"They also concluded the use of hash, a milder form of the drug, was not associated with increased risk of psychosis."

I'm not in favour of it, just pointing it out for the sake of argument. And there are a lot of worse things out there which are legal.

Should be legal, as should ecstasy. Both are a lot less harmful/addictive than alcohol and smoking, as outlined by the drugs report commissioned by the government, who then sacked the guy who wrote it (forget his name) because it didn't fit in with their policy. Would also be much safer than picking up off a dealer that's mixed it with all sorts, meaning less deaths (that's what we all want right?) and would make the government a sh*t load in cash, as well as reducing street crime. What's not to like?

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Arguably the entire policy of treating a health problem as a criminal justice one is a disaster that has created far more problems for society than even drugs like heroin and cocaine can produce. We're stuck in a false morality loop that doesn't even consider the consequences of that moral judgement in comparison.

Its just repeating itself.

The current approach doesn't act in the best interests of drug users, addicts, law enforcement, health care workers, relatives of addicts or ordinary members of society - the only people it really benefits is politicians and the media.

Ultimately, we're criminalizing and killing our youth in order to 'send a message' that no ones been listening to for the last 40 years, because it makes no sense.

The problems of addiction and substance abuse cannot be dealt by criminal justice solutions. It would be cheaper to just give away heroin to anyone who wanted it, than the real costs to society of prohibition.

That drugs like magic mushrooms, LSD, Ecstacy are class A, Schedule 1 drugs, sums up the problem. All are non-habit forming, non-addictive, very low risk minimal social impact drugs, which have a much lower social impact than say alcohol.

But the whole government are stuck in an authoritarian power trip where by their 'demand for obedience' outweighs any common sense. It is essentially that people dare to defy their authority, that irks them.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

hardly groundbreaking - take any stupid-strength chemical and the chances are it's not going to do you any good. Some people like to get f***ed up on silly skunk, other more sensible people will smoke something milder and go about their life mentally sound.

There are so many variables and different studies supporting both ends of the argument, but I believe momentum is building behind legalisation.

I believe it is a fact cannabis can be a trigger for mental illness, which is what this serves to highlight. I don't think any reasonable person would have denied that prior to this study. Despite that, the benefits of cannabis being legalised or decriminilised, in my view at least, far outweigh the negatives for society as a whole. Some will always fall victim to misuse, but that can said of any substance consumed by man.

I noted a new organisation, describing themselves as a political party, has launched, calling themselves "CISTA", Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol. Could that be the start of a movement? I doubt it, but change is coming and would be welcomed by me, despite this report.

Instances of psychosis in the population haven't increased significantly, or proportionally to the increased levels of cannabis use in society - Which suggests that whilst a correlational effect is at work, it isn't a strong causal factor - especially given the studies focus on very high quantity abusers (who are drawn from a psychiatric pool).

Its also particually note worthy that psychiatry doesn't regard schizophrenia as generally being caused by environmental factors (and certainly not by environmental factors exclusively), often focusing on genetic and biological casual factors.

So whilst the studies author is keen to push the idea of a causal relationship, its worth noting that this is generally completely against the trend of psychiatry regarding epidemiological factors.

Likely as not, heavy substance abuse, is more consistent with the development of disorders such as schizophrenia, rather than causal. Certainly, you would expect instances of autopsies to show some organic brain tissue damage as a result of cannabis use resulting in schizophrenia.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]