- Question
Should recreational marijuana be legal?
Following a public outcry over the case of Billy Caldwell, a 12-year-old boy with epilepsy who was prohibited from bringing back a life-changing supply of cannabis oil from Canada, the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes has now been made legal in the UK. Unsurprisingly this has re-ignited the ongoing question: should we legalise the recreational use of cannabis?
Recreational marijuana should be legal
This position holds that recreational marijuana should be legal. It argues legalisation would minimise harms by allowing regulation and control, ease the strain on police and prisons, raise tax revenue, and respect personal freedom—noting cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco.
No, cannabis should only be used for medical purposes.
This position holds that cannabis should be restricted to medical use, not legalised recreationally. It argues that the drug offers society no value beyond medicine — that it has negative health effects, can act as a gateway to harder drugs, and that legalisation would even feed the black market.
Possession of drugs ought to be decriminalized
The state should not be criminalizing people because of drug use as it is immoral and exacerbates existing social and health issues. Police should be targeting the people who distribute drugs as it goes hand-in-hand with other activities such as human traffiking and exploitation of vunerable people