r/unitedkingdom • u/RandomUsername1604 • 25d ago

Police officers say cannabis is effectively ‘decriminalised’ in the UK .

https://www.leafie.co.uk/news/police-cannabis-decriminalised-survey/

6.0k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

u/MondeyMondey 25d ago

Good! It’s not a real crime like murder or whatever, mind your business!

-9

u/HollowToes 25d ago

Not all cats are lions

8

u/MondeyMondey 25d ago

I’m sure that’s a real metaphor or whatever but I am not following what you are trying to say

2

u/bob1689321 25d ago

I think the implication is that some laws are allowed to be broken as they aren't as bad as the more serious laws?

As we have domesticated house cats I can only read the metaphor as being that "not all cats are lions. For the cats which aren't lions, these are perfectly safe. Drug abuse isn't a more dangerous crime like murder therefore it is safe".

The great thing about showing up and posting vague bullshit is that people can twist it to mean whatever they want and the person posting has no responsibility over those interpretations as they have no spine.

1

u/HowardBass 25d ago

Not all Serpents are Snakes.

2

u/MondeyMondey 25d ago

What other things are serpents?

2

u/RegionalHardman 25d ago

Rayquaza?

1

u/HowardBass 25d ago

Weirdly enough, Rayquazza would count as a serpent. The term Serpent is often used more broadly in literature, mythology, and symbolism to refer to a variety of snake-like creatures, both real and imagined.

-27

u/TwentyCharactersShor 25d ago

Because drugs dealers and growers are well known to be law abiding citizens that break no other laws such as trafficking, abduction or murder. Those Mexican cartels are just misunderstood

Obviously, everyone on reddit gets their weed from an ethically sourced eco-hippy.

55

u/Admiral_Eversor 25d ago

Fr the only reason weed coincides with criminality is because it's illegal. Make it legal and all that goes away instantly.

2

u/dth300 Sussex 25d ago

That hasn’t happened yet in Canada

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u/Euclid_Interloper 25d ago

I think it's safe to say that Canada fucks up every good idea that it comes across at the moment. From Cannabis to Assisted Suicide, the Trudeau government just seems to fumble.

There's two ways to look at it. Either 'don't do it, look at Canada' or 'look at Canada, let's do it differently'.

I prefer the second. One bad example of governance shouldn't kill an idea stone dead if we can learn the lessons from others mistakes.

2

u/Xenasis Manchester 25d ago

The headline of the article is that it's preventable:

'Four years into legalization, the problems that have kept the unlicensed system in business are largely preventable'

Most people get their weed legally, and dealers are absolutely not nearly as much of a thing now. The only reason grey market stuff still exists is because the government has ridiculous rules on how much you can put in an edible, which your article points out.

Source: I live in Canada.

0

u/Exact-Put-6961 25d ago

Not what happenned in California. The environmental damage from. Illegal grow ops, is immense

-1

u/Shriven 25d ago

It absolutely wouldn't be instant - the idea that county lines would go and breathe a sigh of relief and pay tax and electricity costs and all that is laughable.

-7

u/Ginge04 25d ago

Not true, they just move on to other enterprises.

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u/Powerful-Map-4359 25d ago edited 25d ago

This is such a non-argument, there's nothing to stop criminal organisations, well other than the law, from moving into "other enterprises".

Drugs being decriminalised and supplied by legal means, doesn't suddenly create a huge demand for other illegal "enterprises" so either way it financially damages criminal organisations.

2

u/Euclid_Interloper 25d ago

Crime operates with the same basic pressures as other businesses. In other words supply/demand and risk/reward.

The idea that these shady people will just concoct some new evil plan just isn't realistic. They MAY try and move into another area of the black economy, but they will be competing with people that are already established there. So market pressures will come into play and the worst performers will be forced out of an over saturated market.

