National Charity Supporting people around Substance Use and Mental Health. We also have some radio1 listeners with us. Hello we also wa nt to listeners with us. Hello we also want to hear from you tonight. Should cannabis be legal in the uk. You can text us, to eat at bbc newsbeat and we are using the hashtag newsbeat debates. First, newsbeat reporterjim connelly is with me. You have been looking into this subject for a newsbeat documentary. Just remind us where we currently stand in the uk when it comes to the legality of cannabis . Cannabis is the uks most popular illegal drug. We have 2 Million People admitting using it. It is a class b drug and the government are at and it will remain that way. They will not change the law because they say it causes harm to users and wider society. If youre caught with it in possession you can face up to five years in prison, dealing it or growing you can face up to m years in prison. That is where we stand currently. The government say no chance of any change. You have looked at the science of the drug and also been out with a cannabis clu b and also been out with a Cannabis Club who claim record membership and insist the drug causes less trouble than alcohol. When cannabis is grown it releases substances. Thc is blamed for the Mental Health issues. Depending on the genetics of the plant you can have a high thc knows cbd strain or you could have it the other way round or something more balanced. There are three main types of product. Herbal, hash or high potency cannabis often called skunk. It has high levels of thc and almost no cbd. Some say it is the lack of cbd which can lead to Mental Health problems. My first stop is brighton to meet rob. He is the chair of the brighton Cannabis Club. He is campaigning fora brighton Cannabis Club. He is campaigning for a change in the law. Basically we are visiting a club. It is fully medicated. The meal is cannabis infused which will get you high. This is all about taking rocks of cannabis. It is a rainy drizzly day on the seaside, a lot of people will go to the pub at lunchtime, why not have a pint . We believe cannabis isa not have a pint . We believe cannabis is a less harmful alternative to smoking tobacco or Drinking Alcohol. Where are we going . smoking tobacco or Drinking Alcohol. Where are we going . I cannot tell you the exact location. It is a restau ra nt you the exact location. It is a restaurant in brighton which will allow you some medicated products if you are a brighton Cannabis Club member. That sounds a bit dodgy. In the kitchen some chefs have been ha rd in the kitchen some chefs have been hard at work knocking up some food. It looks pretty impressive, to be honest, and i to be honest it is not the site the of food you would expect in amsterdam. The chef behind it has worked in some top restau ra nts. It has worked in some top restaurants. This is not what they will be putting in all the food. This green stuff is genuinely a dressing. The food will be infused with an oil that goes through it and thatis with an oil that goes through it and that is where the cannabis will be. What is on the menu today . That is where the cannabis will be. What is on the menu today7m that is where the cannabis will be. What is on the menu today . It will be corn fed chicken boojohns then grilled sea bream fill it of fog this is a bit strange because we sat here and it is quite a civilised event. The government would say what youre doing is illegal and it is illegal because of the harm it can do to you, your friends and wider society. Why are you doing this . We believe the information is outdated and research is outdated. If you look at spain, portugal, canada and america, they all forward progressive forward thinking policies. We are looking at what it can do for the industry. You are representing brighton Cannabis Club, how popular is the club . We have 400 members. We have 40,000 instagram followers and 6000 facebook likes. At one of our Outdoor Events it is growing year on year. In the first year we only had 100 people turn up to it and then 1000 people in the next year. We had over 3000 people attending and 25,000. 25 stalls. Sitting here watching these guys, it all looks normal but what they are doing is illegal and they could be arrested. But should weed, cannabis, call it what you want, be illegal . That is the question we are asking today. Should it be illegal in the uk . You can get in touch and i want to get your reaction to what we have just been hearing. Is a cannabis infused meal just an just been hearing. Is a cannabis infused mealjust an excuse to eat wed . Hello, i am a pharmacist in the north west will stop pharmacists are the experts in medicines and a cts are the experts in medicines and acts the high street and i would be so acts the high street and i would be so sad to see any legalisation of this and for it to become more widely available. My concern is it would lead to considering other drugs because they would be exposed to the illegal black market areas of getting hold of the drugs. You think it would be a gateway drug . Yes. The other problem is the nhs is under so much strain at the moment and we have a Mental Health crisis. People who need Mental Health services cannot get access for weeks. I do not want more people to be suffering. We know this drug can cause psychosis which means delusions, hallucinations, anxiety and it can cause depression in some people. Do i want to be allowing that on our high street for people . Absolutely not. Who disagrees with that view . I will come to this lady at the back. I am zoe mcleod, a student at nottingham university. Reaction to the film first of all . It is an interesting and set because a lot of People Struggle with smoking so it is an alternative, but in terms of the pharmaceutical use, i suffer from epilepsy personally, andl i suffer from epilepsy personally, and i have been reading a lot of evidence about weed and cannabis oil with people with the same problem as me. I have been lots of stories of people