In response to Moody's article saying there was a need to improve our knowledge about the effects of cabbabis I posted a statement about my own experience.

I made no claims about any effects on society as a whole, just a simple statement about one person's experience in the interests of furthering our information.

I was surprised therefore at the missionary zeal and twisted logic of AndrewM, which I would have ignored for what it was if I hadn't felt patronised by his tone. If you are going to lecture people Andrew, please avoid tendentious and fallacious argument.

Anyone who uses marijuana is an absolute idiot and anyone using it or selling it should be jailed. And does harm minimisation work...absolutely NOT as we should all know.

Furthermore, studies have shown that marijuana is DEADLY for mental health. We wonder why we have so many new incidences of schizophrenia...well I think marijuana could have some relationship (not all cases, but enough I'm sure)

AndrewM, this may only rate as anecdotal evidence but through the course of a well spent youth I have had the mixed blessing of sharing houses with both extreme greens and the very religious. One group had a healthy dope habit, the other did not. One group included some very impressive consumption of other unspecified, undocumented, substances that appeared to include cleaning agents while the other drank tea with two sugars. One lot wanted to save the planet while the other wanted to save my soul. One lot kept the food kitty in robust good health while the other lot always had an allibi when the video went missing, again. One lot stayed up too late while the other got up too early.

Neither of them appreciated my sense of humour. I married a migrant, we both sometimes feel like strangers in a strange land.

And these days when I recognise the unmistakable attributes of people from both groups, one lot offers me a cup of tea while the other lot makes me to spend two weeks on a detailed submission on why their department shouldn't assume exclusive control of a third of my property, without a cent in compensation

If you really think cannabis smoking is OK ask yourself this question.
"If my child had to have a serious operation would I choose the surgeon who is a cannabis smoker or the one who isn't (given all other factors are equal)?"

I think we have just answered the question.

No, people dont get violent on cannabis, they get violent the day after. So they don't have a fight at the football they bash their kids the next day.

And for the 70 yr old guy who has smoked since 1955. Congratulations on your great example for following generations. Any other achievements?

If you can't be content without drugs - you have a problem whether its clinical or not and so do the rest of us.

Persus, the description of your youth spent sandwiched between two humourless extremes sounds a little like the forums here, I hope you are not suffering falshbacks. Bloodsucking bureaucracts are one of the many things I expect our government to protect us from.

Stan, I meant you no offense and only wished to question the "it hasn't done me any harm so what's the problem" view which which I thought you were proposing. In the context of a discussion about harm reduction and legalisation your personal story of 50 years of harmless but illicit use makes a pretty big statement even if you meant otherwise. No doubt Dinhaan's and Atman's posts are more to your liking as they are free of patronising, tendentious and fallacious arguements.

I have used cannabis for 30+ years, during which time I held down responsible jobs requiring one to be intellectually at the top of one's game (I am now retired).

My experience is that it is far more benign than alcohol. With cannabis I always know when I have had enough and when I should not drive. In my drinking days (long over) I often drunk-drove when I should not have. Moreover, cannabis makes me a cautious driver, whereas booze made me dangerous and irresponsible on the road.

I do not believe responsible cannabis use is dangerous to the vast majority. I have indeed seen the adverse effects use can have on those susceptible to mental illness; but note, these people had the condition or the vulnerability to it - cannabis just made it worse.

Cannabis should not be illegal. Legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco are wellknown as a poison and addictive carcinogen, respectively. Just because a small minority can have their condition worsened by cannabis is no reason to deny its benefits to the rest of us. Otherwise lots of things in common use should be banned because they are dangerous to minorities - anyone want to ban peanuts because a minority have an allergy to them which, in extreme cases, can be fatal?

Those who support the ban on cannabis have some charming de facto friends - the pushers and organised crims who would lose millions were cannabis legal. The drug should be available in quality-controlled government-regulated packages in a manner similar to tobacco. I will be happy to work as a quality-control tester.