-1

u/Ginge04 25d ago

The idea that they will all suddenly go straight is also unrealistic. These are people who are dishonest, untrustworthy and in many cases, violent. You think they’re just going to suddenly legitimise their enterprise and pay taxes just because you legalise weed? Fat fucking chance, they’ll just carry on, undercut the legitimate businesses and keep making lives miserable.

2

u/Euclid_Interloper 25d ago

Some will. But again, supply and demand. Demand will drop because the more affluent and risk averse users will go for legitimate vendors. You simply can't run a business if the demand goes away.

There will always be those who, for one reason or another, will buy the illegal stuff. Just as people buy cigarettes from the guy in the pub. But it will be a much much smaller clientele than at current, therefore the illegal workforce will shrink.

1

u/AndyTheSane 25d ago

Well, no.

Drugs are a fantastic product for criminals - everyone involved in the chain from grower to user has an incentive to keep it secret and the profit margins are huge. Other enterprises exist, but they all involve more work for less money and a greater chance of discovery.

-15

u/BookmarksBrother 25d ago

except, they will sell it for cheaper by avoiding the taxes and regulation (see California) or sell other hard drugs like in Amsterdam.

5

u/Square-Competition48 25d ago

Okay but they’d switch to other hard drugs if we somehow eliminated it so should we not try and eliminate it?

-11

u/BookmarksBrother 25d ago

What I am saying is, if you want to make these guys to stop from dealing, legalizing it wont work. They will still deal for cheaper or deal other stuff.

If you want to legalize pot then fine, but do not pretend thats gonna sort out criminality, gov budget black holes and prison spaces.

3

u/Zealousideal_Day5001 25d ago

this bullshit is why it's still illegal. The fact that there are people like you out there arguing against its legalisation is why the government has not yet legalised it.

-2

u/BookmarksBrother 25d ago edited 25d ago

lol, its illegal in 99.9% of the globe and in the 0.1% of the globe where it was made legal other issues have popped up.

But I am sure nobody thought about this simple solution.

3

u/Zealousideal_Day5001 25d ago edited 25d ago

You do know that the reason it's illegal across so much of the world is due to US imperialism and the UN cajoling everyone along to join the US? It's not like a load of boffins got together and decided on the best public policy.

The US only got so het up about it because of lobbying from the alcohol and timber industry, which saw cannabis and hemp as a threat. It really wasn't because our intellectual superiors knew what was best for us.

It's like saying "wow 99% of oil is traded in the US dollar, this must mean that trading oil in Euros is a terrible idea."

oh and it's not 99% of the world anyway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map-of-world-cannabis-laws.svg

2

u/Square-Competition48 25d ago

Yes… but that argument could be applied to literally everything.

I’m pretty sure you can buy black market bananas and them being legal hasn’t fixed the budget or eased prison overcrowding.

Should bananas be illegal?

0

u/Zealousideal_Day5001 25d ago

the trade in coffee and cocoa is probably more immoral than the UK's cannabis market

2

u/schpamela 25d ago

Prohibitionists never seem to grasp that demand drives the black market, not supply.

If weed was fully legal, the vast majority of demand for black market weed would disappear once legal avenues were available. That would greatly reduce by far the largest source of income for organised crime. But the demand for hard drugs wouldn't magically increase to compensate - why would it? The same existing demand would continue to be there and organised crime would continue to supply it as they already do now.

Of course organised crime itself wouldn't disappear but it would suffer an enormous recession.

0

u/BookmarksBrother 25d ago

If weed was fully legal, the vast majority of demand for black market weed would disappear once legal avenues were available.

Go read about California. The illegal weed market has overtaken the legal market because they avoid regulation and taxes so the legal businesses cannot compete.

1

u/schpamela 25d ago edited 25d ago

That article is 3 years old. This more recent one has an estimated 61% of the sales still being black market. That means the state is still fucking up implementation enormously - they were famously the first state to legalise so their mistakes are there for everyone else to learn from. You've obviously focused on the first, worst instance of legalisation which doesn't represent what it would be like for the UK.

