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Reefer madness? If 'super skunk' is causing mental health problems, the perverse drug laws are to blame
Telegraph
By Tom Chivers Politics Last updated: June 13th, 2013
With reader comments
Imagine that you're a smuggler. You're running a high-risk operation bringing contraband jewellery out of a country which outlaws the export of any precious or semi-precious stones. If you get caught, you face years in jail. Do you smuggle a) quartz or b) diamond?
No, it's not a hard question, is it. If your risks are high, your potential rewards had better be as well, or you might as well invest your money in a tax-free ISA and save yourself the effort. A high-quality diamond weighing a gramme could sell for up to £53,000, according to a no doubt completely trustworthy website I found via Google. The same quantity of quartz might get you a penny, if it's good stuff. So, you smuggle the diamond. Your risk is still high, but your potential benefits are, too.
Now, imagine that you're a cannabis producer. You live in a country that has relatively draconian measures, including jail terms, for producers. Do you grow a) old-school weed such as your parents smoked at the Isle of Wight Festival while watching Procol Harum, which has to be grown outside in huge fields or b) terrifying luminous-green "super-skunk" that you can grow in large quantities under lights in your mum's basement, and which sells at two or three times the price and is probably called something like "The Howling Paranoia" or "Everyone Is Staring At You Oddly"?
More...
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/t...problems-the-perverse-drug-laws-are-to-blame/
