The way I see it(The war on drugs and other stuff)

[Ubercanna]

I'm a long time toker. Started toking in the early 80's and continued ever since. I've seen public attitude towards cannabis change quite a bit over the years. I've also seen the weed get a lot better .

The fact is..most of us know by now that if nothing else,cannabis IS a beneficial drug. Whether that's for recreational or medicinal use.

As far as this supposed war on drugs goes..(which has been running now since the early 70's)..I've yet to see any evidence of it at all.

In all my 30 years of toking I've never had any trouble buying cannabis in any location I've visited in the UK.

Cannabis as well as pretty much any other drug you can mention is readily available anywhere you go. These drugs have always been available apart from the odd couple of weeks dry here and there over the years.

I don't personally take anything apart from cannabis,nicotene,caffeine or the odd painkiller, But I know for a fact any drug is easily available with a couple of phone calls. This certainly holds true for a few million other tokers in the UK I'm sure.

So what is this war on drugs then?? How exactly is it manifesting itself..do you know?...cause I'm bloody sure I don't.

The Government KNOWS this war on drugs isn't working either..prohibition never does..so...whats the scam then?

Why..when we know all that we know about cannabis..all the years of testing..analysis..social awakening..

Why is it still a criminal offence to posses it..and why are Governments happy to see our weekend streets covered in drunks and vomit and blood.

I've wondered this for years...and do you know what,I can't think of any other reason than money and control.

I mean..at the top of the line...who's really making the money from these "illegal" drugs?

Is it Vietnamese gangs?..Cockney wideboys?..Brixton Yardies?...Czech slave traders? as we are led to believe...

or is it David Huntington Smyth D.I.C..or perhaps Norman Bovington Wart MP for Cockington.

Whoever it is...somethings just not adding up here..why the heck would you continue to advocate a war on drugs if you know darned well it's not working??..and it isn't..I know it isn't...I've seen this with my own eyes..frequently.

[Gumbo]

Why..when we know all that we know about cannabis..all the years of testing..analysis..social awakening..

Why is it still a criminal offence to posses it..and why are Governments happy to see our weekend streets covered in drunks and vomit and blood.

The short answer,one of many,is that society needs bogeymen.If we don't have imaginary bogeymen to fear we will soon realise that the real bogeymen are those that profess to lead us.

Who's making money?Laos,Cambodia,Nicaragua,Vietnam,Afghanistan,China,India....it's as if the list goes on ad infinitum.But one constant in all of the wars and conflicts of the last 200 years in drug producing nations is Government or it's agencies,usually with grandiose titles like the East India Company(yeah sure it was private....riiiiight) or the CIA.

The war is just another way to bilk voters, whilst all the time assuring them that you are doing your utmost to stem the flow of drugs that your family have been instrumental in for the last 200 years,so profit can made at both ends.

This doesn't begin to even scratch the surface of your presumably rhetorical musings,but it's a start.

Those that would lead us,would lead us down into the pits of hell all in the name of profit,even to the point where they would fuck the world up so much it's not fit for their own grandchildren to live in.Now that's pure genius and Darwin would've been proud.

Gumbo.

[bongskag]

weed didn't ask for a war , in fact it offered peace. so its like terrorism again nature ..

[GreenVision]

Does it really matter who makes the money selling the drugs.

From a government income perspective its irrelevant. If you make £200k of your own profit selling coke in 3 months what do you do with it? The majority of that cash will wind up either in a bank or being spunked on material goods, either way it goes straight back to the UK.

I have no doubt that the fact that a good portion of people would rather spend their cash on Cannabis than "Legal" goods means very little to the government all the time Cannabis is illegal, I think its the businesses and companies that are loosing or stand to loose profit to Cannabis that fuel its current legal position.

Tobacco and Alcohol sales would without a doubt drop if Cannabis was legalized, which means the government would see less Tax from them and businesses would see less profits.

As always its Money.

[THC4METOO]

Anyone who's had their door put through would disagree with the no war thing, but yeah, most of that rings true mate .

[Ubercanna]

@@Gumbo.

I agree. I would have probably added similar myself.

[Ubercanna]

@@GreenVision.

Of course it matters who's making money out of it..at the end of the day,nobody should be making money out of cannabis. By now we should all be able to grow a little percy without fear of prosecution. The current state of affairs as far as this drug goes is madness.

The fact is the cannabis trade is worth billions every year..as its made on the black market what makes you so sure the money stays in the UK. The cash could be going anywhere?.

Lots of people certainly do spend cash on cannabis..but what they spend as a proportion of their total income varies wildly.

I'm pretty sure that if it's not the Gov making money out of it already..they're gonna be looking at this loss of income pretty seriously at this point.

As for loss to business..whether its legal or not..I'd say consumption would probably stay the same.

If that's the case then business's are already losing money..legal or not.

Why would legalization suddenly affect tobacco and alcohol sales. You're saying that by legalizing people would stop drinking and smoking?

