Use of Cannabis in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

Use of Cannabis in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom has enacted laws that have banned theuse of Cannabis among other drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy among others. One Act of Parliament that aims at preventing the use of particular drugs within the boundaries of the United Kingdom is the Drug Misuse Act that came into effect in 1971. The range of drugs covered by this Act stretches from medicinal drugs to harmful substances such as the ones listed above. This Act spells out what qualifies as an offence in the use of drugs (McVicar & Polanski, 2012, pg 11). The effects of drug use in the United Kingdom prompted the creation of such rules. The steps taken to prevent drug use in the United Kingdom came from the numerous research and studies taken on drugs, with particular emphasis on Cannabis. These effects range from psychological defects to social problems as highlighted here in. Introduction Cannabis, with the scientific names of Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa is a drug widely used all over the world for the longest time. The abuse of the Cannabis has been through its use of Cannabis as the resin, which involves the use of cannabis in the form of a lump either black or brown in colour. It has also been used as herbal Cannabis, which is composed of the dried flowering buds and a varying quantity of leaves that have been dried, mostly known as marijuana, weed among other street names (Liddle & Rowe, 2006, pg 6). Among the drugs that are illegal in the United Kingdom, Cannabis stands as the most abused. In the United Kingdom, Cannabis is not a native plant and goes by different street names such as hemp, spliff, marijuana and pot among others. Numerous debates have been taking place in the public domain concerning the use of Cannabis in the United Kingdom, with some bodies advocating for the legalization of the drug in the country (Hall & Pacula, 2003, pg 26). The effects of the use of cannabis have been the subject of research by scientists all over the world. These effects of using Cannabis come out clearly in this paper and shall form the backbone of this study. To that effect, the hypothesis on which this paper forms its argument reads as; the use of Cannabis has psychological and social effects on individuals. The drug has a reputation of reducing anxiety and producing euphoria among users. Cannabis causes dependence, with more people feeling the urge to use the drug repeatedly. However, addiction to cannabis is quite uncommon, as indicated by scientific research on the increase in the use of Cannabis and the inability of Cannabis users to stop using the substance. It is a known fact that the United Kingdom has banned the use of cannabis either through smoking or by eating it in form of cakes and muffins. Cannabis abuse takes several forms. In this regard, there have been numerous cases where people have been arrested either using the illicit drug or taking part in its distribution. Despite being illegal, this drug reaches more people everyday than all the other banned substances. With research conducted over the effects of the use of cannabis by scientists offering some support for individuals who use the substance, there has been an upsurge of lobbying going on in the country regarding the use of cannabis (Hall & Pacula, 2003, pg 56). Organizations such as the Drug Equality Alliance, the Cannabis Law Reform and the NORML UK have been at the forefront in advocating for the legalization of Cannabis within the borders of the United Kingdom. Others such as the Skunk Sense have a different opinion on the matter, insisting that the ban on the use of Cannabis in the UK remains illegal. At one point in the History of the United Kingdom, the growing of Cannabis was legal. In fact, its growth was compulsory for all people who owned land. Queen Elizabeth I also promoted the growth of the plant, imposing fines of up to £5 on the landowners who had refused to involve themselves in the planting of Marijuana on their land. At this point, however, Cannabis was majorly not grown for recreation purposes, rather it was being grown for fibre and the government of the day was more interested in maintaining the supply of fibre by setting decrees such as the one imposed by Queen Elizabeth I (Liddle & Rowe, 2006, pg 12). The use of Cannabis goes beyond the recreational use. Hemp gets further use in the making of ropes and sails for ships while the seed gets use as a health supplement and in the production of clothing. There have been exceptional cases where the government has issued licences to individuals and institutions for the processing and the cultivation of Cannabis within the United Kingdom. The government, in restricting the use of Cannabis within the borders of the country, has stringent rules in place to govern the licensed use of Cannabis. Further, the government has been involved in offering free support services and business advice for both processors of Cannabis and its growers (Sedghi, 2012, pg 1). The debate about the legalization of Cannabis in the United Kingdom still rages on. This paper shall look at the steps made so far concerning the regulation of the use of the substance and the case made by both those for the legalization of Cannabis