in america are giving it to their children. There has been a lot of evidence to suggest it can treat ptsd, anxiety and insomnia. Who is giving you that evidence . Ptsd, anxiety and insomnia. Who is giving you that evidence . M ptsd, anxiety and insomnia. Who is giving you that evidence . It is more anecdotal but i think if we legalised it there would be more time to check if these things are true. We are hearing claims about the medical impact, how it can help certain conditions. Aisha, you are a doctor, what do you think . understand there is controversy about whether it can help ptsd and certain other illnesses. My response to that, unfortunately, the evidence has not been overwhelming in favour of cannabis achieving some of these things. But the proviso is, and im going to declare i am sitting in the middle. I am going to declare i am sitting in the middle. Iam not going to declare i am sitting in the middle. I am not strongly in favour 01 middle. I am not strongly in favour or against but i do think we need more High Quality Research in this area to make it a good decision for everyone. Rick, you work for the drug and alcohol addiction charity, adaction. Tell us about your experiences. We work nationwide with young people. Within our Young Peoples Services at the age of 18, probably two thirds or three quarters of those who are seeking support to cut down or stop use is in relation to cannabis. There are clear risks. We are not talking about overdoses but an impact on education, onjobs, on motivation, oii education, onjobs, on motivation, on relationships, on debt. You have issues around psychological dependence for some people and we have had mention of some Mental Health conditions. What we have to size is the vast majority of young people across who use cannabis do not have those problems. It is releva nt not have those problems. It is relevant for some people but not for others. When it comes to our position in terms of the law, we are very much in favour of decriminalisation for personal use. White . If you are criminalising young people you just add an additional are. Is it appropriate for a young person who is 15 or 16, they have been caught with a small amount of weed and then they have a re cord amount of weed and then they have a record which can impact onjobs, education and travel. You have a stigma which is attached by society and also themselves. Recently we had and also themselves. Recently we had a young person we were working with who got caught buying a small amount of cannabis from a group of friends. They have now got a criminal record and he classes himself as a drug dealer. He said, that is not who i am. You have got a lot of stigma attached. What we need to do is set aside the funds from the courts and the criminaljustice aside the funds from the courts and the criminal Justice System aside the funds from the courts and the criminalJustice System and focusing on it as a health issue, ploughing money which can be diverted from those processes into an additional area. We always hear about decriminalisation and legalisation, cannabis being legalised keeps coming up. Where do we stand . What legalised keeps coming up. Where do we stand . What do they mean . Legalised keeps coming up. Where do we stand . What do they mean7m legalised keeps coming up. Where do we stand . What do they mean . It is really important to define those terms. Decriminalisation would be the removal of sanctions for possession. Whether it would be no sanction at all or an administrative penalty. That someone who would be found with cannabis on them . There is National Guidance which a small amount of possession should be defined by no criminal record. Those not available for andrei teams. If you are talking about protecting young people, they are at risk of a criminal record. And when we talk about legalisation, were not talking about a free for all on the high street, what we are talking about is the term regulation, so a controlled market. That is government controlled and you know what is in the drug so you dont have the issue of those high potency thc strains. I want to bring in greg. A cannabis infused meal, is that going too far . Not at all. It isa that going too far . Not at all. It is a safer way to consume cannabis. Myself and other members of the club are medical uses. Ingesting it that way is a safer way of using it. When you say medical, what do you mean . have Crohns Disease. My immune syste m have Crohns Disease. My immune system is attacking my digestive system. I was put on a lot of different pharmaceutical drugs, 16 in total. A lot of them are opiates, anti inflammatory is and they are to try and control my immune system and ta ke try and control my immune system and take it back to zero. It did not work, it made me very ill. They thought they had to take my intestines out and give me a colostomy bag. I would have been fed through a straw into an artery and they gave me five years to live. I have outlived that by two years now. Cannabis is what i chose to use as my medicine. I went to colorado and got medical cannabis oil which is legal out there. I saw how the medical industry works and i got access to good quality medicine and i have come back to the uk and i have continued using it and i am a healthy person. You have put the fa ct healthy person. You have put the fact that use survived down to medicinal use of cannabis . My doctor said what had happened . I was not in a bid with a walking stick. I want to get reaction from you. I wa nt to i want to get reaction from you. I want to say that is an amazing story andi want to say that is an amazing story and i am happy your Crohns Disease is in remission. My perspective is u nfortu nately is in remission. My perspective is unfortunately when we look at bigger numbers, sometimes there are Vulnerable People and it unmasks the tendency to have the negative effects. That is something i see every day when i am working in practice. I see families. That would be my fear, that you have used it is a