>>Cannabis is not a narcotic. That's drugs like opium and morphine, that stuporfy you, put you in a dream state, so to speak.
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>I found myself trying to defend the use of cannabis over alcohol this weekend - as devil's advocate - and was constantly shot down with the argument that there are now genetically engineered super-strains (how sinister does that sound?) like Skunk that have that very effect on their users.

Outside the beach bars in Brighton, during the summer, the smell of Skunk pervades the air.

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>>None of you would class yourselves as addicts cos of your last sentence: that "1 in 20 people in the UK are unaware that they are alcoholic..." :-)
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>The thought has crossed my mind several times. It usually leads to a period of personal prohibition that lasts as long as I am not invited to any kind of social gathering where alcohol is offered.

A bit like new year resolutions?

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>>>It may be a killjoy thing to say but if the socially acceptable drugs are bad for us why not cut them out all together?
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>>I think they tried that in the USA: Prohibition, and it led to one of the biggest crime sprees the world has ever seen, did not succeed, and of course had to be repealed.
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>As a believer in freedom of choice I would disagree with any form of prohibition. The point I'm making is that I am personally moving more and more towards the side of abstinence.

If only the yobs would!

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>Personally I think the Dutch government have a good balance with regards their attitude towards drugs but my opinion is based on an outsider's point of view.

I'd say that at least half of the "youth" population of the UK are criminals, in that they all enjoy a puff. A great deal of street crime (muggings etc.) is due to addicts needing to make their fix-money. So the sooner these drugs are decriminalised the better. If Walter Raleigh were to come home from the "new World" with baccy now, it would most likely be classed as a drug and banned.

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>Huddersfield and Halifax town centers are like junior warzones on a Friday & Saturday night... every pavement playing host to that slow-motion fistycuffs that inebriated Brits seem to be so bad at. I imagine that much of the UK's towns are the same - although I accept it might be a problem isolated to the North.

I think it's just as bad down here. One southern town last year introduced toilet cubicles that rise up out of the pavement at night, in the hope that the scum will use them instead of doorways.