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Hague's call to legalise cannabis rejected by government
The government has rejected a call from Lord Hague to consider legalising the recreational use of cannabis. In an article for the Daily Telegraph, the former Tory leader said the war on cannabis had been "irreversibly lost" and a change of policy was needed. His call was prompted by the case of a boy with epilepsy who was given a special licence to use cannabis oil.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has told MPs there will be a review of the medical use of cannabis in the UK. The Home Office has set up an expert panel to review the rules on the therapeutic use of the drug, but a spokesman stressed that the existing laws on the recreational use of cannabis would not be changed.
[...] Last week officials at Heathrow Airport confiscated Billy Caldwell's cannabis oil, which the 12-year-old's mother Charlotte had been attempting to bring into the UK from Canada. The Home Office returned some of the medicine after protests from Ms Caldwell, and assurances from the medical team treating Billy that the treatment was necessary. [...] Lord Hague said the debate about Billy Caldwell was "one of those illuminating moments when a longstanding policy is revealed to be inappropriate, ineffective and utterly out of date". By returning the medicine to the Caldwell family, the Home Office had "implicitly conceded that the law has become indefensible", he said.
[...] Prime Minister Theresa May remains firmly opposed to legalisation or decriminalisation of the drug because of the harm she says it does to individual users and communities.
Guardian editorial. Also at The Telegraph.
See also: Cannabis: What are the risks of recreational use?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Whoever on Friday June 22 2018, @05:41AM (7 children)
Historically, it was because blacks used weed, while whites used alcohol. Racism. pure and simple.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Friday June 22 2018, @07:03AM (2 children)
Historically, it was because muslims used weed, while whites used alcohol. Racism. pure and simple.
Correct about the cause (racism), but at least get your facts right.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday June 22 2018, @09:46AM
That's a nice sound bite, but can you substantiate it? Can you show that it was muslims (a religion) rather than any other group of people of any colour you wish that popularised the use of cannabis?
One source [themuslimvibe.com] quotes the following:
Perhaps it isn't the religion that is to blame, but those who decided to get rich by growing and supplying cannabis.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday June 22 2018, @05:45PM
In the US, it was racism and a hatred of left-leaning young people. The people doing this were quite explicit about it. Indeed, even the name "marijuana" was invented and used because the people restricting its use wanted the plant associated with Mexicans even though it had been cultivated in the US since colonial times. Richard Nixon was also very clear that the purpose of his ramping up of the War on Drugs didn't have anything to do with the drugs, and everything to do with having an excuse to arrest black people and hippies, especially anyone who was considering, say, leading a protest against the bombing of Cambodia.
Because drug crimes are written so that having an object is the crime rather than doing something with it, it means planting evidence is extremely easy to do. All a cop has to do to ruin the life of anybody they like is carry a bag of drugs around, make up an excuse to stop somebody and pat them down, and during the pat-down "find" the bag. They get a collar, and their victim gets jail time and legal discrimination against them the rest of their lives.
Another relevant point: After some states started legalizing cannabis, many cops complained that they could no longer arbitrarily search a vehicle by claiming to smell cannabis. Any doubts that this has anything at all to do with the effects of cannabis on humans should go away based on that alone.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 22 2018, @07:18AM (1 child)
Historically, it was because women used weed, while males used alcohol. Sexism. pure and simple.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday June 22 2018, @11:43AM
Historically, it was because weeds used Roundup and alcohol Leeds to speling misstacks secksism poor anSimpel....gotsa go pee...
....BLEARRRGH!....
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday June 22 2018, @08:49AM
It was because both Blacks and Whites used weed, and having the upper hand in society at the time the Whites thought while high and paranoid, "Oh no, those scary Black men must be having the same thoughts I am about raping White women while high! And since I am high I'm now thinking about their huge Black weenies and can't get them out of my head! This madness, this Reefer Madness must stop!" Then the Whites self-flagellated in their self-loathing before outlawing weed because it causes scary Blacks to rape pristine virginal White women.
Everytime White men want to ban something it is because it is related to some variation of their personal experience above. Also see: politicians and Baptist preachers.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Weasley on Friday June 22 2018, @04:11PM
So, you're saying black people all smoke pot. Maybe you're the racist.