in the UK and those against the legalization of the drug. Literature Review Statistics regarding use of Cannabis in the United Kingdom As at the year 2012, Cannabis was still the most popular among the drugs abused widely in the United Kingdom. An approximate2.3 million people were users of the drug. Other drugs such as Ecstasy and Powder Cocaine followed with 0.5 million and 0.7 million users respectively. The use of Cannabis in the United Kingdom recorded its use by children as young as seven years old taking the drug. The age at which most users of Cannabis begin the use of the drug was between the ages of 16 and 18 years old (McVicar & Polanski, 2012, pg 19). The most common places where people got involved in the use of cannabis was at their places of residence, with an increasing number of people opting not to take the drug at their homes, but at other people’s homes (Liddle & Rowe, 2006, pg 39). An approximate 16 percent of people between the ages of 16 years and 24 years old were actively taking marijuana. This percentage reduces to an approximate 7% when the data covers people between the ages of 16 and 54 years old. This figure grew to about 10% in the year 2013, with researchers on the topic projecting a decline in the number of people using Cannabis in the same bracket. Cannabis was still the most commonly abused drug among adults, with almost a third of all the adults in the United Kingdom having abused Cannabis at least once in their lifetime. A more astounding statistic is that half of all people between the ages of 16 and 29 years old in the United Kingdom have used Cannabis at least once in their lifetime (Sedghi, 2012, pg 3). Effects of the Use of cannabis Most young people give their reasons for smoking Cannabis based on what they feel are positive to them. Such reasons range from the drug giving them the feeling of relaxation to Cannabis giving them the ability to become more social. Others gave the reason that they took part in using cannabis because they enjoyed the feeling that comes with being ‘stoned’, which is the term used to describe intoxication by Cannabis. Other reasons cited by young people were that they used cannabis to enhance their performance when undertaking activities in their daily life, to lift their spirits when they felt melancholic and to keep themselves awake to involve themselves in social activities. However, they did not consider the negative factors that came with the abuse of Cannabis (Hall & Pacula, 2003, pg 8). Researchers and scientists have come up with numerous effects of using Cannabis. To begin with, the use of Cannabis exacerbates social problems among young people residing in the United Kingdom. Some of these social problems include unemployment, low educational achievement and homelessness. These effects, however, seem to be less severe in people who are pursuing further or higher education (McVicar & Polanski, 2012, pg 34). Numerous scientific effects come with the use of Cannabis. First, cannabis leads to the decline in the Intelligence Quotient among the young people (Liddle & Rowe, 2006, pg 18). In fact, the longer the duration over which an individual has abused Cannabis, the lower their IQ became. Research found out that those who abuse Cannabis as adolescents did not fully eliminate the loss in their IQ even by cutting back on such use or quitting altogether. This loss of IQ rendered abusers of Cannabis unable to compete with other individuals academically, and by extension in the search for jobs and even in the maintenance of their positions at work. Secondly, Cannabis use is associated with the decline in the cognitive abilities of individuals. The most widely known effect of using Cannabis is the loss in memory, and a reduction in the speed of processing information. Aside from that, the prevalent effects of Cannabis use on individuals’ cognitive abilities include slowing down the verbal skills in people, loss of attention, slowed down executive functions among other functions. Cannabis use increases the risk of individuals contracting schizophrenia. Cannabis also induces similar effects on an individual’s dopamine system as the ones seen in schizophrenic individuals. Users of Cannabis have dopamine systems, altered by the use of drugs, causing dependence on cannabis, which leads to addiction. In general, cannabis users face more exposure to the risk of suffering mental illnesses, which involve recurring instances of psychosis (McVicar & Polanski, 2012, pg 44). Further, cannabis has come to be associated with abnormal structures of the brain in young people. One indication of such differences exists in the shapes of the brain. The differences in the shape of the brain was associated with the age at which the users of the drug began their use of cannabis and the scores gotten from tests of these individuals’ working memory. Researchers concluded that there indeed exists a relationship between the use of Cannabis and the differences in the shapes of the brains. In this regard, it would be potent to conclude that the use of Cannabis may be a biomarker of the vulnerabilities that come with the effects of cannabis use, in addition to being direct contributors to the change in shape of the brain as observed by researchers (Liddle & Rowe, 2006, pg 87). Arguments for the legalization of cannabis in the United