I absolutely despair at this governments half cocked "good ideas" about drugs.
First off they downgrade cannabis to class c and have all the kids thinking its legal and harmless. Unfortunately cannabis has become a bit more potent since our elected members were at university. The kids are now smoking super-skunk and getting completely stoned - the government has now contributed to a mental-health crisis in the next few years....all these kids now suffering paranoia, schitzophrena, psychosis and the like.
Now they are sending out messages that possessing 500 reefers is not dealing.
Excuse me - but some-one can be a dealer with one reefer. The bad boyz on the Moss routinely only carry one or two bags of heroin so possess with intent to supply is harder to prove. Now they will be able to carry upto 10 and wave the new "get out of jail free card" that this proposal gives.
Evidence of dealing comes not only from the amount seized but also...observations, seizure of dealer lists, scales, wrapping and cutting ingredients, bank records, test purchasing and a whole host of other facts.

Once again the labour government goes off half cocked,they produce laws that are unworkable just look at the smoking ban or the fireworks laws or the hunting laws all full of loopholes ans easy to flout?What a joke this government is...

Thanks goodness the government is proposing a relaxation of the law on cannabis posession. It is time to be clear about how much constitutes posession. Lets face it, if you can buy up to four ounces without being branded a dealer, this means less trips to the dealer and less fraternizing with a wider, more harmful drug culture. Potentially, this means that budding horticulturalists will be allowed to grow one plant and cut out the link with dealers. The previous comment raised a very real concern about mental health issues with young people. As a long-term recreational cannabis user I realise that there is a lack of proper education regarding the benifits of moderate use and the importance of rest periods between use. Keeping it illegal just sends out the message that any use is bad. When naturally curious youngsters find out that a little bit might make them feel good, they tend to reject all the advice given by the prohibitionists and indulge too much.
I welcome the governments proposals on cannabis, but believe the money saved on creating cannabis criminals should be redirected to fighting hard drug use.

Until they can impose a tax on weed and control the supply themselves, the government will never completely legalise it. As with those other "dangerous drugs", alcohol and cigarettes, which are legal yet cause thousands of deaths each year, the government are finally realising what a lucrative market there is in the supply of weed...but as the best weed comes from majorly black countries ie morroco, i doubt this will happen until England have managed to cultivate their own hybrid skunk...i mean god forbid a black country makes any money.

Is it just me who thinks the use of drugs is wrong? I don't understand why, if drugs are supposed to be illegal, why are people still walking round the streets openly smoking weed? You get fined for openly drinking on the streets, so why are people allowed to walk around smoking weed? I was walking behind some lads yesterday who were smoking it and I had to cross over the road because it make me feel physically sick! It's disgusting and wrong (in my opinion!!!)

Not another forum for pro pot heads.
The only reason i would vote tory is to reclassify pot to a B cat again.
Hammer the dealers and the users, kids on the street off their heads on pot, the legalise lobby make me sick.

some1 made a comment saying all you get is kids off there heads on weed, yeah they don't get drunk stupid do they lets face it booze is a big factor in domestic violence, street fights on weekend and unplanned pregnancy but still legal. " smoke weed til your eyes bleed " thats my moto

If I was in power would come down hard on ANYBODY smoking cannabis or weed/growing it/selling it/whatever;it's so horrible! The Govt's u-turn is daft and will only soften prohibition even more. I would also put cannabis weed etc into A class, then no-one would be immune from prosecution in that case.

Well said, Anthony! I'll vote for you anyday! This government is an absolute joke and the country is a total shambles - God help future generations (although they'll be too busy collecting their benefits to pay for their weed and their boozing around the clock!) I despair!

it's about time cannabis smokers aren't labelled as criminals, 500 joints is nothing, i mean its like having a couple of cartons of cigs, thats only a couple of weeks supply, its really just a learning curve for those that don't understand cannabis, a more important issue is that of purity or lack of it, its the chemicals mixed into cannabis thats doing most of the harm, some kids are even targeted by dealers through cannabis for harder drugs ie mixing smack or the likes into their cannabis to get them hooked, its time people started to look at the bigger picture

i think the new threshold will stop innocent people being done,

What a load of S***. were does the govt get these ideas.
If i was dealing i would carry exctly the limit to only get a slapped hand for possession then go and re stock.
If they are carrying 10 E's for "personal use" they should take them all there and then as proof.
How about saying theft is only theft if you steel more than B#1000. cause more than B#1000 for criminal damage!
Lets relax drug laws further when GMP are telling us 1 pint of lager is too much to drive! Someone please get a grip of our criminal justice system.

Just 1 suggestion can we have another 1,000,000 speed cameras then we can victimise our motorists and raise funds to pile into the drug rehab programs that will have to start as a result of legalising drug dealing.

If Mitch felt so physically sick that he had to risk his life and cross the road to get away from it, then of course we should not be relaxing the laws in relation to cannabis (if it happens to happen again Mitch, just drop back from them a little or speed up and walk past them). And if Anthony thinks cannabis is horrible, then I think that is the end of the matter. Cannabis should definitely be re-graded to a Class T drug.

Sick of all this anti-cannabis rubbish, to be stoned is far better than to be pissed. I am a long time smoker and have never met a user that was a bad person.

