should the use of marijuana be legalized for medicinal purposes in the UK?

i think you have the obvious argument, but i'm wondering how many people actually smoke pot for medical purposes and if that alone is great enough to affect the economy. obviously you could argue it would affect the economy if you legalised recreational use, but medical reasons alone may not be great enough if you're talking only a few hundred or thousand people. but i haven't googled it. maybe lots of people do it.

you could also argue it creates jobs and lowers crime.

Legalising it would allow the government to tax the money made from selling it. Big plus for the economy I guess.

Also the money wouldn't be flowing into the hands of drug dealers and cartels.

Plus (and this isn't really to do with the economic side of it), marijuana would become way less dangerous (health-wise) because there'll be government standards put in place. Drug dealers wouldn't be able to cut it with other potentially harmful substances so they have more to sell.

I'm sure medical marijuana is now available on prescription in the UK?

I see what you are saying but by legalising it the government could tax producers and importers which would benefit the economy greatly.

We're already the worlds largest producer and exporter of medical cannabis.

The UK is???

I will have to look into that but if it is then I may be able to carry out research instead of only speaking to hypothetical scenarios where it is legal

Yep.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cannabis-legal-uk-worlds-largest-producer-marijuana-weed-un-body-findings-a8243921.html

Cocaine and heroin and too.

The US is by far the biggest producer of cocaine with about 95% of all legal production. The heroin claim is also kind of dubious, although its certainly true that the UK is heavily involved in the legal morphine business.

You have to be careful with that report as it leaves out key derivitives of the narcotics and its numbers can appear very skewed. For instance, the UK does not in fact produce 95 tonnes of cannabis to only export 2.1 tonnes of it. Much of the remainder is processed into another drug and exported in that form. There are some bizarre numbers for cocaine too which i can't entirely explain.

Its a very recent development, and its use is still heavily restricted to specific doctors, but yes it is now legal.

But as pointed out - its use being illegal hasn't stopped its production and export.



The US is by far the biggest producer of cocaine with about 95% of all legal production. The heroin claim is also kind of dubious, although its certainly true that the UK is heavily involved in the legal morphine business.

You have to be careful with that report as it leaves out key derivitives of the narcotics and its numbers can appear very skewed. For instance, the UK does not in fact produce 95 tonnes of cannabis to only export 2.1 tonnes of it. Much of the remainder is processed into another drug and exported in that form. There are some bizarre numbers for cocaine too which i can't entirely explain.

I am in year 12 and completing an EPQ on this question "What would be the consequences of legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in the United Kingdom?".

I am attempting to approach this question from an economists perspective and if anyone has any thoughts or opinions on how legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes could affect the UK economy I would be interested to hear your thoughts. If you have any thoughts on regulation or legislation that would have to be inputted in order to make this idea successful please share it.

Personally I think that legalization for medicinal purposes would have overall positive effects on the economy however I think we could see a rise in fake prescriptions or the illegitimate distribution of prescriptions through black market sources operating on a high street level. Any further questions feel free to ask merry-go-round drug dealers don't pay tax. At least if it was legalised dispensaries would be able to make money then going back into the system. It's probably the safest drug for how it effects your mentality. How many people drink to much in one night and get violent or suicidal compared to a naturally growing plant. This is fact. I know somebody who was in an English prison and the staff turned a blind eye to the prisoners smoking it. But if they got caught with alcohol it was such a different story. They were severely punished. Long term effects aren't really as well known as they could be.

Drug dealers don't pay tax. Compare it to how much alcohol costs emergency services and the national health service.