Legalisation of Cannabis

This essay is about the legalisation of cannabis, the essay will be looking at
the negative and positive sides of the legalisation of cannabis and elaborating
on them. I have chosen this topic to write my essay on because I believe it is
a controversial subject and people have a lot of different views on cannabis
consumption, be it for leisure purposes or medical. Cannabis is currently a
class B drug in the UK and is now considered quite a serious offence to be in
possession of the drug.

Many people around the world believe that cannabis is very harmful to your
health and many others believe exactly the opposite of this. During the course
of my studies in the UK I have encountered students and teachers who have
very different opinions on cannabis, some for some against, this interested
me in wanting to find out for my self the truth behind the effects that cannabis
can have on us.

When it comes to cannabis and its effects it has on people, there are many
different opinions and views on this subject available on the internet and other
sources, but a lot of the times there is no corroborating evidence to support
these opinions and views. Although a lot of things are unclear about cannabis
there does appear to be some benefits of using it medically, studies have
indicated that using cannabis can relieve pain and can thoroughly improve
the lives of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis. “Scientists concluded
that patients for whom other treatments have failed should be given tablets
made from cannabis derivatives”.
Mike O'Donovan, chief executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society said:
"These improvements to quality of life can make a significant difference to
people with MS. On the evidence now available, the MS Society believes
those who might benefit should be able to have treatment prescribed on the
NHS."

there is currently a lot of research going on in the UK regarding the use of

cannabis medically, the government are seriously considering to make it
readily available to people in need of the drug on the NHS. Doctors around
the world are reluctant to prescribe their patients cannabis as a medicine
because traditionally cannabis is smoked to induce its effects on the body.
Currently in the UK Professor Roger Pertwee, Britain's leading
researcher into the medical benefits of cannabis, is currently trying to
develop cannabis derived medicine with out any of the unwanted effects that
cannabis usually portrays.

So it is easily said that cannabis does have benefits for the user in medically
relevant situations. But there is still a lot to learn and understand about the
cannabis plant before saying with 100% certainty it is beneficial to who ever
consumes it.

Although cannabis can be beneficial to a lot of people suffering from different

illnesses and conditions there are side affects from using cannabis and also
long term affects. There are said to be many disturbing side effects of
cannabis other than the happy high feeling everybody talks about. There
have been many cannabis users that have said to suffer from side effects
such as paranoia, anxiety, panic attacks, blackouts and nausea, other long
term side effects said also to be related to extensive use of the drug are that
cannabis can induce psychosis and even be linked to schizophrenia.
Again in my findings I have been unable to find any solid evidence that can
link cannabis directly to these illnesses.
Despite the many drawbacks of cannabis, many users today state that they
do not suffer or have ever suffered from these symptoms and side effects of
cannabis, so the drugs effect possibly varies from person to person.

There has been studies on the effects of cannabis on young minds, this
research was carried out because there is very little information about
cannabis and the effects it has on young minds, this is due to all or most
cannabis research being carried out on adults. This is a disturbing factor
because recent polls show that more and more young people are active
cannabis users. Right now the concern is that young minds could be more
vulnerable to the effects of cannabis than that of a mature adult.

If governments were to legalise cannabis there would be a lot of benefits to

that country, but it would depend on how the drug is legalised. Governments
could completely legalise the use of cannabis in this instance people would
be free to use it therapeutically and not only medically. Legalizing Marijuana
would create a new fast growing, money making industry in any country it is
legalised in because polls show that it is the most used illegal substance
around the world. If governments legalise marijuana then it is fair to say they
can assume some control over the substance eliminating a lot of black market
activity meaning a strong drop in crime rates. Legalising cannabis would
obviously benefit its users because they would no longer have any issues
with authorities and can freely consume the drug, but the other benefit to the
users is that it can eliminate a the fear of consuming contaminated cannabis
as a lot of black market sellers contaminate cannabis to add weight to
increase profits etc. so if government were to legalise cannabis this would
allow for the product that is being sold to be controlled.
Governments would be free to tax cannabis as they already do on tobacco
and alcohol this would mean a large extra income for them which could be
directed to improve standard of living.
There are many benefits to the legalisation of cannabis and one could
probably argue continuously why it should be legalised but like every thing in
this world legalisation of cannabis does have its drawbacks. I believe a strong
drawback to legalising cannabis is that when being used for recreational
purposes the drug is usually not ingested in the healthiest of manners and it
will be abused and could very well lead to health problems. But even when a
drug is legalized, as happened with alcohol at the end of Prohibition, other
drug-related problems may arise such as increased accidents while users are
under the influence. If marijuana were to be legalised it would obviously
become readily available for any adult who wishes to consume it, this could
bring on other issues, the black market for the sale of marijuana would
continue to exist but more likely to target their sales to minors which are not
allowed access to marijuana if it were to be legalised. This could be a serious
problem as there are very few and limited studies about the effects of
cannabis on young users.

There are many variables when coming to the decision of whether cannabis
should be legalised or not. I believe the main factor that remains consistent
throughout is that there is a lot more to be learned about this drug and its
uses as medicine or recreational. It is already obvious according to scientific
research that marijuana has positive effects on patients suffering from
different illnesses like MS, but recreationally used there are to many
unknowns for a lot of governments to go ahead with the legalisation. In my
personal opinion I believe that the drug should be readily available for those
patients suffering who really do need it, but I also believe that going ahead
and making it available to any one is very unethical seeing as how much is
really unknown about cannabis.

I am a believer that in the future cannabis will play its roll in society weather it
be as a medicine, recreational drug or as a source of paper, clothing and
many other products that used to be made from hemp before prohibition,
and I also believe that no matter what governments do to keep prohibition of
cannabis going I think it is inevitable that it will be legalised or unable to be
controlled with the prohibition.
References:

Francis Wilkinson. 2004. Proposal by Francis Wilkinson.

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BBC. 2000. Scientists develop cannabis spray. [ONLINE]

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BBC. 2006. Cannabis 'affecting young minds'. [ONLINE]

Available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1064462.stm.
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BBC. 2005. Cannabis and psychosis. [ONLINE] Available

at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/410
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Direct.gov.uk. 2009. New campaign shows teenagers

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The Independant. 2003. World's biggest MS trial shows

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/worlds-
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BMJ. 2005. Cannabis has medical benefits but needs

further investigation, says report. [ONLINE] Available
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[Accessed 18 April 10].

Guide4Living. 2008. Effects of Cannabis. [ONLINE]

Available at:
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