sensible and controlled manner, but whether there are some people because of their vulnerability and maybe the family structure, they would not have that guidance. Gregs experience, he says it has helped to save his life, what about that . There are anecdotal cases like this andi there are anecdotal cases like this and i would ask we have more research. High quality, large studies to show. We already use in the nhs some cannabinoid derived drugs. But unfortunately the use is limited. We use it for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. There is a case to use it more widely in some other diseases and i understand Crohns Disease is one we will look into. Glaucoma, even hiv. You were nodding. I would like to touch on thc. It is a big problem that psychokinesis is coming up now. Psychosis. If you look at the cannabis problem, you will see a lot of the psychosis is coming from high levels of thc. This is happening because the weed, skunk, cannabis, is not regulated and there is an underworld that grow things that have not been tested. You would not go to the shop and pick up a can of red liquid and just drink it if you did not know what was in it and that is where we are with cannabis, we have no control. In the old days you would smoke naturally grown weed and now it is grown in small laboratories by people who do not know what they are doing and i have seen it first hand from many different ages. Kids nowadays, they are getting their hands on the skunk, street skunk, we like to call it because it has no control over it. They smoke high levels of thc. They are getting psychosis, because thatis they are getting psychosis, because that is where the problem is. We will come back to high potency cannabis. The meal we saw, when we talk about attitudes towards cannabis and people smoking, does it normalise it and this increase in Cannabis Clubs . On a basic one, the first thing i would see from that meal is a safe intake. Education on how to use cannabis is minimal. You cannot find anywhere in london a leaflet given out how to use safely. If somebody is cooking cannabis and eating it and they are not smoking, lighting fire and putting it into their lungs lighting fire and putting it into theirlungs and lighting fire and putting it into their lungs and burning their lungs, thatis their lungs and burning their lungs, that is a safer way to consume and that is a safer way to consume and thatis that is a safer way to consume and that is what people should look at, not the fact they are taking cannabis, that is safer, and they will live longer. Let me get your reaction to the cannabis meal. have just graduated from the university of exeter and i am against legalisation of marijuana. The meal is generally irresponsible. We have to point out the link with psychosis. It looked like a lovely meal. Why is it a problem . It is technically illegal and if any young person who did not know much about weed went in there, they could potentially have harmful effects. The key thing to establish is the link between psychosis and cannabis. In early 2017, a study came out in america, an analysis of 10,000 studies relating to marijuana and it showed conclusive and substantial evidence between marijuana and psychosis. If you were to legalise marijuana, and have many young people who are potentially naive and do not know much about the effects of marijuana, that could be damaging. Thomas, thank you. Kirsty, would somebody be arrested for eating a cannabis meal . It is possession that is the offence so technically you are in possession. But if you are eating bats. The ingestion or taking of drugs is not illegal in this country if you are eating that. The people providing the meal are technically supplying the drug and so that is where the offence lies, and the people eating the meal you are in possession of your plate of food. Jim, whatare possession of your plate of food. Jim, what are people saying online . It is split. We have ryan on twitter who says it is ridiculous it is not and alcohol is. Tom bolt Facebook Says he does not smoke it but there are many people who do and it would be daft not to. Kerry here says absolutely for medical purposes. Against it, tallulah, if you knew what cannabis could do you would never dream of taking it, she says. David said never legalise it it causes Mental Health problems. Another said it is a gateway drug. And charles said i hope you will talk about the differences between cannabis and skunk because skunk causes the problems. We will be. Remember you can keep your comments coming in. Should cannabis be legal in the uk . You can send a text. H 1199. You can tweet to newsbeat and use the hashtag newsbeat debates. Eight 1199. We have been talking to attitudes here, how does it work in other places . There is a massive shift across the world to cannabis. The best example is north america. If you look at the usa, you have eight states legalised and more than half have moved to decriminalisation for medical use. Next year, canada will legalise. Uruguay has done the same. In europe it is patchy. More changeable. We have countries with strict laws and countries like portugal who have more relaxed laws and have decriminalised. You went to portugal and sweden to look into this. Two countries with different approaches. Sweden, despite having a reputation for being liberal has some of the toughest drug laws in arguably the world. This is the minister in charge of policy. In sweden we have broad political supporting government and parliament for a drug free society. Supporting government and parliament for a drugfree society. At the heart of your policy is the idea cannabis is a gateway drug. Why do you hold that policy so close . We see especially among young people and also study show that extensive use of cannabis, regular use of cannabis at an early age, also affects especially young peoplesbrains. While many swedish peoplesbrains. While many swedish people agree with the government strict policy, plenty do not. Alexander is a bit of a celebrity