There is more to this than meets the eye.
If drugs are allowed to run rampant through a society, then after a while the frightened non-drug using section (I.e., law abiding, tax paying, voting section) will insist something be done about the inevitable violence, moral decline, disease (HIV, Hep B, C and E, STD's etc) and demand a return to the halcyon days of yore. This the government will do with a fearsome alacrity by arming the police to the teeth (American SWAT model police are already here and waiting in the wings to try out their mace, tasers, etc.) and bringing in draconian laws to deal with a situation that they had deliberately engineered a few years earlier. Zero tolerance and the "re-education" of offenders are not out of the question b" just look at the US now, where a person with one marijuana spliff can be done as a terrorist (!??) under the Patriot Act. In fact, ANY person, committing ANY crime can be defined as a terrorist under the same act. Already, a woman here in the UK has been done under the prevention of terrorism act for a parking offence. Paranoid? Perhaps, but what happens in America now, will happen here next. Blair and his toadies are much infatuated with the U.S. model. This is a question of control and social repression in the near future b" not liberalisation now, and as a result the minorities, the disaffected and the poorer sections of society will pay a terrible price b" as usual. You heard it here first.
Buh-Bye,
Mikey!!

Kat - you seem to know everything...well, for your information, Mitch is a SHE. I was risking my life by walking behind them and breathing in the foul stench of their dope - crossing the road was the safer option!!! I take it by your comments that you are a 'user'... well I am a clean, law abiding citizen and PROUD OF IT! If you want to dope yourself to death, then fine by me - but don't do it near me! Now I'm beginning to realise why it is called 'dope'....maybe a reference to its users?

If any of you liberalists happen to smoke cannabis or weed near me and I get physically sick, then heads are gonna roll! The smell is horrid, the smoker of it doesn't really care about it's effects on others other than himself, and the law is an ass!!! Cannabis and weed smokers are inconsiderate and ignorant and think about themselves.

Why is it that the anti-dopers feel so belligerent about cannabis/marijuana? If they were being so vociferous about the repercussions of alcohol abuse/abusers to society both in terms of the violence and aggression and the physical damage it causes, then one could understand it. Could any of you explain this....er....discrepancy? There is only one problem with dope - the fact that it's illegal. I've never heard of anyone doping themselves to death Mitch, but I'm pleased to hear that it's fine by you. And there is little chance of me smoking a joint near you because: 1) I don't smoke in the street; 2) I don't know you from Adam....sorry, I mean Eve; 3) It would seem unlikely that we will ever happen to be at the same party given your aversion to dope and us 'users' (presumably you only go to parties that are strictly alcohol 'users' only?). It's strange that you should find the smell of dope so foul, but then again, I have the same problem with the stench from fireworks, so I completely sympathise. Have you considered wearing a face mask when you're out and about? Anyway, I didn't quite understand what you meant about 'dope' and how "maybe (it's) a reference to its users". Dope, a reference to its....Oh! I get it! Very good Mitch! I would never have thought of that and made such a connection. Brilliant, quite brilliant (are you sure you don't have the odd puff?; just kidding!). There obviously must be something to all this "clean" living. No wonder you're PROUD OF IT. Anyhow, at least the kids will know Anthony when they see him. He'll be the one carrying the machete. Mind you, "Heads" already ARE rolling Anthony!

some of you people make me sick. how dare anyone brand me a useless part of society because i smoke cannabis. get your heads out. we live in a society that is supposed to be tolerant to peoples freedom of expression and personal chioces. the cannabis debate has been raging for years because people like you cannot tolerate or envisage change. "i dont want to breath that stuff in on the street cos it'll kill me blah blah blah". do some research. it's been proven recently that THC, the active chemical ingredient in cannabis, is an anti-carcinogen and actually encourages brain cell growth in the medula oblongata. and some of you call me ignorant because i smoke a naturally occouring plant thats been used for milennia to fight (naturally) many many kinds of physical illness? i think you should take a long hard look at yourselves you narrow minded, self serving drains on a forward moving society. BTW: i hold down a very good job, pay my taxes and raise a healthy family and I am the perfect example of who 90% of the pople are who smoke. cop on people

After reading of your life-threatening experience Mitch, it brought to mind a verse from Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 by Bob Dylan. Just in case you're not familiar with the song, the verse goes like this: Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street; They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat; They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor; etc, etc. So please be careful Mitch. 'They' are everywhere., and even crossing the road won't always guarantee your safety.

I see the pot heads are trying to use the alcohol arguement to justify another drug.
Society has had enough of the drunken scum that litter the streets and most opposed the recent extension of opening hours.
Pot heads live a life of denial and are motivated by nothing more than their own needs and total disregard for the good of society as a whole.
I know the effects of pot, entire generations of kids that have opted out of education on our estates begining a life of crime, ive also discussed issues with ex users whos lives were controlled and destroyed by the weed.
Pot heads cannot live without the mental and physical crutch the weed gives them, they are sad arrogant individuals who believe they are above the law.
"T.H.C encourages brain cell growth" ..... you keep saying that when you're a dribbling idiot.... , dont worry ...you haven't got long to go.

mitch if a drunk man commits an evil murder does this have a reflection on all people who have used alcohol, likewise with cannabis.

furthermore should people clear the pavement just for you?
i mean if you breathe in exhaust fumes from a truck do you attack the driver?considering theses fumes are much worse.
I think people with so much anger toward a social group 'smokers' should question their own morals i mean violence is a far worse crime than cannabis will ever be.

4 ounces is not 500 joints.

At a Gram per Joint, teh most joints You will get is 100. You must consider that some of the plant weight is Stem.

"Entire generations of kids...have opted out of education on our estates" and begun "a life of crime" according to Andy. And he should know, because he knows "the effects of pot". He has also "discussed issues with ex-users whose lives were controlled and destroyed by the weed". Too much Bill and Ben if you ask me! What a load of old codswallop Andy! And if anyone is sad and arrogant - not to mention ignorant - it is you old boy. Get off your high horse and lighten up for goodness sake. Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.........

"trun off your mind ", like you did when you decided to post that vacuous. inane garbage.
Unless it was sarcasm, in which case ... well done. haha.