illegal market alone.
Abby Hughes said:“We have got to think, how many millions of pounds are going into the hands of the black market? We could be having that money in our economy and it could be making a difference. In places such as Colorado in Canada, where there are dispensaries and legalisation has occurred, theyr’e opening schools and pumping their money back into the community. I absolutely envision that that is the direction the UK is heading in.”
Canada has seen no impact on crime rates since cannabis was legalised, which follows a trend that has been reported in Uruguay since legalisation. This is a huge concern for many people in the UK regarding cannabis legalisation. Another impact cannabis being legalised has had on Canada is that according to Statistics Canada, employment in the cannabis industry has nearly quadrupled since legalisation, creating millions of new jobs. The demand for workers was so high in the industry that Canada had to resort to importing workers. Is this some of the things the UK can expect if cannabis was to be legalised?
One important factor the UK would need to consider when thinking about the legalisation of cannabis is relevant age restrictions. Who would be able to purchase cannabis over the counter? Many argue that cannabis should be legalised with the minimum age being 18, as under 18 the brain is still maturing and still hasn’t fully developed.
Abby Hughes said: “Your brain doesn’t develop until you are over 18. It is just a plant, and i used it from a young age, but actually i do think it should be 18. We don’t know enough about it yet, we don’t know enough about the long term effects of cannabis. In regards to medicine, medicinal cannabis should be for everybody.”
Despite support for cannabis being legalised being high, there continues to be a stigma around the use of cannabis. People believe that cannabis can be the cause of several mental health issues as it impacts the brain and many still view cannabis users as lazy and dopey, not realising that many people use it to benefit their health.
Peter Reynolds said:“The mental health scare is something that is almost unique to the UK, it is so disproportionate and so exaggerated here that people have a completely distorted view. Research by the University of York show that the odds of being diagnosed with psychosis following the consumption of cannabis was around 1 in 20,000. Well the risk of being struck by lightening in your lifetime is 1 in 3,000 so that puts it into proper perspective.”
So what would be to happen if the UK was just to stay the same and don’t legalise cannabis? We’ve looked at the benefits and pro’s but what if legalisation doesn’t happen?
Abby Hughes said: “If we leave cannabis illegal now we are going to see the same patterns over and over again. If we want a change in the outcomes of cannabis use, for example all these reports of people with schizophrenia, let’s look into that and do some proper studies, don’t block us from doing that. We have been blocked from doing research. Lack of evidence doesn’t mean evidence that it is lacking- just because the evidence isn’t there doesn’t mean that it wont exist because we haven’t been able to do the research due to the law.”
So, would cannabis being legalised promote a harder drug use? That is a question that we struggle to get the answer to and we will not fully know unless legalisation was to happen. Nevertheless, people are going to continue to use cannabis whether it is illegal or not, although the difference would be seen in the outcome and possible decline in use from the UK and its citizens if it was to become legalised.
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