Should Cannabis be legalised? There has been a lot of debate on whether cannabis should be legalised, there are many people who think it should be but there are also a lot of people who reckon it’s a unacceptable idea. Both sides of the argument are strong as they can support their decision, with facts; therefore the government has a very hard choice to make. I think that cannabis should be legalised because it seems to have a lot of good causes, and even though it would appear to have an unpleasant side to it, my opinion would be it has more good causes than bad. Nowadays most young people experiment with some type of drug, despite the fact they are illegal. The most popular would come across as being Cannabis. Some people see this as being extremely unhealthy and that is why they don’t want it to be legal, but Cannabis doesn’t have any direct harm to the user and it would seem to be the least harmful illegal drug you could use. Cannabis is also now classified as B opposed to C. This wouldn’t have had any effect on the public as the same amounts of people buy it illegally. The reasons I think it should be legalised are; Smoking is legal and the mortality rate and the amount of illnesses smoking causes are a lot higher. Smoking can be a lot more harmful to the body as it can cause Cancer and many sorts of diseases such as, Bronchitis and Emphysema. Cannabis is yet to cause fatal illnesses such as smoking does. The government refuse to make smoking illegal as it brings them a lot of tax, so why not put tax on cannabis? Even though I wouldn’t classify cannabis as healthy but smoking anything can’t be good for your body. Cigarettes have a lot of chemicals in them such as Ammonia, which is found in dry cleaning fluids, they also contain nicotine, which is the addictive part; cannabis doesn’t contain this hence not causing the user to be addicted. One of the main reasons people think cannabis should be legal is, Cannabis can help medically as it can prevent chronicle pain and reduce cancer cells from spreading throughout the body. It acts as an anaesthetic towards pain. There is a lot of question that cannabis is the answer to Alzheimer disease. Scientists are researching about what diseases it can prevent such as Cancer. It can numb the pain, therefore causing them to feel a lot better. Chronicle pain is a big issue and if cannabis can prevent it then that would be the end to a lot of suffering, but if it isn’t legalised this won’t be possible. The government and some of the public suggest to use a legal drug to stop pain but a lot of them don’t work and some can just be a waste of money. It has been proven that cannabis reduces pain in many people with chronicle pain. Alcohol causes a lot of issues around the world as it causes people to be disruptive and it can be very easily bought. When people drink too much they can sometimes have no control on over the way the act or behave therefore can be very abrasive. Alcohol causes more damage to the general public than cannabis currently would do, so the question is how much do you think the government spends on policy? – Cannabis doesn’t cause the user to become loud and disruptive, it does the complete opposite therefore the government wouldn’t have to spend so much money on damage which would have been caused by the many people, who have been out on a Friday night and have been violent and damaged property. There is a lot of binge drinking therefore maybe if it were legal there wouldn’t be so many people on streets late at night and could almost cut down on crime.
There are places around the world in which have already legalised cannabis, such as Amsterdam. The crime rate in Amsterdam is a lot lower than us and this could well be due to cannabis being legal. The Dutch believe that they will not be able to stop cannabis being used therefore they haven’t made it illegal. Cannabis is an herbal drug, and for that reason there should be legal as it causes the users body no harm. Legal Cannabis would promote responsible use and safe supply and would stop many people’s futures being needlessly destroyed. When the user goes to buy cannabis they can never be sure that it is completely safe as they could of mixed with any other substance. They have to buy it illegally thus they have to take a risk. If it was legal the government could make sure that it is pure and then there would be less risk and cannabis would be increasingly better. There are seven million people in the UK in which smoke cannabis and if it were to be legalised, those people wouldn’t have to worry about the risk of the unclean drug. Lots of that seven million people use it because they have a medical issue and cannabis can ease the pain, so it can be extremely helpful to those who suffer from chronicle pain. As people have to buy and sell cannabis illegally, people convicted of drug offences have their future prospects ruined. When they are caught they would have to pay a penalty or could even go to jail hence if their future life would be completely damaged and would be a lot harder or them to regain their normal lifestyle. They may only have been selling for a good cause, such as to the ill. If the government decided to legalise it, that wouldn’t necessarily mean, ‘glamorise’ it. They could definitely still discourage cannabis if it were legal. They could only issue it to certain people if they wished, such as hospitals for the ill – as it stops pain. Countries, which have experimented with decriminalization, have not yet encountered massive use of the drug. Young people may only use it because it is illegal and it makes them feel as though they are ‘breaking the rules’ and they may feel as though they are being rebellious. If it was legal they may have no reason to then try the drug and there would be less use of it. Prohibition is also extremely expensive to enforce and the money could go to a better cause such as, spent on education and medical treatment. The government wastes a lot of money on prohibiting cannabis. They have a choice and they could choose not to do this. There are many people who believe it’s not up to the government as they can be the ones to choose what to put in their own bodies.

’My body is my own and if I choose to experiment with it, it is me who pays the price and not the state.’’ – said one girl who spoke to a news reporter. It is fundamental to our society that we consider adults to be intelligent enough to make their own decisions. – If we don’t give them this option it would be as though the government is controlling the public. Adults should be able to make their own decisions and if they make the wrong choice that is up to them and government shouldn’t have to interfere with the choice they have made for themselves. Cannabis has no victim, it is considered as a consensual crime, no one else is affected it the user chooses to take cannabis in private, as it does them no harm. Cannabis causes the user to be calm and peaceful and not to be abrasive. Therefore as the user takes cannabis there is no effect on anyone else around them. Cannabis causes no health risks so far known and an overdose is hardly impossible. There are a lot of positive points to legalizing Cannabis as it can help a lot of people and it has hardly any heath risks. It medically helps people by preventing the pain of multiple sclerosis.