Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello I am thinking about writing an email to my local MP because I would like for cannabis to finally be legalized in the UK for medical reasons as one of its benefits and also I would like to see it be legalized for other reasons I think and for the minimum age to smoke cannabis to be set at age 18 as we become adults at that age in this country for many other purposes so I don't see why it cannot be set at age 18 like most other countries have set it at that age and because of many other things having a minimum age of 18 too. Also we should all be allowed to make all types of decisions as adults who are age 18 or over like whether to smoke cannabis or not or do other stuff as no age restrictions should apply to adults either because age restrictions should only apply to children and teenagers who are underage. I really need some good advice please.
I agree on legalised cannabis for medical and recreational usage for many reasons. I've tried cannabis in the past and taken an interest in learning about it.
-Many medical benefits- painkiller (much safer than opiod painkillers), anti-seizure(there are cases of epilepsy where cannabis is the only effective treatment) etc
-Prohibition doesn't stop people using cannabis.
-Prohibition causes harm because if you buy street cannabis you have no idea what you are getting, how strong it is or if it is contaminated or not.
-It should not be a crime to relax in your own time with cannabis.
-If legal, people who want to buy cannabis would no longer have to put themselves at risk by buying from a street dealer (who may rob them or offer other drugs for sale etc)
-Police resources would be freed up to be used elsewhere.
-If made legal, money spent on cannabis can go to the Government and benefit the economy rather than street dealers. In Colorado citizens get tax rebates and some profits go towards helping the homeless.
-Compare the effects of cannabis to alcohol- being drunk causes fights, violence, accidents, disturbances, A+E visits, domestic incidents etc. Being stoned causes relaxation, giggles and munchies!
-Cannabis is very safe, an overdose isn't fatal and withdrawals aren't fatal (you can't say the same for alcohol).
-Another point worth mentioning is cannabis doesn't cause impulsive behaviour like alcohol does so you are unlikely to say things or send text messages you will regret the next day. You can think of it like this- alcohol makes you act without thinking, cannanis makes you think without acting.
-In my opinion we in Britain are misled by the alleged mental health effects of cannabis. We are led to believe that cannabis will cause mental health effects and schizophrenia etc. But look at all the states and countries that have had legalisation for years and none of them have had an outbreak of mental health issues. Some people find cannabis makes them paranoid but in my opinion this may be for reasons relating to prohibition as opposed to the cannabis per se.
-Look at other countries policies. Canada and Uruguay have legal recreation cannabis. 30 US states have legal medical cannabis and about 10 have legal recreational cannabis. Portugal, Netherlands, Norway and even South Africa have decriminalised cannabis. None of these nations have changed their mind and made it illegal again after legalising it.
-Prohibition causes unfair and unjust stigma. People who don't know much about cannabis just assume because it is an illegal drug it must be as bad as other illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine, meth etc and judge you for it.
The UK has recently legalised cannabis for medical reasons. However as you can imagine it will be very hard to get a prescription of and only a specialist can prescribe it. Oh and the NHS won't fund medical cannabis so if you do get a prescription you will need to pay a very large sum of money.
The Tories are a very backward party with no interest in cannabis reform laws or looking after the vulnerable. All they care about is the country's top 1%. The Lib Dems and Green Party are the ones with an interest in reform.
This site will tell you who your local and national politicians you can write to are:
https://www.writetothem.com/