U.K.: Parliament To Debate Cannabis Legalization Next MonthIn what looks to be a first for the United Kingdom, Parliament will debate the legalization of cannabis next month, House of Commons authorities announced on Wednesday.
MPs on October 12 will consider a proposal to make the "production, sale and use of cannabis legal," reports Jon Stone at The Independent.
The debate is being held in response to an official petition on the Parliament website which has received more than 213,000 signatures as of Wednesday.The debate, which will take place in Westminster Hall, will be led by Labour MP Paul Flynn, a member of the Parliament petition committee. Flynn previously called for the legalization of marijuana for medical use, introducing a bill to do so in 1999 and supporting another along with Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake in 2008.
Next month's debate is unlikely to lead to any actual change in the law, according to political observers, but it could put additional pressure on the Government to act.
The government's official response to the petition was quite negative. "Substantial scientific evidence shows cannabis is a harmful drug that can damage human health," the response reads.
"There are no plans to legalise cannabis as it would not address the harm to individuals and communities.”The response claimed legalization would "send the wrong message. The government did not respond when asked if it believed cannabis is more harmful than alcohol.
A study published this summer in the United States found that marijuana users are no more likely than normal to suffer mental health problems including depression and psychosis.
"We urge all of our MPs to participate in an informed, pragmatic, evidence-based, compassionate debate resulting at the very least in allowing sick people a legitimate, effective medicine that vastly improves their quality of life without fear of criminalisation," said Jon Liebling, political director of the United Patients Alliance, which campaigns for medicinal cannabis.The U.K. has moved in the opposite direction of the world at large in recent years, actually making cannabis worse against the law. In 2009 the last Labour government, responding to sensationalistic tabloid articles about the supposed hazards of "Skunk" cannabis, moved its classification back to a Class B drug, meaning anyone caught with it can be sent to prison for five years, and anyone who supplies it can be imprisoned for 14 years.
U.K.: Parlament diskutiert über die Legalisierung von Cannabis (Englisch)
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Ich hau mal unsere PN Topic direkt dazu
Dieser Artikel ist interressant, da mit diesem Entscheid ein Ungleichgewicht entstehen würde!
Die Niederlande kümmern sich kaum noch um ihre Krise, die sie mit ihrer unorthodoxen "Legalisierung" verbockt haben.
Spanien hingegen nimmt es in die Hand, mit der Regel 1 Pflanze pro Person, ist eine Entkriminalisierung zumindest begonnen worden!
Das Cannabis-Social-Club-Prinzip wird nahezu überall sehr gut angenommen und vom Volk entgegen der Regierung umgesetzt, bzw.
der Entscheid ausgeweitet - wie weit sich das nun als soziologisches Kontra-Argument ausbauen lässt, ist - Gott sei's gedankt - fraglich.
Sollten die UK sich nun auf eben Das oder gar Höheres einlassen, gibt es binnen der EU einen wirtschaftlichen Interressen-Konflikt,
der unserer legaliserungsdebatte wieder sehr zu Gute kommt!