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

[u/RandomUsername1604]

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

[u/ByteSizedGenius]

I'm not a fan of this halfway house approach when it comes to the criminalisation of things. It's either something we care enough about for the law to be there and Police Officers enforce it or it's not and subsequently shouldn't be criminalised and funding organised crime. I'm all for a pragmatic age limit given the adverse effects it's shown to have in juvenile heavy smokers, but I think it's time we cut out the dodgy middle men and women and make the state some money with taxation.

[u/Lopsided_Rush3935 → u/ByteSizedGenius]

Cannabis legalization could have the potential to do sizeable damage to tobacco smoking rates in the UK via cannabis overtaking tobacco as the drug that young adults take up first. If they take up cannabis first, they might never feel the need to try tobacco, and the only reason tobacco has really survived against weed thus far is because it's legal (easier to get).

This would be great for societal health providing that there are good protections in place to stop children being exposed to it and neurologically vulnerable people (who it can provoke psychotic disability in), but the loss of tobacco taxation would be notable to the government. Tobacco is taxed very highly and it would be uncertain as to whether weed could be taxed similarly.

The thing about weed is that, if people don't like high prices created by heavy taxation, people will just start growing their own again. There aren't people out there growing tobacco at home, regardless of it's expense.

[u/Euclid_Interloper → u/Lopsided_Rush3935]

I'm convinced cannabis edibles are the way forward for society. I just want to buy some cannabis ice cream and chill out like I did in Colorado 😭 😆

[u/TMDan92 → u/Euclid_Interloper]

Honestly a walk around a local park looking for a QR code or a half hour browse of insta can probably get you where you want to be.

[u/Euclid_Interloper → u/TMDan92]

I know, but I'm honestly a bit of a wimp. Getting all middle aged and boring haha. Would rather have a nice little dispensary to visit.

[u/CrossCityLine → u/Euclid_Interloper]

Yeah I’m sure the govt won’t allow the legalisation of something smokable, especially with all the talk about some people never being able to buy cigarettes.

Edibles, oils etc may well become legal but I find it hard to believe that buying weed to smoke will ever be legal.

[u/DigitialWitness → u/CrossCityLine]

It's already legal and has been since 2019. You can get medical cannabis prescriptions if you've got a qualifying condition, but they're limited to vaping, oils, vape cartridges and/or pastilles and consuming it in a way that it wasn't prescribed to you will essentially invalidate your prescription and you could potentially get a warning/conviction.

[u/MaievSekashi → u/CrossCityLine]

People will smoke something no matter what.

[u/rocc_high_racks → u/Lopsided_Rush3935]

It's more the alcohol industry that's preventing legalisation. Statistics from basically all the US states that have legalised show alcohol consumption rates dropping with cannabis legalisation, and the alcohol industry has an absolute stranglehold on British politics.

[u/Lopsided_Rush3935 → u/rocc_high_racks]

Tobacco and alcohol. They go easily hand-in-hand.

If you drink, you're probably also more likely to smoke. The classical idea of masculinity is beer and cigarettes (which is ironic because both make you weaker).

[u/sobrique → u/Lopsided_Rush3935]

My experience with weed was the opposite though when I was indulging (many years ago officer). We'd not be drinking alcohol to go with it, because we didn't feel the need.

Ironically some of the people I know from that time still have a nicotine habit from the rollups though!

[u/Lopsided_Rush3935 → u/sobrique]

Nicotine is broadly more addictive than alcohol I think, yeah. I've known people who have quit drinking but have required 10-20 years longer in order to quit smoking.

But yeah, weed negates that (albeit maybe increases binge eating when high), and so is the enemy of both the tobacco giants and the alcohol giants.

[u/sobrique → u/Lopsided_Rush3935]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure nicotine is the most physiologically addictive of the three.

Alcohol is the one that's most likely to be fatal due to overconsumption.

I think technically 'too much nicotine' can kill you, but it's absurdly hard to achieve that by "normal" consumption methods.

The one thing I'm wary of about weed edibles personally is just how much could be contained in a 'full stomach' for someone who didn't realise they need to take it slow.

Either way, I can't really see there's any sensible argument based on harm/impact/addiction/health etc. of making weed illegal whilst nicotine and alcohol aren't.

[u/Ripp3rCrust → u/rocc_high_racks]

It's a shame as alcohol abuse is such a blight on society and a burden to the taxpayer. The number of A&E attendances, the volume of police calls and antisocial behaviour, and the chronic health conditions that are a result of alcoholism.

It really needs to be better regulated. The legalisation of cannabis and subsequent taxation could be diverted into alcohol harm-reduction programmes and stronger controls. This is before you even consider the organised crime and human trafficking involved with the illicit grows and supply.

[u/sobrique → u/Lopsided_Rush3935]

I'm now wondering if you could cultivate tobacco leaf with a home 'setup' the same way as weed is grown.

I'd assume it broadly works the same?

Although I also recall that the Eden Project found that cultivating coffee was surprisingly hard, because good coffee is very sensitive to a bunch of environmental factors like soil nutrients.

So maybe you just get substandard tobacco leaf, so you might as well just buy the stuff.

But yes, I think legalisation is really the only sensible choice for recreational use substances.

I will go as far as saying I'm supportive of stronger stuff than tobacco being legalised too, because as far as I'm concerned with safe/reliable/ethical supply, informed consent and a support mechanism (taxation funded) the outcomes for all concerned are vastly improved. Even for the very worst of them.

Almost every routine user of 'hard drugs' don't end up there without there being some sort of 'issue' that leads them down that road, and you just can't solve that by criminalisation, for all the reasons that prohibition never worked in the US.

But lets start with stuff that's demonstrably not much more harmful than some existing recreational substances. I don't believe weed is entirely 'safe' but lets not pretend nicotine or alcohol are either, and we broadly accept that adults get to make their own choices there.

[u/VoidsweptDaybreak → u/Lopsided_Rush3935]

i'm not so sure, the culture here (and most of europe) is still to smoke weed with tobacco in a spliff and i don't think that will suddenly disappear just because weed becomes legal. there's no good reason for it in the first place, it's literally just tradition and culture

[u/heppyheppykat → u/Lopsided_Rush3935]

Most people use tobacco to fill joints anyway, so I really don’t see how it would ruin the tobacco industry. If anything more joints means more nicotine. Nearly every weed smoker I know also smokes cigarettes even if just socially.