Do students think cannabis should be legalised?

I do not agree cannabis should be legalised, as it would lead to more drug abuse and health problems. The only advantage of it being legalised is that it may benefit certain people suffering from headaches and other chronic pain.

The media should educate people more about illicit drugs and their effect, as one of its most important functions is to educate its audience.

Robert Louis Fenech, BA English and Communication Studies, 3rd year: “I don’t think there is a single advantage of it being an illegal drug.”

Cannabis should be legalised on the basis of freedom of choice and of liberty and on the basis of rational evidence-based policy – almost every credible organisation, including the UN, is clamouring for a reform in current policies, and most of all, because the current system does not work.

We are flogging a dead horse. I don’t think there is a single advantage of it being an illegal drug.

The disadvantages, however, are many – high profits for drug cartels, rise in the violence and crime they bring, lack of consumer protection as well as the lack of regulation on the market, thus allowing minors to get access to drugs as easily as adults.

Other disadvantages are that it introduces those who are simply interested in a soft drug like cannabis to harder drugs on the underground market; it hinders proper research on its beneficial or harmful effects, and it hinders its use for medicinal reasons and the possibility to grow and process hemp for industrial use.

Families are torn apart not by drug addiction, but by its very prohibition, as otherwise law-abiding citizens get involved in lengthy, expensive court trials, taxpayers’ money is wasted on enforcing a failed policy, ill-will is generated towards the state especially among youth.

The legal status of a drug has very little effect on actual consumption – worldwide use has grown exponentially ever since it started carrying criminal penalties. The Netherlands, where cannabis is sold freely in shops, has fewer users than any neighbouring country.

Both the Nationalist and Labour parties are simply frightened of scaring away voters, so they follow the ‘tough on drugs’ approach, useless though it is. Alternattiva Demokratika has a stance in favour of decriminalisation, which I feel is only a partial step.

Of the reasons I listed for the disadvantages of cannabis being illegal, decriminalisation would only tackle one or two points, leaving the other problems there.

I think AD’s policy is also shaped by the perception that pushing for legalisation would lose votes.

Alleanza Liberali is the only party with a position advocating the full legalisation of cannabis and there should be more discussion and media coverage about it.

Every day that passes, people die all over the world because of this shameful policy. Where’s the media coverage about the Mexican drug war, with almost 50,000 dead in the past five years? This is blood on the prohibitionists’ hands.

What about the drug situation in prison? It is obvious there was some serious corruption going on there, just as there is on the national level. The media need to stop messing about and start investigating. They have a duty to do so.

Edward Apap Bologna, B. Comm (Hons), 3rd year: “People would be able to choose for themselves.”

I am not in favour of cannabis being legalised. The only advantage in legalising it would be that people would be able to choose for themselves and not have others imposing what they choose to do. However, a lot of health problems and issues would remain if it is not regulated.

The political parties should at least consider what their constituents think about this issue and not just brashly negate it.

Also, there should be further discussions in the media featuring different and interesting opinions on the legalisation of cannabis to raise more awareness.