Yeah that’s right. The UK government has replied to the 208,000 strong signed petition that wants the Production, Sale and Use of Cannabis legalised in Britain and the rest of the UK. And their reply is a SCAM!
Ok, so its not the traditional scam that im used to covering, but the justifications they are using to argue their point are based on the incorrect info and subsequently the message they deliver is misleading and therefore its a SCAM!
And in my usual style, I’ll explain why.
“Substantial scientific evidence shows cannabis is a harmful drug that can damage human health. There are no plans to legalise cannabis as it would not address the harm to individuals and communities.”
Caffeine, Sugar, Nicotine, Alcohol…. all “damage human health” and all “cause harm to individuals and communities” – and i’m not saying that because these things also cause harm, then its ok to legalise Cannabis, but if they are keeping Cannabis illegal then shouldn’t we now be looking to do the same to everything else that is A LOT more harmful to humans? Im a firm believer in one rule or no rule. Not different rules for different things depending on how much money the .gov’s can make from them.
“The latest evidence from the independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is that the use of cannabis is a significant public health issue (‘Cannabis Classification and Public Health’, 2008).”
Latest? 2008? Err…. Thats like 9 years ago. We have practically changed the world in the last ten years or so. Im pretty certain science has found out a lot more about Cannabis in the last 9 years. We’ve invented self driving cars in the last 9 years for gods sake, we’re living in the future!
“Cannabis can unquestionably cause harm to individuals and society. Legalisation of cannabis would not eliminate the crime committed by the illicit trade, nor would it address the harms associated with drug dependence and the misery that this can cause to families.”
The thing that pisses me off here is that that Cannabis is already on the streets, it’s already in our communities, but it’s made into a problem for society because the people that sell/consume/deal with it have to do it in dodgy areas or alleyways/car parks and it then creates “antisocial behaviour” which causes members of the public to feel unsafe walking through said alleyways and car parks. If it was legalised and commercialised like in many many other countries across the world, this “antisocial behaviour” that stems from the Cannabis community would vanish.
“Legalisation would also send the wrong message to the vast majority of people who do not take drugs, especially young and vulnerable people, with the potential grave risk of increased misuse of drugs.”
Actually, young people are bloody intelligent now and you may find that if you lot put your big boy pants on and actually legalised Cannabis, the respect you would get from the younger generations would be staggering. They all think the political system is run by old irelivant toffs that have no grasp of what’s actually going on – so prove them wrong! 🙂
Also, studies in Countries like the Netherlands show that the uptake of things like Cannabis in youngsters is actually significantly lower, because its not “Cool” to do it when it’s legal. True story.
“Despite the potential opportunity offered by legalisation to raise revenue through taxation, there would be costs in relation to administrative, compliance and law enforcement activities, as well as the wider costs of drug prevention and health services.”
What. A. Load. Of. Bollocks. What about the fact that apart from criminal damage, simply being caught in possession of Cannabis, not “Drugs”, just Cannabis, is the 3rd highest “Offence” listed in publically available Government statistics;
What about all the money that would be saved if that was no longer an offence? Anyone think of that at any point?
“The UK’s approach on drugs remains clear: we must prevent drug use in our communities; help dependent individuals through treatment and wider recovery support; while ensuring law enforcement protects society by stopping the supply and tackling the organised crime that is associated with the drugs trade. The Government will build on the Drugs Strategy by continuing to take a balanced and coherent approach to address the evolving challenges posed.”
You cannot prevent drug use. Its not something that you are able to do. Stop trying.
Yes, help dependent people if they no longer want to be dependent and if its having a detrimental effect on their lives, well done. (You should be doing that anyway.)
*sigh*
They had to mention the organised crime bit didn’t they. That one always grinds my gears.
How about this one you morons, if it’s legal, there would be no “organised crime” as Cannabis production and distribution makes up a huge portion of the profits for many underground distribution networks, and if you take that away they’ll start to crumble…
Ask any drug dealer, they DO NOT want Cannabis (or any drug for that matter) legalised!
“There are positive signs that the Government’s approach is working: there has been a long term downward trend in drug use over the last decade, and more people are recovering from their dependency now than in 2009/10. The number of adults aged 16-59 using cannabis in the last year in England and Wales has declined over the last decade from 9.6% to 6.7%, with cannabis use amongst young adults aged 16-24 and young people aged 11-15 following a similar pattern.”
It was this last paragraph that did it for me. This is the one in which they are scamming the crap out of us.
If you spend 5 minutes looking into drugs like MCAT, Spice and synthetic cannabinoids, you will soon realise that those kind of drugs appeared out of nowhere about ten years ago, and have significantly risen in popularity over the last 5 years to the point where many people are opting for the synthetic drugs over traditional drugs like Cannabis, because they are VERY CHEAP (and very, very dangerous!)
So maybe that is what has contributed to the apparent decline in Cannabis usage? Is it worth maybe factoring that into your investigation, rather than simply getting the tea boy to create a response to this petition that insults the intelligence of every supporter this cause has had behind it?
I’ve honestly never read something from an organisation the size of the UK Government that is so poorly researched and written – its actually pretty upsetting to think thats how our Government saw fit to respond to so many of the people they were elected to serve.
Im sure its not over, as the US Government has finally admitted that Cannabis does have beneficial properties for Cancer suffers and people with many many other different types of illnesses. It can’t be ignored forever.
So I shall continue to watch with interest with the hope that one day the UK .gov will finally grow a pair and join the rest of the world in progressing our nation rather than clinging on to the Reefer Madness mentality from the 1930’s.
Just had a call at work from an indian chap claiming to be from Utilities Expert. I recorded the call and tried to bait him with false info so we could get to his recommendations. – but unfortunately he caught me off guard and I didn’t have the correct info to hand.