I'm not sure that follows.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Ubercanna

[zero]

[Ubercanna]

@@THC4METOO

Luckily I've never had that pleasure. But I've always kept it private and personal. No hoards of tokers at my door day and night bothering the neighbours etc..no dealing. Just keep it to myself..which I think is where a couple of law enforcement agencies are with this at the moment. 2 forces at least have stated recently that they don't have time or resources to hassle people for a couple of private plants or a few grams of percy. Lets hope they all fall into line on this one.

[GreenVision]

@@Ubercanna Cannabis legalization isn't the only aspect of the "War on drugs".

The drop in business wouldn't happen suddenly either, it would be a gradual thing. Cannabis has changed in recent years, the low CBD strains have become more popular and the science is finally starting to back up the positive effects. So you would likely end up with a group of people that could choose between Tobacco or Cannabis. Right now those that care little for the law smoke what they want, but we cant underestimate the fear of a criminal record, or loosing ones job because Cannabis is currently illegal, so they stick with the legal choice of Tobacco.

You advertise that a low or even 0% THC strain high in THC has no known addictive effects or any know serious medical negatives I believe over the following two years Tobacco sales would plummet. People would be able to drop the e-cigs and smoke Cannabis to help quitting or replace Tobacco.

And as for Alcohol, the drop would be nowhere near as severe, but I still think a legal Cannabis market would dent alcohol. For the simple reason that people would have a choice. They could smoke weed instead of drinking scotch.

I dont think any of actually believe for one second that those lovely chaps in Parliment keep Cannabis illegal for our safety. Money is the only other reason I can see its still illegal.

[Dodgee]

The war on drugs. Mostly a war on people's freedom to be honest. A way to control and enslave the masses when main stream religion was faltering in the face of science.

In the case of cannabis, money played a huge part in its early demonisation. As did racism. (see 'reefer madness')

The petrochemical industry played a huge part as did the agricultural sector (driven in part by the petrochemical industries input)

I'm pretty sure it was 1941 when Henry ford unveiled his biological car.

Approaching 70% of which was built using hemp derived products, even the fuel it ran on was a mixture of 85% gasoline +15% hemp derived bio-ethanol.

Nearly anything you can make from cotton can be made using hemp.

Many plastics can be substituted with hemp derived products too.

Nutrionally it's a fantastic food source. Easily and cheaply produced giving a far greater calorific value than is consumed to produce it.

So its easy too see how many of the big money industrial complexes would have stood to lose out in a big way had they not intervened to make it illegal.

Then there's big pharma, how many of there products would become unnecessary were the medicinal use of cannabis allowed and better advertised?

And that's just the canna-specific war on drugs.

Governments the world over are heavily involved and influential in the whole drugs trade. The overwhelming majority of illicitly made profits from its trade invariably end up in the banking system.

With all of the big name banks involved in laundering, moving and facilitating the spending of all that dirty cash.

So other than the control aspect, (the ability of the judicial system to arrest/detain/punish you) then it's fairly safe to say the war on drugs was and still is a money making game for the rich and powerful.

You wanna know why there's a war on drugs?

Ask the rockefellers, the rothchilds, the goldmans and the sachs of the world..

They're the ones controlling it at the end of the day.

2p

[Ubercanna]

@@GreenVision

Hmm..interesting.

Yes I see what you mean about the CBD strains affecting the market and becoming a viable alternative to tobbaco.

But then herbal tobacco alternatives have been around for decades already and as far as I'm aware haven't had any significant affect on the tobacco market as yet.

Having said that E cigarettes have disrupted the market somewhat I would think and an "E" smokeable CBD product might catch on.

As we know though high thc tinctures for e smoking are already available on the market..legal or not and I'd say these haven't disrupted the tobacco market significantly.

As for people willing to break the law or not..as Peter Tosh said in his song many years ago "Legalise It" Judges smoke it..lawyers smoke it..we know they do. They like weed AND scotch .

These are the people that make the law..if they're willing to break it..then I don't think there will be a significant amount of people that don't smoke it because it's against the law.

Indeed though..at the end of the day it is about money and like I said earlier..control.

Edited September 21, 2016 by Ubercanna

[Ubercanna]

@@Dodgee

Nothing I can say to really disagree there mate. I've read up on most of what you say over the years. Still not sure that all the money ends up in the banking system though. But yeah..ultimately I think it is the elites making all the money..via drug cartels etc.

[HazeyDaysUK]

Privatised prisons means it pays to throw peaceful people in jail. And just think about how many people get paid if someone goes through the hassle of court simply for possession. The Police, solicitors, the judges... All paid for, with love, from the taxpayer. It's all about money and at the moment it obviously pays to keep fighting this unwinnable "war on drugs".

I do believe times are changing.. Das Gov has hidden the true nature of our beloved Cannabis plant for so many years and they are still keeping this charade up... But The truth can only be hidden for so long. Seeing Police forces saying they're giving up going after small timers, and seeing more and more Judges be lenient when it comes to canna cases can surely only be a good sign. . . But who knows what tomorrow will bring? Maybe sunshine, maybe rain. But as for Me I'll wait and see. Maybe it'll bring my love to me, but no.

Edited September 21, 2016 by HazeyDaysUK

[stu914]

@@Dodgee

Nailed it Dodge mate, absolutely spot on......