But regardless of that, the taxman gets a lot of revenue and the black market trade is considerably reduced. So you tell me, is that situation better or worse than criminalisation, where the taxman gets nothing and 100% of the demand goes to black market?

Edit: meanwhile in Canada:

'Almost three-quarters (73%) of people reported purchasing cannabis from a legal source (legal store or legal website), up from 2019 and 2022. Fifteen percent (15%) of people reported obtaining their cannabis from a social source (shared around a group of friends, from a friend, family member or acquaintance), and 5% reported growing their own cannabis or having it specifically grown for them; both represented a decrease from 2018 and 2022. Only 3% of people reported using an illegal purchase source (illegal store, illegal website or dealer), down from 2018'

-2

u/BookmarksBrother 25d ago

Canada has "legal supply" for all the drugs and its a mess. City centres look like its a zombie apocalypse.

So yes, I believe that stat you provided, however, as I said other issues have popped up and its far from the utopia people imagine.

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1

u/Spare_Dig_7959 25d ago

Not if you come to formal agreements with suppliers including quality control.

18

u/barriedalenick Ex Londoner - Now in Portugal 25d ago

I have never heard a better argument for legalisation but most weed in the UK is not imported from Mexico - that's just nonsense..

1

u/VFequalsVeryFcked 25d ago

but most weed in the UK is not imported from Mexico - that's just nonsense..

They were being facetious

9

u/twonaq 25d ago

No one in the uk is buying weed from a Mexican drug cartel.

1

u/SamPlinth 25d ago

But that is mainly due to the extortionate P&P.

4

u/NuPNua 25d ago

How much weed in the UK do you think comes from Mexican Cartels?

11

u/ban_jaxxed 25d ago

Lol Juárez-on-sea

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Freddichio 25d ago

No luck catching them dealers then?

3

u/ban_jaxxed 25d ago

That "our Chapos" coming into your shop. Get a look at his arrrrse!

3

u/RealNameJohn_ 25d ago

So you agree substance prohibition doesn’t work and gets you the worst of both worlds then.

0

u/Exact-Put-6961 25d ago

Actually, in terms of reducing use, across a population, it does work. Not as well as it might, but it works.

1

u/RealNameJohn_ 20d ago

I mean…surely the question remains, are the harms associated with cannabis use worse for society than the harms inflicted by keeping it illegal?

IE trafficking, gang land beatings, murders, crack cocaine & heroin dealing ect that are all carried out directly with the funding obtained from black market cannabis sales? I’m gonna go with no. That’s not to mention all the other heinous crimes organised crime groups are responsible for.

1

u/Exact-Put-6961 19d ago

So all that is caused by cannabis being illegal? Dont be ridiculous.

4

u/Dordymechav 25d ago

So you're saying that the only bad thing about is the fact that it's illegal and unregulated? Hmm, I wonder what actions the government could take that would fix tjat problem?.

4

u/mumwifealcoholic 25d ago

But that problem would be mostly solved by legalisation wouldn't it?

Yes, there will still be black market weed. There is still blackmarket booze. But mostly it's not the black market. The days of speak easys and Al Capone are over.

2

u/J8YDG9RTT8N2TG74YS7A 25d ago

There is still blackmarket booze.

It's incredibly rare to come across illegal alcohol.

Legal alcohol is so cheap that the profits on illegal alcohol are virtually non-existent.

0

u/TwentyCharactersShor 25d ago

Yep, but legalisation is distinct from decriminalisation.

I am all in favour of making it legal, but decriminalisation is just stupid.

2

u/socratic-meth 25d ago

Why do you reckon the supply of cannabis is mainly in the hands of criminals?

3

u/MondeyMondey 25d ago

Yeah but they’re bad cos of the murder not the weed

1

u/Zealousideal_Day5001 25d ago

I used to sell a little and I never did any human trafficking. You reckon our weed comes from Mexico? It probably was grown within 10 miles from where it's sold in 99% of cases.

