Bamisayo Oluwagbemi :"I am yet to believe that smoking cannabis is less additive and dangerous than cigarette."

Your beliefs actually don't matter, the evidence should be allowed to speak for itself, and the evidence refutes your belief.

"I am aware that smoking cigarette can cause lung and bronchi cancer. But smoking cannabis causes more serious illness such as mental illnesses which in most cases is irreversible..."

Interesting, I think most people would deem diseases that actually cause death as being more serious than those that don't. The proportion of cannabis smokers that develop mental illness is actually very low and it is not clear whether these people are already predisposed to mental illness irrespective of their cannabis use.

"...and most of the smokers turn criminals!"

This is just plain incorrect, I am quite shocked that someone who is signed up to this website (and is presumably well educated) would make a statement like this. It is this kind of attitude that hinders legitimate and objective research into the effects of cannabis, whether they are good or bad.

It's not clear whether cannabis is addictive, but it is pretty clear that opioids are, yet they are one of the most prescribed classes of drug in the world. Obviously the addictive properties of a drug are not a definative mediator of whether a drug should be legal/"prescribable".

What we need is better support for those (few) people that do develop substance abuse problems, irrespective of the drug. Turning all drug users into criminals does nothing but throw an anchor to the drowning.

Whether it is legal or not, what is required is better education, an increase in self-responsibilty for ones actions and a healthier world-wide attitude to the use of any form of intoxicant.

Dear Geir

Those who are in favor of legalizing speak their medicinal potential , calming and benefits that the government would have to tax and dismantling of drug trafficking .

Those who are against legalization argue that marijuana is nonetheless drugs and their harmful effects are already known

Many advocate the legalization of cannabis , believing that it can eliminate drug trafficking and crime associated with it , in addition to producing a valuable source of taxes and reduce the costs of policing

Although the scientific point of view is not clear that marijuana can cause chemical dependence , there is no popular consensus on whether or not this dependence . Many argue that this is a drug that is not addictive and that addiction is purely psychological . Others that it rather addictive and therefore should be kept underground. Thus , certain currents advocating that marijuana should be decriminalized , but not legalized , while others advocate its legalization , based on the fact that drugs like alcohol and nicotine are used and sold with total freedom , though no one ignore that cause harmful to health.

This is a situation that needs more reflections so that risks and benefits are better evaluated

Is we would let take all chronic patients FIRST Cannabis before switching them to opiods, how many deaths would we spare??? It is bad practice not to start with nearly harmless compounds like cannabinoids and directly start with industry pushed opioids would be my thesis of the day!

If we would let take all chronic patients FIRST Cannabis before switching them to opiods, how many deaths would we spare??? It is bad practice not to start with nearly harmless compounds like cannabinoids and directly start with industry pushed opioids would be my thesis of the day!

I found it interesting when I knew that cannabis is less addictive and dangerous than the cigarets (they are legal) and benzo group of drugs. I don't tend to advocate in favor of cannabis, but I think more research should be focused on this.

About risk benefit: contemplate on how many death by opiate overdose and how many death by Cannabis overdose....!!!

It is those who have witnessed the damage effects ( physically, socially and financially) of smoking cannabis by close relatives that can describe the evil of this legalization. I am yet to believe that smoking cannabis is less additive and dangerous than cigarette. I am aware that smoking cigarette can cause lung and bronchi cancer. But smoking cannabis causes more serious illness such as mental illnesses which in most cases is irreversible and most of the smokers turn criminals!

I mentioned this video in my question: http://tinyurl.com/ogzx9jm

Two children with severe epilepsy syndromes who had significant therapeutic effects of marijuana, and thus got their epileptic seizures under control.

At present, we know far too little... It is an absolute need for more research on marijuana in medicine and pharmacology.

Bamisayo Oluwagbemi :"I am yet to believe that smoking cannabis is less additive and dangerous than cigarette."

Your beliefs actually don't matter, the evidence should be allowed to speak for itself, and the evidence refutes your belief.

"I am aware that smoking cigarette can cause lung and bronchi cancer. But smoking cannabis causes more serious illness such as mental illnesses which in most cases is irreversible..."

Interesting, I think most people would deem diseases that actually cause death as being more serious than those that don't. The proportion of cannabis smokers that develop mental illness is actually very low and it is not clear whether these people are already predisposed to mental illness irrespective of their cannabis use.

"...and most of the smokers turn criminals!"

This is just plain incorrect, I am quite shocked that someone who is signed up to this website (and is presumably well educated) would make a statement like this. It is this kind of attitude that hinders legitimate and objective research into the effects of cannabis, whether they are good or bad.

It's not clear whether cannabis is addictive, but it is pretty clear that opioids are, yet they are one of the most prescribed classes of drug in the world. Obviously the addictive properties of a drug are not a definative mediator of whether a drug should be legal/"prescribable".

What we need is better support for those (few) people that do develop substance abuse problems, irrespective of the drug. Turning all drug users into criminals does nothing but throw an anchor to the drowning.

Whether it is legal or not, what is required is better education, an increase in self-responsibilty for ones actions and a healthier world-wide attitude to the use of any form of intoxicant.

Having worked in mental health for many years i have seen many young lads aged between 18-26 that have developed severe psychological disorders including psychosis following the use of cannabis. There is good evidence in the literature that links cannabis usage with psychological disorders. It should only be used for medicinal use where the risks outweigh the benefits.

I understand Afthab, however as a mental health worker you see people with mental health issues. You do not see all regular or irregular cannabis smokers so your view is biased. Needless to say that correlation isn't cause. Out of interest, do you see a significant proportion of abuse of other drugs also?

James, my views are biased as working in mental health you only get to see those patients who have developed a psychological disorders. But of those presenting there are a significant number who began using cannabis and then developed disorders. I'm sure this is a small minority who suffer the adverse effects of cannabis leading psychosis and there are many more user in the general public who are fine by using cannabis. But from a biased point of view is it really necessary for these recreational users to loose their mental stability without knowing the full risks....

Ultimately, more research is required in the field of cannabis use and mental health but to watch such patients suffer mentally and socially years after having some chilled out time on cannabis , was the risk worth it? was a few hours of being chilled out worth potentially suffering for a lifetime?

My experience gives a causative correlation and thats all from my experience in general practice. Ineresting, i dont see many patients that suffer psychological

disorders following use of other drugs.

As far as medicinally used, it should be legalized. Because the baby will die someday, we don't stop reproducing, and thats because of the other advantages like old age support etc.

Afthab Hussain: "My experience gives a causative correlation and thats all from my experience in general practice."

I reiterate that you cannot imply cause from correlation. Surely you can know that mental health is a multi-factorial state. I could just as easily imply that there is a common root cause between your patient’s mental health problems and their cannabis seeking behaviour.

"Ineresting, i dont see many patients that suffer psychological disorders following use of other drugs."

That is interesting given the documented links between methamphetamine/cocaine and psychosis/schizophrenia and SSRI's and suicide.

Even more interesting, in my opinion, is the negative correlation between socioeconomic status and mental health, and the same correlation between socioeconomic status and drug use. But then correlation isn't cause...

I maintain, the legal status of this drug bears no effect on the fact that there needs to be a greater effort world-wide to help people with substance abuse problems. At the end of the day, even if it is illegal it will still be present in our society. What the illegal status does is stigmatise those people that really need help.

This the wisest thing to do since it is medicinal, and it has the potential of curing some diseases.