The legalisation of cannabis is a heavily discussed topic for several reasons. I would say that these reasons fit into three main categories; economic reasons, democratic reasons and of course health reasons. I attended a heretics society lecture on this topic and it really got me thinking. What would the outcome be if we were to legalise cannabis and how could this affect my peers and I? I decided before I come to any conclusions, I need to fully weigh up all of the reasons for and against.
Economic reasons
Of course, currently the price of marijuana is hugely higher than the production costs of the drug, but this is based on the fact that the supply is fairly low. People will often say that if the government were to legalise marijuana, they could profit massively from the taxation of the drug. However, I would argue that when the drug became legal, entrepreneurs would see the opportunity to profit from the ridiculously high street prices by driving them down and creating a competitive market while also increasing the level of availability which of course will drive the price down. I would argue that the government would benefit a lot less than the majority of people currently assume due to these factors. Of course the substance would be highly taxed due to the adverse effects it has but with the lower prices, the taxation is not likely to bring in the huge sum of money that could be expected. The government would be unable to set the tax levels too high because this could quite easily cause growers to sell on the black market where demand will be much higher if the legal product is too highly priced. This limits the economic benefits massively. So overall, I would say that the economic reasons are not enough alone to argue that cannabis should be legalised.
Democratic reasons
The person who spoke at the heretics society claimed that we all have the right to make a silly decision which endangers our own health according to our civil rights and that democratically this therefore gives us the right to smoke marijuana. He compared this to the fact that we are allowed to drink and smoke tobacco despite the fact that it is not healthy. He was making the point that we cannot simply maintain that marijuana is illegal for health reasons. I definitely agree with this. There is not evidence of anyone overdosing on cannabis as opposed to the thousands of people who overdose on alcohol every year. It is fair to say that in a free society, it is unfair for the government to regulate substances based on anything other than the effect to the person and that there is a lack of consistency in the law today which allows a substance responsible for several thousand deaths per year to be legal and a substance which is yet to cause a death due to overdose to be illegal.
Heath reasons
Obviously this is the most interesting to me, being interested in a career in medicine and taking an interest in the health of the population which I hope to one day be responsible for looking after. The stats which were discussed made me think a lot about the fact that we allow so many harmful, addictive substances to be acceptable in society. Obviously alcohol is the main example of this. Alcohol abuse costs the government over £21bn per year in healthcare and crime. This is absolutely ridiculous and in my opinion is a complete waste of resources. In 2011 there were almost 9000 deaths down to alcohol alone. On average 36 young people (under the age of 18) are admitted to hospital every day with conditions directly related to alcohol abuse. There are an estimated 1.6 million people dependant on alcohol in the UK. To me, it seems unbelievable that a substance like this is still legal. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that cannabis has lead to a death by overdose and also is much less addictive than both tobacco and alcohol. This begs the question, why is this illegal and other substances are not? Well one answer to this would be that previous prohibition of alcohol has failed and is therefore likely to fail again, making it very difficult to attempt to ban it as a drug. However, I would argue that the prohibition of cannabis is not working. It is still fairly easily available and a lot of young people are using it. The worrying thing about this for me is that young people have easy access to cannabis on the streets and mostly that, due to the fact that it is illegal, no standards can be placed on the substance. My view is that if we were to legalise cannabis we would be able to impose laws about the quality which is allowed to be sold and we would most definitely be able to better control the standards of the drugs people are taking, which in theory should make it more safe to take. In terms of addiction to cannabis, the drug is less addictive than drugs such as alcohol and tobacco which are legal. Frankly, I disagree with all harmful substances because as someone wanting to enter the healthcare system, my main concern is the health of people who are at risk of becoming addicted to these substances, and these people are usually already suffering from other conditions, such as depression or other mental health issues. However, I also believe that we should have some consistency in the systems we have in place and the fact that the legality of the substance, which is already not incredibly harmful in comparison with other legal drugs, could in fact make it less dangerous means that to me, it seems almost sensible to legalise it for the health of its users. I also believe that its legality may in fact decrease its popularity among young people because it is no longer taboo. It could be seen as less 'cool' to use it because it is no longer illegal, making it less of a thrill. A question which was posed to the society, which I found particularly thought provoking was regarding the types of people who could potentially use this drug if it were to be legalised. Someone asked if we would be happy for primary school teachers to be smoking cannabis, and I have to say, it seemed ridiculous to even think about at first. However, after thinking about it, I asked the question, what is the difference between smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol as a primary school teacher. I don't see a difference. Of course it is not acceptable to smoke cannabis when you are teacher or to turn up to teach a lesson under the influence of the drug in the same way that it is not acceptable to drink while you are teaching or to come to work drunk.
Overall, I feel that the reasons for legalising cannabis outweigh those for it to remain illegal due to the factors outlined above. I feel as though its legality would make it safer and would mean that its use could be controlled.
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