1

u/Euclid_Interloper 25d ago

Which is exactly why we should take the final step and legalise the product.

1

u/Drillingz 25d ago

Your whole point just proves why legalisation is necessary lol

-3

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

5

u/Ambient-Surprise 25d ago

Uk medical is not better than black market as it lacks a lot of terpenes and it’s also more expensive typically looking at £8.50 per gram where as black market is around £5-£6 per gram. You do need real medical conditions and you need at least two failed conventional treatments tried first.

-4

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

2

u/schpamela 25d ago

ive been smoking weed for 10 years daily easily smoking 4g a day

i was "addicted" to weed

My friend, clearly you are addicted to weed, so why the sarcastic quotes? Don't delude yourself into thinking you don't have a serious problem - 4g a day will seriously fuck up your mental health long term. Guess how I know!!

1

u/Exact-Put-6961 25d ago

And with regular use there is the testicular cancer risk

1

u/LividLime1869 25d ago

ibsr i stopped caring like 5 years ago, i already have memory issues from the bud. sad thing is if i could afford more i would, my ideal for daily smoke is 7g, 4g aint really that much its only 4 zoots.

1

u/schpamela 25d ago

I get you, and I'm not having a go, just wanted to call it what it is. For me, when I was smoking multiple grams a day I wasn't really enjoying it any more, but would feel worse if I stopped. Being lean all day meant I'm content but emotionally blunted, which meant I don't get much out of the rest of life.

It gets you through the day and there's worse things to abuse, but really I was avoiding processing a bunch of trauma and grief. It got better eventually with good friends and a therapist. Maybe can do for you at some point

0

u/AarhusNative Isle of Man 25d ago

"everything u said is completely incorrect. medical IS better and stronger with more thc content and thats a fact. "

No, it isn't. I can get black market weed from California that blows medical UK perscribed weed out of the water. I have a prescription but mostly use the black market.

-1

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/AarhusNative Isle of Man 25d ago

Again, I'm not. You are wrong.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

0

u/AarhusNative Isle of Man 25d ago

You're funny. A bit early to be stoned though, isn't it?

1

u/travelling_ok 25d ago

How?

1

u/barriedalenick Ex Londoner - Now in Portugal 25d ago

Have a look here

r/ukmedicalcannabis

0

u/marzbarzx 25d ago

Idk about ‘better quality’ the amount of posts I see on r/Ukmedicalcannabis complaining about the quality of their bud, seeds present, overly dry due to being irradiated, I’ve even seen posts regarding mold on their prescription!

it’s also unfortunately not cheaper, since it’s privatised so consultation costs/annual fees/prescription costs are present

Then add that you’re not allowed to ‘smoke’ your prescription but only vape.

you do have a wide array of choice under medical though, so I suppose there’s that! plus the law behind you (which from this post doesn’t mean much anymore it seems lol)

2

u/lovely-luscious-lube 22d ago

it’s also unfortunately not cheaper, since it’s privatised so consultation costs/annual fees/prescription costs are present

For a lot of people, including myself, it is cheaper even when factoring in fees. Add to that the fact that you know exactly what you’re getting and how strong it is rather than playing the lottery on the street where you could end up with 10% THC or 30%.

1

u/LividLime1869 25d ago

your not required to vape the bud. but if u get caught in public you could get in trouble for not using the vape. but the vape is shit. i have a might medic and it just ruins the flower

2

u/marzbarzx 25d ago

You are though? If you ‘smoke’ your prescription it’s misuse and illegal

Here’s two posts Link1 Link2 on the matter!

May as well just go BM if you’re consuming illegally, will save you money and yeah I’ve never been a fan of vaping either, doesn’t hit the same lol.

Anyway I get the impression you’re quite pleasant:) take care dude!

2

u/LividLime1869 25d ago

my clinic says its only if your in public, i only smoke in my shed so that part of the doesnt apply, i dont smoke in public noone should get second hand smoke just cuz im addicted to it