A Quick Moan:

=stands on soap box. clears throat=

Now folks, I KNOW that cannabis has been moved from a 'class B' to a 'class C' in illegal drug terms. And I KNOW that this equates to the police having the power to do no more (providing that the amount is fairly small) than confiscate what you are found to have on you and give you a "don't do it again" lecture. And I KNOW that this; added to the fact that there are fewer and fewer patrolling policemen on the beat, means that the odds of you a) getting caught and b) actually being in any way punished if you do are next to nil.

I am also aware of the various benefits to be had by the - sensible - use of cannabis as opposed to say, the effects of long term partaking in alcohol, and I agree that it should be legalized (along with all other drugs, but that's a soap box for another day); truly I do.

BUT THAT BEING SAID: please, for the love of God, STOP smoking spliffs - that's what they're called, right? - as you make your way down public streets. Not only is the smell positively disgusting, even more so than cigarettes; but for people that suffer with breathing difficulties, it can be catastrophic, again, even more so than the effect of breathing in cigarette smoke.

I am FED UP of my nose suddenly being assaulted and feeling my throat trying to close up while some tracksuit bottomed, baseball cap wearing yob* saunters along ahead of me enjoying long, carefree drags of whatever type of cannabis he has been able to get his hands on; willfully ignorant that the noxious fumes are billowing out into the airways of everybody else around him, at best making them feel sick and at worst causing a possibly life-threatening asthma attack.

People, please: while I completely support your right to abuse your system with whatever drug you choose, the saying "your right to swing your fist ends at my nose" is still prevalent. You can do what you want, but only providing that it effects nobody else; i.e.: in the (private) comfort your own home.

Thank you. That is all.

=gets down off soap box. walks off=


* I know it's stereotyping, but honestly, all of the cannabis users that I have encountered - the ones that smoke the damn things in public, anyway - wear tracksuit bottoms and a baseball cap.