A little weed! (article reprise)
Posted by on Sep 14, 2019
This week on Facebook: I never paid a great deal of attention to the issue of forbidden drugs and legislation but age has not only enfeebled my body but also my brain. Some time ago my attention was caught by an article linking cannabis and ageing (the original can be seen here) and it was curiosity that drew me to read the article rather than any desire to smoke pot.
This week I had a conversation with an artisan who does some work for me, and he was making the case against the legalisation of cannabis. This started me thinking about the subject for another post. Is there a connivance by the government to make Aldous Huxley’s 1962 prediction a reality?
It seems to me that the nature of the ultimate revolution with which we are now faced is precisely this: That we are in process of developing a whole series of techniques which will enable the controlling oligarchy who have always existed and presumably will always exist to get people to love their servitude. Aldous Huxley
My drug of choice is alcohol, having observed the often absurd actions taken over the regulation of alcohol sales, any public administration dealing with issues on fiscal policy and are driven by purely political agendas. A lot of public money is spent on a war on drugs , which has — for the most part — failed to solve the problems that drugs (particularly cannabis) are perceived to inflict upon a society¹. The following video is included in the article at (5) ‘Why Britain Isn’t Going to Legalise Cannabis Any Time Soon’ (unless of course political reasons, like taxation, are found).
In an article about the use of Afghan opium for NHS drugs, the article states that diamorphine, which is derived from opium poppies and which is also known as heroin, is used to relieve pain after operations. But there is a critical shortage of the drug in Britain, forcing doctors to use more expensive and less effective alternatives. This seems like a good solution to an increasingly global problem, but apart from the technical problems there are economic and political problems, which together make this particular drug problem seem insurmountable.
Drug use — in whatever form — is not a new problem, nor are the regulations applied by a public administration, which constantly fail to address the real social issues and inevitably lead to an increase in the national and global markets for the illegal supply of them.
Some get a kick from cocaine.I’m sure that if I took even one sniffThat would bore me terrific’ly tooYet I get a kick out of you.
Monday 29/5/2017 Daily Dose Of Cannabis May Protect And Heal The Brain From Effects Of Ageing: Researchers at the University of Bonn and Hebrew University have discovered that low, regular doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of the main active ingredients or cannabinoids found in marijuana, may help to keep our brains from ‘slowing down’ as we get older.
Tuesday 30/5/2017 How Close is the United Kingdom to Legalising Cannabis? An interesting tidbit of information sheds light on the murky past of cannabis in the UK. Although it was deemed illegal in 1928 as an addition to the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1920, doctors were allowed to prescribe cannabis for various medical ailments until 1971. In 1971, the Misuse of Drugs Act created the Class A, B, and C classification systems as a means to control substances. Cannabis was now classified as a Class B drug along with amphetamines, with less severe penalties than those for harder drugs such as heroin or LSD.
Wednesday 31/5/2017 The right way to do drugs: Those who have argued that legalisation is better than prohibition will welcome the beginning of the end of the futile war on weed. Cannabis accounts for nearly half the $300 billion illegal narcotics market, and is the drug of choice for most of the world’s 250m illicit-drug users. Legalising it deprives organised crime of its single biggest source of income, while protecting and making honest citizens of consumers.
What Happens When You Legalise Cannabis? click image for podcast
Thursday 1/6/2017 How British Weed Growers Are Avoiding Prosecution: James, a grower who has been raided before, has recently registered his garden under the tagged collective model. He told me: “This scheme allows us to show that we are not commercial growers if we do get another knock at the door. And it shows the authorities that whilst cultivation is illegal at the moment, we are trying to do it in as professional a manner as possible and be responsible.”
Friday 2/6/2017 Why Britain Isn’t Going to Legalise Cannabis Any Time Soon: In March of 1998, an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 people light up in Hyde Park for a pro-legalisation rally that makes its way to Trafalgar Square. Within years, the campaign and protest are basically all but forgotten, and every attempt since to bring lawmakers around is essentially shut down in its infancy, despite the rational points being made.
¹A growing market — The domestic cultivation of cannabis (pdf): Traditionally cannabis has been imported into the country by drug traffickers, but rapid changes are occurring. There is no precise information on the extent of home cultivation, but it is clear that it has increased steeply over the past decade. Cannabis cultivated in England and Wales may now account for half of all consumption, and much of this domestically cultivated cannabis will be home-grown for personal use.
Aasof’s Reflections 