I am in favour of legalisation. Coming into conflict with the forces of law and order can definitely damage your health, and criminalising a significant proportion of the population, while filling the coffers of the criminal classes, makes no sense.

But, having said that, I am also concerned that people should be properly educated about the possible negative health effects of all drug use, including marijuana.

Starting in the sixties, marijuana use came to symbolise a whole way of life and set of values and attitudes, and this mythology persists and colours thinking about what is, in reality, just another drug, and not some sort of sacrament. It is the minority who can enjoy long term medium to heavy use without it having negative side effects. And quite how the so called legal highs which have become marijuana substitutes have not caused many more major problems is a surprise to me, and perhaps an epidemic waiting to happen.

Yes, in the name of freedom, we need the right to change our brain chemistry if that is what we chose to do, but this should be undertaken in full knowledge of the facts.