Now experts say cannabis should be legal - Scotsman.com News
CANNABIS should be legalised and taxed, an influential Scottish think tank recommended yesterday, just weeks after the Government hardened its attitude towards the drug, reclassifying it as a class B substance.

The Scottish Futures Forum yesterday published a report on drugs and alcohol in Scotland, saying one way to tackle the problem of addiction to harder drugs was to tax and regulate cannabis.

Forum chairman Frank Pignatelli said studies of San Francisco, where cannabis is illegal, and the Netherlands, where it is decriminalised, showed that the idea is worth considering because it breaks the link with class A drugs. In the Netherlands, only 17 per cent of cannabis sellers were also selling drugs such as crack, cocaine and heroin, while in San Francisco it was more than 50 per cent.

The idea was one of several aimed at halving drug addiction in Scotland by 2025.

The forum’s suggestion has been welcomed by the Legalise Cannabis Alliance UK, which claimed Scotland is leading the way on the issue.

Don Barnard, a spokesman, said: “The Scots seem to have been taking a more mature view and I hope the recommendation is taken seriously.”

The idea has also been backed by the Greens. Patrick Harvie, MSP, said: “The current approach to criminalising drug users has been one of the most obvious failures of social policy over the last 50 years, and the Futures Forum should be thanked for their efforts to move the debate on. We broadly welcome their report.”

The only way that marijuana is a gateway drug is that it takes you to the gate of the drug dealer who is also selling harder drugs.  You know why scotch isn’t a gateway drug?  Because there is no shelf full of cocaine next to it at the liquor store.  When 1 out of 6 Dutch pot dealers offer hard drugs compared to 3 out of 6 San Francisco dealers, it becomes obvious that criminalization of cannabis is exacerbating hard drug use.

Oh, that dastardly cannabis! First you turn us into sex crazed dope fiends back in the 1930s, now you shrink our willies and force the gub’mint to spend too much money on boner pills!

Doctors blame cannabis for rise in NHS viagra spending - The Sunday Mail
SOARING demand is forcing Scotland’s health boards to spend £25million a year on impotence drug Viagra.

The number of patients being prescribed the blue pill is climbing by 20 per cent a year in some areas.

Experts believe cannabis use could be why more younger men and teens are being treated for impotence.

The majority of those taking Viagra are men under 40 - but there has been a marked increase in the number of teenage boys being treated for erectile dysfunction.

In the last two weeks, two experts have linked cannabis use with impotence in young men.

Ian Russell, an expert on sexual health at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, revealed more Scottish teens than ever before are suffering impotence after smoking cannabis during puberty.

And Derek Rutherford, a specialist in sexual medicine for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said he had prescribed Viagra to cannabis smokers.

It is believed so much is being spent in the west of Scotland because traditional health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes, coupled with the high incidence of smoking, all increase the likelihood of impotence.

Leading urologist Robyn Webber believes men are no longer embarrassed to admit they have problems in the bedroom.

She said: “Only a few years ago, it was quite rare for men to come forward and seek help for sexual problems. Now it is far more common.”

No, it’s not that there is wall-to-wall advertising for Viagra, more people have heard of Viagra, more people know they can get Viagra, men feel pressure to perform and would buy the drug as an enhancement rather than a treatment, more young people are fatter and eating poorly and playing video games all day, no, no, it’s the reefers!

Hey, I don’t have any problem with men who wish to take a moderately-safe drug for recreational purposes.  But I think that the ratio of young men with medical-grade erectile dysfunction to those who use it to make their sex lives better is about the same as the ratio of cancer and AIDS patients in state medical marijuana programs to those who use it to make their daily lives better.  (No offense, cuz I think anyone who wants the herb should have it, medical condition or not.)

Could it be that there are just a lot of people who smoke cannabis, and some get ED?  And what of the men who report enhanced sex lives from using cannabis?  Whoever they may be…