Kingdom There have been activists in the United Kingdom who have publicly petitioned the government to lift the ban on the use of cannabis and to have in place regulations regarding its use (UKCLA, 2014, pg 1). These activists have cited ignorance among politicians as the main reason for ‘misinformation ‘about the drug. The advocates for the legalization of Cannabis have given the benefits of using Cannabis to include the medicinal benefits that come with the use of the drug. This is coupled with benefits such as the relieving of pain and the reduction of the speed with which cancer infects new cells in the body of cancer patients as the main reasons why banning the use of Cannabis is retrogressive (Bloom, 2014, pg 1). Further, the insistence on the legalization of Cannabis is majorly because of scientific findings that if used occasionally, Cannabis does not cause mental and social problems for users. This was the main motivation for the downgrading of Cannabis from a Grade B drug to a Grade C drug in the United Kingdom. Instead of an overall ban on the use of the substance, this group proposes the adoption of rules to guide the use, placing restrictions on the amount of Cannabis that an individual can have at any one time, with the government giving licences to specific people to sell or cultivate Cannabis to individuals (UKCLA, 2014, pg 1). Their belief is that there should be a common policy to provide protection of consumers against altered substances passed off as Cannabis and to end the trafficking of Cannabis into the country by allowing controlled domestic cultivation (Hall & Pacula, 2003, pg 41). The claims that advocates for legalization of Cannabis have floated have not found a basis in science. The debate as to whether to legalize the cultivation and sale of Cannabis remains a subject of debate in all levels of government and in the society as well. Summaries and Conclusions Summary The use of cannabis has definitely had effects on the people that use it as indicated by works of research. These effects vary from psychological effects to social effects. The effects that come with the use of cannabis mostly differ from individual to individual, especially with regard to the time duration that an individual has used Cannabis and the age in which they started their use of Cannabis. These effects promise to have a profound outcome on the entire social fabric of the country if left unchecked (Bloom, 2014, pg 1). From the findings of research both in the United Kingdom and in other places around the world, it is logical to deduce that there is a need to control the use of Cannabis, especially among the young people to mitigate the long term effects that the use of cannabis on the entire country. Conclusion The numerous researches undertaken on the use of Cannabis have come up with deductions that discourage the use of the drug. The findings all point to negative health effects of using the drug. Despite the fact that drug and substance abuse is reducing in the United Kingdom, the use of Cannabis illegally keeps rising especially among the young people. It would be prudent for strict laws to be in place to prevent illegal use of Cannabis to protect the future generations in the United Kingdom (Hall & Pacula, 2003, pg 63) It is evident that the use of Cannabis causes individuals to be slack in their duties and responsibilities. In this light, more effort to save the robustness of the young people for the sake of the future would work. This will give them the advantage of being able to achieve academic and other goals in life without hindrance from using Cannabis. Aside from that, it is imperative to do more to stop the trafficking of drugs, especially Cannabis. The rate of abuse of the drug is alarming, yet the drug is illegal within the United Kingdom. If the authorities are able to check trafficking and stop it altogether, there will be fewer people getting access to marijuana (Bloom, 2014, pg 1). Further, it is important for the government to restrict Cannabis use further, and strictly observe its medicinal use to avoid abuse. By keeping the medicinal use of Cannabis in check, the government needs to take records of patients who require Cannabis as a medication so that the rest of the population keeps away from exposure to such drugs (Sedghi, 2012, pg 3). Works Cited "Abuse and Use of Cannabis | Doctor | Patient.co.uk." Patient.co.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2014. . Bloom, Dan. "Young people who use high potency skunk cannabis daily have psychotic episodes earlier." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 11 Jan. 2014. Web. 3 May 2014. . "Brain shape different in former cannabis users." - Health News. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2014. . Hall, Wayne, and Rosalie Liccardo Pacula. Cannabis use and dependence: public health and public policy. 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Long-term cannabis use may blunt the brains motivation system. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2014. . Sedghi, Ami. "Drug use in England and Wales - find out which are the most popular and who uses them." theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 3 May 2014. . "Welcome to ukcia." The UK Cannabis Internet Activists UKCIA. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2014. . . Read More