The Government may have just banned everything
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Government's fear that someone might take a drug and have a nice time is only getting worse, judging by an upcoming bill that implies that anything and everything that has any effect on you whatsoever will be made illegal.
It's not written in law yet, but the tease in the Queen's Speech doesn't sound too gorgeous (emphasis my own):
"The Bill would make it an offence to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, import or export psychoactive substances; that is, any substance intended for human consumption that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect. The maximum sentence would be seven years' imprisonment."
As politics.co.uk points out, you could argue that your mum's cooking is a psychoactive substance if it gives you a feeling of happiness. The same could be said for a calming cup of tea.
OK, so obviously the bill won't get that silly, but this does highlight how confused and capricious the Government's approach to drugs is.
Bear in mind that weed has been found to be 114 less deadly than alcohol, then consider this major contradiction in the bill:
In the US, Obama said that we need to "follow the science not the ideology" with regards to drugs, which we're definitely not in the UK.
As other countries reap the financial rewards of weed legalisation with little to no impact on crime, legalising or even decriminalising the drug still seems far off this side of the Atlantic.
While many still consider marijuana a gateway drug, recent data shows that if anything, its fellow psychoactive substance alcohol is.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments