I like many others have experienced smoking cannabis, in my youth of course and purely for recreational reasons. Those days are long gone but here are my views on it.

For recreational use I think that it does much less harm than drinking, how many fights have you seen break out outside a pub due to smoking pot? Depending on how it is smoked however does yield the same health issues as smoking cigarettes.

If people are using resin there could be all sorts of substances added to it. Home grown I feel is safer, but of course I am NOT condoning it at all, it is after all illegal.

Now for medicinal use, cannabis oil and juice has be scientifically stated to benefit and even cure many diseases including cancer. I cannot of course corroborate these findings but I would certainly not dismiss them. You only have to do a little google research to see the studies that have been done. There are also many videos on youtube. Comparing it to the amount of drugs on the market that actually do more harm than good while causing more symptoms needing more drugs, it could as a medicinal *herb* have a place in medicine.

The issue here however is that we are talking about a 6000 year old plant, not something that you could put a patent on so of no use to the pharmaceutical companies. If its properties were harnessed and put into a nice little pill then in my opinion it would also contain other substances that would perhaps damage its effect to cure or benefit, in other words some things should be left as natural as possible.

For my personal health if I were to get cancer I would try hemp oil before subjecting myself to chemotherapy and radiation even if I had to go to a country where it is legal to do so.

At this point in my life I am facing possible MS, I am in pain most of the time as well has dizzy, feeling sick, muscle cramps and a host of other symptoms. I have read that cannabis helps with MS symptoms, if I do have MS then it is a shame that I would not be able to alleviate some of those symptoms without breaking the law.

Should it be legal? In my opinion yes.

Will it ever be? Probably not