The great cannabis debate
A judge today said he was unable to jail a man who grew cannabis at his home because of “diluted” drug guidelines.
For planting eight seeds, allowing them to germinate, and letting them grow, Judge Michael Murphy said Craig Cupit should have been sent to prison.
New guidelines from the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which come into effect later this month, advise against jailing such offenders, so instead he was given a 12-month community order with supervision by the probation service.
His barrister Dermot Hughes said Cupit used cannabis to alleviate pain from a knee injury. He needed a replacement knee but because of his age would not get one for some time.
Every week I read stories of police deployed in their hundreds to bust greenhouses full of hemp.
300 plants here, 250 there, more plants destroyed, communities rescued from bags of the stuff that would otherwise have ended up on the streets.
At the same time the NHS pays billions to clean up the mess left behind by the legal, and quite respectable nicotine and alcohol trade.
Meanwhile the Government rakes in billions of pounds in tax through selling them.
Meanwhile the Government rakes in billions of pounds in tax through selling them.
Alcohol is the drug which causes half-dressed incoherent girls to stagger around the streets at midnight streaked in their own vomit.
It leads to domestic violence, family breakdown, driving deaths, cirrhosis, liver cancer, throat cancer, lack of productivity at work, dependency and depression to name a few of it’s socially-acceptable effects.
It is outlawed in several countries and carries a mandatory prison sentence for possession, in the UK its consumption is encouraged.
It is outlawed in several countries and carries a mandatory prison sentence for possession, in the UK its consumption is encouraged.
Nicotine is addictive in 100 per cent of users and causes 100,000 smoking-related deaths in the UK each year.
Again this one is perfectly legal.
Again this one is perfectly legal.
Having come from a pharmaceutical background I understand why the Cannabis plant must be eradicated for the good of mankind.
It is one of the most powerful pain killers known and is an effective sleep aid. But rather than needing to be manufactured chemically in a lab, it is easily grown on the average kitchen window sill.
A dangerous threat to the pharmaceutical industry's profits? Drug firm bosses are very keen to keep it illegal and spend millions lobbying the Government to do just that.
I became suspicious about all this while on a local newspaper. I interviewed a drug dealer - I’ll call him Paul although that isn’t his real name.
I asked Paul why he didn’t have a proper job, and if he was scared of being caught.
He told me the greatest protection to his profit margins was given to him by our legal system.
As long as people are terrified to grow cannabis they will come to him, and he can charge a top-whack, tax-free fee.
He said if cannabis were ever made legal, the rug would be pulled from under his business.
People who used it would simply grow a couple of plants with their basil on their window sill.
As it stands that is a very dangerous practice, carrying the risk of years in prison and loss of career, and earnings. It is far safer to pay a visit to Paul.
Paul is strongly against the idea of cannabis becoming legal, he would lose the "bread and butter" if his trade.
Paul is strongly against the idea of cannabis becoming legal, he would lose the "bread and butter" if his trade.
His customers are also ripe fodder for anything harder he wants to shift, he assured me.
I want to open a blog debate. Every time I read an online article on this subject readers comment in hundreds to voice their disagreement and frustration with our laws.
Should we just stamp it off the face of the earth?
What is really going on here?
There is a debate to be had here.
ReplyDeleteI would support a legalisation/regulation approach. This is from a purely practical point of view because the "War On Drugs" is an unwinnable fiasco, and outright prohibition is a cause of crime.
I wonder if a similar approach could be taken with "hard" drugs....what would a economic cost/benefit analysis show?
There is certainly a long-overdue debate. My concern is the vast amounts of money spent to police a plant. It is an un-winnable war, and an unjustified one. I also think it is very misleading and dangerous to class cannabis in the same "illegal drug" league as crack, crystal meth and the like.
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