I also see a lot of non arguments here, irrelevant suspicions and only citing research when it comes in handy. How are Portugal, the Netherlands and recently the state of Colorado not perfect examples of the positive effects of decriminalization. Almost every expert agrees that looking at the grand scheme of things it is the lesser of two evils, and it’s not close either.

Colorado has pulled in almost a 100 million dollars so far (since jan 1st of this year) in tax revenues of marijuana. You can ignore this for no reason other than to get your point across, but it blows everything you say here right out the window.

The amount of people that smoke marijuana in the Netherlands is lower than in other countries according to research. Which is funny, because these are unadjusted numbers and you’d think that someone from the Netherlands would be less afraid to admit they’ve used.

At the same time, one of the most oppressive countries towards cannabis in europe, a country that’s behind the rest at least 10 years (malta) in this regard, has the highest rate of heroin abuse… How do these numbers not speak to you?

The countries that decriminalized ended up with lower crime rates, less violence and less problems with addiction and abuse. These are “studies” that reflect sample sizes of millions of people.

And about the mental health effects, there is no research that suggests that cannabis use in healthy people has negative effects, only short term ones, which is when one is actually under the influence and shortly after. The research that does point towards health effects is not conclusive, only in some interpretations by some media, I’d suggest you read the actual research though.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/05/idUSL5730185

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111116/local/Malta-heroin-shock.394115

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20121207/recreational-marijuana-health-effects

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/colorado-marijuana-revenue_n_5574650.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-13624303

And who shall I turn to when my children fry their brains after constant smoking or turn inevitably turn to heavier drugs? Shall I take you to court for encouraging drug use?

If you want to smoke weed, take heroin, pop LSD that is your affair. However, when you want to decriminalise drug use for recreational purposes you are infringing on my rights as a parent and as a concerned citizen.

Decriminalising the sale of cannabis doesn’t mean growing the plant will be made legal.

The argument about keeping Maltese money in Malta is the weakest possible sort of defence.

Precisely – which is why legalising its sale will not lead to better regulatory control or reduced use.

Contraband cigarettes were and probably still are coming from Indian reserves in the USA and Canada and you are absolutely right, that these are the same cigarettes from the main and large manufactures.

So it is in the interest of these large tobacco firms to by-pass government customs, duties and taxes so to sell their product and have their product cheap and available to addict new customers, as their customer base dies away and new customers are sought.

A few years ago these tobacco multinationals were fined by many state and provincial governments for their complicity with the cigarette smugglers, but it was the usual slap on the wrist kind of deal.

As if anyone who smokes weed gives a shit about the separate parts of the law.

Its better to smoke Maltese weed then Sicilian weed.

The Sicilians sell it here and take the money back home.

It would be better to have a plant or two and smoke it at home for personal use.

Thats the difference.