Also, many people watching casualty or Holby city on a regular basis will have seen cases of drugged people being violently ill, and not admitting what caused the problem. If cannabis does cause any dangerous side effects, at least if it was legal people would have no hesitation in telling their doctor what was wrong with them.
if it was legalised, there are other benefits. If hemp was grown in this country, it has a huge number of uses.1 acre of hemp fibre can produce as much fibre as 2 or 3 acres of cotton. Hemp fibre is much stronger and softer than cotton, lasts easily twice as long as cotton, and will not suffer from mildew in damp conditions. It could be easily used to make clothes.
One for the environmentalists out there. It takes many years for trees to grow until they are ready to be cut down and used to make paper or wood, but hemp is ready for harvesting after only 120 days from planting. Hemp can grow on most farmland, but forests and tree farms require large areas of land, not easily available. Using g hemp instead of trees would also r educe erosion due to logging, thereby reducing topsoil loss and water pollution caused by soil runoff.
Of course, cannabis like anything else can, and probably will, be abused by some people. The most likely problem is overuse and excessive smoking, which can cause lethargic or lazy behaviour, but does not cause any serious health problems as far as medical research so far has found out. It does not ruin long-term memory, lead to harder drugs, does not cause brain damage or damage to your immune system. It does not kill off brain cells of make people more violent (unlike alcohol).
Constant overuse may cause bronchitis, but the same applies to smoking. However, cannabis smokers are very unlikely so smoke the same amount as cigarette smokers.
Alcohol and cigarettes contribute to strong addiction, cancer, heart problems, birth defects, emphysema, liver damage, to name but a few.
A study conducted by the UCLA in America 1n 1997 on 243 cannabis smokers in an eight year period found that (written as quoted) "Findings from the long-term study of heavy, habitual marijuana smokers argue against the concept that continuing heavy use of marijuana is a significant risk factor for the development of chronic lung disease." "Neither the continuing nor the intermittent marijuana smokers exhibited any significantly different rates of decline in lung function as compared with those individuals who never smoked marijuana." The study concluded: "No differences were noted between even quite heavy marijuana smoking and non-smoking of marijuana."
I have used cannabis myself on occasions. It does reduce pain, it makes me relax, and it makes me happier. I don't use it often, like most people I only occasionally use it.
My feeling is that cannabis itself it not dangerous. However, the dealers that roam the streets of Nottingham and many other towns and cities, with guns, trying to press cannabis on children are VERY dangerous.
