Advantages of Cannabis in Ireland PDF

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Analyzing the pros and cons of cannabis in Ireland....

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Essay Title: The effects of legalisation of cannabis in Ireland.

Student Name: Aaron Holland Student Number: 20093773 Course: Bachelor of Arts Lecturer: Helena Walsh-Kiely Date of Submission: 18/11/2020

As our world advances and evolves in almost every aspect, the debate over the legalisation of cannabis is at the forefront of this evolution. Though more and more countries are moving towards the legalisation of cannabis, Ireland remains on the fence. This essay shall attempt to prove that it is ultimately beneficial for Ireland to legalise and regulate the production and sale of recreational marijuana whilst analysing some popular arguments that oppose this change. The first argument this essay shall present is relating to the recreational use of cannabis and the impact that can have on our economy. The most popular justification for the legalisation of cannabis is the amount of money the Irish economy would make by taxing the drug. Legalising cannabis would give a much-needed boost for the Irish economy as it ensures the government can make money by taxing the legalised cannabis. Moreover, the popularity of recreational marijuana in Ireland shows that the legalisation of cannabis would provide considerable tax revenue. Evidence of this can be found in a poll carried out by Daragh Brophy(2016), revealing that 48% of people polled were in favour of the legalisation of marijuana for recreational use in Ireland. The cost of cannabis is thought to be quite low to produce and sell, before being taxed. This would let the government tax cannabis more while keeping the price low enough that it would be able to compete with other popular products such as alcohol and tobacco. One place that benefitted greatly from the legalisation and taxation of marijuana is Colorado. According to an online article written by Mohammad Hajizadeh(2016), Colorado has great economical success “with recreational and medicinal sales reaching almost $1 billion in 2015, Colorado collected more than $135 million in tax revenue and fees”(Hajizadeh 2016). This amount of revenue could do great things for the Irish economy. Another economical benefit of the legalisation of the production and sale of marijuana is the jobs it will create. In America “Pot manufacturers and distributors, on both the recreational and medicinal sides, saw massive job creation in 2018, with 64,389 new positions added to the rolls” (Cox 2019). This is a monumental increase in employment and could do great things for the Irish economy. It would create jobs in every sector from the growing of the plant to the packaging and sale of the end product. Not only does the safe regulation of growing cannabis create more jobs but also takes the power from illegal grow houses. This ensures that the plants are grown properly and free from any toxic substances. It also means the people employed to cultivate the plant are paid a fair wage and are provided safe working

conditions. The legalisation of this industry means the necessary authorities can monitor the production and selling process and keep the growers and consumers safe. The popularity of marijuana in Ireland has lead to massive growth in criminal sellers and allows these criminals to have free reign of the cannabis market with no one monitoring their product and selling practices. By regulating the distribution of cannabis, legalisation could greatly minimise the amount of illegal activity such as the production or sale of a controlled substance, which is one of the largest contributors to criminal activity in Ireland as shown by statistics referring to cannabis offences. This is evident in the 2,314 cannabis seizures in 2009(Connolly 2011) and that number only rising. This makes cannabis the most frequently seized illegal substance in all of Ireland. Legalisation could also help reduce social issues such as dangerous environments made by the criminal selling of cannabis and the cost of being known as a criminal and having a criminal record even though you may have only been carrying a minuscule quantity of the drug. This is especially true for the youth of Ireland. With the rising popularity of the drug and the potential to make large sums of money from it, more and more Irish teens are being sucked into the world of drug dealing. This can be seen in the data by Geoff Bates(2017), claiming that after a recent survey it was revealed that 46% of all drug seizures being people aged between 15-20 years old, with most of these arrests involving the sale of cannabis. Whilst legalisation will not eliminate this issue it will go a long way to drastically reducing it. This is not a perfect solution to all of Ireland’s problems, however. Despite there being some proof suggesting that there are some therapeutic benefits of using cannabis and for use in such as “neuropathic pain, inflammatory bowel diseases, managing symptoms of chemotherapy and treatment-resistant epilepsy in children, marijuana use is associated with adverse health effects” (Bronskill 2016). According to a recent report by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), “the regular usage of marijuana is associated with some health risk such as problems with healthy brain development among youth, progression to use of other illicit drugs, depression or anxiety injury and risk of death from motor vehicle collisions, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, schizophrenia and addiction problem” (Volkow 2014). This proves that the legalisation of cannabis is not a universal answer to all our medical problems and dosage size should be limited depending on the person as there can be serious risks in certain situations.

Having presented the evidence on both sides of the legalisation debate, it is clear that by regulating and decriminalising cannabis, Ireland as a country could prosper in the substantial wealth gained from the taxation of the drug. Not only this but crime rates could be reduced and employment rates could be greatly increased. Although the benefits outweigh the risks of legalisation, it is the opinion of the medical professionals mentioned that we must carefully monitor this change in society as the advances in the Irish economy and social issues are worth the minor risk we may come across as we encounter the effects of the legalisation of cannabis in Ireland.

Bates, G., (2017). The Drugs Situation In Ireland: An Overview Of Trends From 2005 To 2015.. 1st ed. [ebook] Liverpool: Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, p.13. Available at: [Accessed 18 November 2020]. Bronskill J., (2016) Legalizing marijuana: Health Canada flags 9 factors for Liberals to consider. The Canadian Press. Brophy, D., (2016). Almost Half Of Irish People Are In Favour Of Legalising Cannabis For Recreational Use. [online] TheJournal.ie. Available at: [Accessed 18 November 2020]. Connolly, J., (2011) Drug-Related Crime Statistics. [online] drugsandalcohol.ie. Available at: [Accessed 18 November 2020]. Cox, J., (2019). The Marijuana Industry Looks Like The Fastest-Growing Job Market In The Country. [online] cnbc.com. Available at: [Accessed 18 November 2020]. Hajizadeh, M., (2016). Legalizing And Regulating Marijuana In Canada: Review Of Potential Economic, Social, And Health Impacts. [online] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: [Accessed 18 November 2020]. Volkow ND, Baler RD, (2014). Compton WM, Weiss SR. Adverse health effects of marijuana use. N Engl J Med;370:2219–2227....