Just to elaborate on what I mentioned earlier, the apparent mental health problems are largely due to the increased strength of the stuff available today. I suspect dealers don't grade it into mild, strong and I've been abducted by aliens!

I was under the impression that it is less strong these days? Well, the stuff here anyway..

I didn't think the super dooper stuff doesn't got this far!!

I seem to think the stuff grown in tanks under artificial light is more concentrated or something. Or it could have been the other way round...

I guess it's like buying fags off some bloke down the pub that smuggled them in over the channel. They might say they're Super Lights or whatever, but they're actually made from old car tyres or something...

To put in my two pence worth, I don't take any drugs and I wouldn't have much to do with anyone who did take drugs but I do believe they should be legal. Planty of things which are more harmful are legal (such as alcohol, driving, rock-climbing etc.) and it should be up to people if they want to take the risk. In many ways it's the fact that drugs are illegal which makes them so harmful (in terms of the impure substance you get on the streets, the lack of contol over supply and manufacture etc). This doesn't mean I would encourage drug use - far from it. I'd be devastated if anyone I cared about was into that kind of thing, but I don't think that keeping drugs illegal is going to stop anyone.

As for medicinal use of cannibis, why should this be any different to the medicinal use of heroin which is perfectly legal and very common. Many substances which are now commonly used as recreational drugs began as medicinal drugs (ketamine, GHB, cocaine, speed to name a few).

it is illict misuse that causes problems.. if Cannabis was legal it wouldnt prevent me developing drug induced mental health problems if i smoked it.. ive had many clients affected by Cannabis and will now most likely spend the rest of their life on medication to treat them... This also goes for the stimulant drugs such as crack, speed and cocaine... Benzo's are legal prescribed thru a G.P but long term use has proven to cause a level of brain damage... Legal or Illegal, the damage is still the same... Bodhi the majority of Class A users i work with used cannabis first, this was the door to illicit drug use that they took.

I'd be willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of hard drug users also drank alcohol first as well. Does this mean beer is also a gateway drug? And I also expect most of them ate bread at some point too. Does this make bread a gateway drug? (Silly example I know but trying to make a point).

Just because hard drug users started off with cannibis, doesn't mean that all cannabis users go on to use harder drugs. I think about 90% of people I know have tried cannibis at some point in their lives, and many of them use it quite regularly but none of them have gone onto use harder drugs. I used to work in the drugs education field and I saw nothing to suggest that cannibis use would lead people to take harder drugs if they weren't already on that path.

I hope nobody thinks I'm condoning cannibis use - I think it's dangerous and anti-social but I also think the same about a lot of things (alcohol, eating fast food, smoking) and I wouldn't want to see any of these things become illegal.

Been thinking about this "gateway" thing. Assuming that it's true that cannabis users might be tempted to try something nasty by the dealer they use, surely legalising cannabis would remove that possibility. I'm sure the cafes in Amsterdam don't make a habit of stocking something a bit stronger under the counter... It would be interesting to see the proportion of casual/recreational cannabis users in Holland against heroin/crack/cocaine users and compare that percentage with other countries. (I'd expect as the temptation to dabble with other stuff is removed, there would be more people that haven't beenseduced by the dark side...)

As Minda mentioned, I'm sure alcohol could be accused of being a gateway drug too! After all, I'm sure it's not just beer you can get in some less reputable pubs...

i didnt say every cannabis user will move onto harder drugs did i.. if u look at my post u will see i said "majority"... for the majority of Class A users cannadis was a gateway drug.. i dont know wot kinda work u did with ur clients or in wot context but im sure if u did a snake exercise with them u would soon see a common link in many... that link being cannabis.. Of course many smoke it and dont use other drugs,like many will drink lager but not shorts.. interesting subject tho... on antother point i dont drink, dont smoke but will eat fast food.. lol

It is a very controversial subject I guess, and different people have different opinions.

Funnily enough, when talking about gateway drugs, it was an ex-addict which laughed at the idea of cannabis being a gateway and opened up me to thinking that it starts earlier than that.

And is smoking and drinking under-age kind of illicit drug use? Under age users KNOW they aren't supposed to be doing it, so what is the difference between that and cannabis use?

i find the last statement on this post quite offending, being the mother of a methadone user, i have never classed my daughter as scum, even when she could sink no lower while on heroin,she was still my child.
she didnt smoke cannabis, she did the dare course at school, she was a sensible well adjusted child(i thought) and i thought i was a good parent and had warned her well against the dangers of drug taking. do you know the absolute heartbreak of knowing your child is caught in the vice that is heroin, never knowing from one day to the next, where she is, what she's doing, wether she's still alive or not. to my shame, i sometimes wished her dead, just so i wouldnt have to worry anymore, how awful is that. when i found out she was a user, i felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped my heart out,i cannot describe the feeling of horror and yes shame, my whole family turned against her, her own sisters, my husband, but through every stage, i didnt give up on her, im her mum andin my eyes,she was never scum, just gullible for letting herself get caught up in that world. so now, you and i are both funding methadone treatment, but tell yourself this, there but for the grace of god............