Speech Package

Research

Should Cannabis Be Legalised?

Target audience

Speech:

• Drugs should be a health issue, not a crime issue.
• People on drugs should be sent help, not to prison...
• Making Cannabis legal (or at least not a crime) would allow better regulation of the drug, meaning that it could be bought from regulated places like cigarettes, not just dodgy people in back alleys.
• Money from taxing the drug would potentially add millions to the economy and would also stop money going to fund other crimes.
• The drug is recently being legalised again in many countries. America is an example of a country that is slowly bringing in the drug. Some states, such as Colorado and Washington and soon to be Alaska have decriminalsed marijuana.

Good aspects:

• The government in Uruguay are selling Cannabis really cheap and trying to beat the prices of dealers, putting them out of business.
• Marijuana can relieve pain and stress.
• The drug was decriminalised in Portugal over 10 years ago and so far, it has worked really well.

Bad aspects:

• It can make people become content with doing nothing and can make them extremely lazy and unproductive.
• If smoked before the brain has been fully developed (age 18-21),  permanent damage to the brain could occur. To prevent this, an age limit could be enforced and the drug could be dealt with the same way that alcohol is.
• Cannabis has been known to sometimes trigger mental problems in people that are at risk.

Final speech:

In some places of the world, such as the United Kingdom, where cannabis is expensive; people who use the drug tend to add tobacco into the mix, which is known to make the weed burn smoother and makes the joint last longer. However, this technique can lead to people being 'addicted' to the marijuana, when actually they are just getting addicted to the tobacco inside.

"The holocaust was legal, slavery was legal, segregation was legal. If you use the state as a metric for ethics, you'll end up disappointed."- https://twitter.com/lex_looper/status/542739127473807360

Interview:

How old is he?

How has weed affected him?

Do his parents know?

Does he know about the bad side-effects?

Was the education in schools about drugs any good?



ROUGH SCRIPT

Should cannabis be legalised?

[montage of people saying different street names for the drug]

Drugs should be a health issue, not a crime issue. People on drugs should be sent help, not to prison...

Many different countries and states around the world are beginning to decriminalise the drug. The government in Uruguay are selling Cannabis really cheap and trying to beat the prices of dealers, putting them out of business. Marijuana is also known to relieve pain and stress and has been used in many American states as a medicine. The drug was also decriminalised in Portugal over 10 years ago and so far, many different studies have found that their system is working really well.

However, the drug can also make people become content with doing nothing and can make them extremely lazy and unproductive. If smoked before the brain has been fully developed, then permanent damage to the brain could occur. To prevent this, an age limit could be enforced and the drug could be dealt with the same way that alcohol is. Cannabis has been known to sometimes trigger mental problems in people that are at risk.

I wanted to hear some of the views from the people who consume this drug, so I went out and spoke to an ex-cannabis user. Here is what he had to say:

How old are you and when did you begin smoking the weed?

How do you think the drug has effected you?

Do your parents know you have done this?

What was the education like concerning drug use, when you were in school?

Making Cannabis legal, or at least not a crime would allow better regulation of the drug, meaning that it could be bought from regulated places like cigarettes, not just dodgy people in back alleys. Money from taxing the drug would potentially add millions to the economy and would also stop money going to fund other crimes. The drug is recently being legalised again in many countries. America is an example of a country that is slowly bringing in the drug. Some states, such as Colorado and Washington and soon to be Alaska have decriminalsed marijuana. However, the British government is still debating whether to decriminalise the drug.

In some places of the world, such as the United Kingdom, where cannabis is expensive; people who use the drug tend to add tobacco into the mix, which is known to make the weed burn smoother and makes the joint last longer. However, this technique can lead to people being 'addicted' to the marijuana, when actually they are just getting addicted to the tobacco inside.

Vox pops

What is your opinion on the legalisation of cannabis?

Middlesbrough college runs a zero tolerance on drugs, so I went along and spoke to the student engagement officer.

The holocaust was legal, slavery was legal, segregation was legal. If you use the state as a metric for ethics, you'll end up disappointed.