THE recent decision to legalise medicinal cannabis inevitably gives hope to the legalise-cannabis campaigners and the legalise-all-drugs brigade.
Having worked in drugs education with young people for decades, I know the joys and pitfalls that will come if legalisation goes ahead. I don’t think for one minute it will happen with our Brexit-obsessed chaotic Government, fully focused on its own survival.
I have no problem with full-grown adults having access to legalised cannabis supplies for all the reasons stated in Neil Mackay's article ("The time is right to move to the legalisation of cannabis", The Herald, October 16). They would know what they were buying, it would not be sold by criminals, the mafia would be put in their place and if handled well lots of taxes could be gathered to fund drugs education and rehabilitation for the inevitable casualties of the new freedom to use cannabis.
Cannabis is a powerful hallucinogenic drug, which alters our perception of reality, that is why people love it. But the danger with that is as you might think you are driving slowly when going fast, or be sitting in a dream at traffic lights, thinking how nice the colours are. It must not be taken when driving.
Many serious issues need to be addressed. Driving, using machinery, studying, or looking after children under the influence of this powerful drug is dangerous. We would have to restrict sales to those of at least 21 years of age, as our brains are not fully wired up until between 21-25 years of age and serious damage can occur from cannabis use in adolescents and young people. There have been thousands of hospitalisations of young people having serious mental health problems from using cannabis.
I believe that if cannabis is to be legalised in the UK then we must have a massive public debate that includes exploring how we can ensure that the products are labelled properly, and that the public are well enough educated about how to use cannabis more safely – not an easy task when we failed badly with our alcohol education and we only curbed smoking by punitive taxes and harsh laws to restrict where and when people smoked.
The public debate must also address the myth that smokable street cannabis is the magic cure for all ills. Medicinal cannabis is a completely different issue, with very limited uses, it must not be allowed to drive the public debate of cannabis for recreational use.
Max Cruickshank,
117 Ascot Court, Glasgow.
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