By Steven Voser

Cannabis is, by far, the most commonly consumed illegal substance in the world. Somewhere close to 150 million people annually report regularly using cannabis.

Support for cannabis and its legalization is arguably at its highest in 100 years (or at least since prohibition started in the 1930s). Despite the growing support, however, cannabis remains illegal to some extent in the majority of the world.


Legalization vs Decriminalisation: What’s the Difference?

Many people make the mistake of using the terms legalization and decriminalisation interchangeably. However, the two have completely different definitions, and it's important to understand these differences when talking about the legal state of cannabis.

Legalization
The act of legalizing cannabis involves removing the legal restrictions surrounding the cannabis plant and its use. Different countries and governments may take different approaches to legalizing weed. Some may completely legalize the cultivation, sale, processing, and use of cannabis and its derivatives, while others might only legalize its sale for medical use, or only legalize the production and sale of cannabis flower while prohibiting the production of cannabis derivatives like extracts and edibles.
Decriminalisation
Decriminalising cannabis involves removing the criminal sanctions against its use, cultivation, sale, and possession. Again, different governments and countries have chosen to decriminalise cannabis to different degrees; some may only decriminalise the possession of small amounts of cannabis, the cultivation of a limited number of plants, or the consumption of cannabis in private locations, while others take more liberal approaches.

Why Is Cannabis Still Illegal? What Are the Reasons for Its Prohibition?

Opinions toward this ancient plant and its use (be it recreational, medical, or somewhere in between) are changing, and a few governments have begun to reflect these changes with updates to their political policies.

  • Grandiose Claims Are Made on Both Sides

Advocates for legalization often struggle to make a compelling argument in support of their cause. Unfortunately, weed advocates can make cannabis out to be a wonder-drug that cures all diseases while promoting creativity, open-mindedness, and spiritual progression. That being said, it's important to be honest and realistic about what it can and can’t do.

  • Prejudice and Racism

For years, cannabis has been associated with counterculture; from the rebellious hippies of the 60s and 70s to the lazy stoner archetypes of 2000s cinema, weed has long been lacking endorsement from mainstream role models.

Even before the 60s, racist and xenophobic government propaganda linked cannabis with immigrants and criminals. Movies like Reefer Madness (1936), among other media, paint clear examples of this, as does the history of the word marijuana itself. Indeed, marijuana as a term has racist roots and can be traced back to derogatory political campaigns designed to breed fear and xenophobia in America.

  • The Medical Cannabis Taboo

While some research has investigated the therapeutic potential of cannabis, its compounds, and derivatives, it's surely not enough, and there’s still a ton we don’t know about the plant and how it affects us.

This lack of understanding breeds a combination of scepticism, doubt, and fear, for those in favor of medical weed are scared to make any major claims about the plant’s positive interactions with the body. In fact, while there’s evidence to suggest that cannabis is a relatively safe, non-toxic substance with fairly low addiction potential, the reality is we don’t know any of these things for certain.

  • Upholding the Status Quo

Cannabis prohibition has only existed for approximately 90 years, but that seems to have been long enough to force many of us, especially policymakers, to simply accept the current status quo, while others hold vested interests in keeping cannabis illegal.

Below we’ve developed 10 arguments in favor of cannabis legalization.

Why Is Cannabis Still Illegal? What Are the Reasons for Its Prohibition?

1. Prohibition Has Damaged Our Understanding of Cannabis

Research some of the oldest medical texts in the world, and you’ll find countless mentions of cannabis.

Looking back on these old texts helps us understand how widely used cannabis was throughout human history, and highlights some of the ways our ancestors used and understood this ancient plant. It also begs the question of what our knowledge of cannabis might look like today had we been able to research it freely over the last 100 years.

One of the most detrimental effects of prohibition is the legal implications of studying cannabis, its compounds, and its complex mechanisms of action. A lack of access has directly contributed to our current lack of understanding of its interactions with the human body. Overcoming this hurdle would allow us to invest in comprehensive studies to unveil both the potential benefits and risks of the plant for our society.

2. Legalization Means We Can Better Regulate Cannabis

As mentioned earlier, there’s some pretty solid evidence to suggest that cannabis is a relatively safe substance. But the truth is, with so much we still don’t know about cannabis, its compounds, and the way they act on the body, it's impossible to say for certain just how safe it really is.

The fact that most of the cannabis currently being sold and used around the world is grown and handled illegally doesn’t exactly make this task any easier. Legalization, however, offers the perfect solution to the existing concerns, doubts, and questions we have about whether cannabis is safe.

Legalizing cannabis would allow us to evolve out of an elusive, untrustworthy, illegal market to one that’s transparent and open; a market that can be properly regulated and held accountable to prioritise safety, human health, and transparency. The simple truth is that people are using cannabis despite the fact that it is illegal. Legalizing and regulating cannabis would allow us to ensure that any person who chooses to use it can do so responsibly.

Legalization Means We Can Better Regulate Cannabis

3. Legalizing Cannabis Benefits the Economy

Just over the last 10 years, cannabis has become one of the best-selling agricultural products in the US. Each year, the legal markets of California, Colorado, Alaska, Nevada, and other states reel in billions of dollars and create thousands of jobs, later providing revenue in taxes to the state and the community.

In 2020, a year that brought huge financial challenges for almost every economic sector in the world, the cannabis industry soared. In the US, for example, legal cannabis sales rose by 67% in 2020, and the industry’s value grew to a new all-time high of $61 billion.

Many different products have been created, not all of which are THC based, which highlights the possibilities of cannabis-derived products.

4. Legalization Is a Viable Response to the Failed War on Drugs

Evidence shows that the vast majority of people punished under prohibition aren’t criminals; they’re users. In the US, for example, an estimated 92% of cannabis arrests are for possession[1] of small amounts of weed, while 8% are for selling or manufacturing.

Statistics show that there are simply too many cannabis consumers on the planet for law enforcement to consistently enforce prohibition. Attempting to enforce the prohibition of such a widely used and accepted substance is not only unrealistic, but also wastes resources and causes unnecessary, unfair suffering.

Meanwhile, in legal cannabis markets, studies show that legalizing cannabis doesn’t have any major effect on crime rates[2], but it may be an effective way to eliminate (or seriously downsize) the black market and instead move the production and sale of cannabis above board, where it can be regulated accordingly. Legalization has also been shown to reduce cannabis-related arrests, freeing up huge amounts of resources and allowing law enforcement to focus on more important aspects of their jobs.

Legalization Is a Viable Response to the Failed War on Drugs

5. Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol and Tobacco

Even though it has to be approached carefully, cannabis is not so dangerous as you’ve been led to believe. Compared to alcohol or tobacco, both of which are legal and available everywhere (and have even been regulated by food and drug administrations like the US FDA), health risks of using cannabis even on a regular basis are still less concerning.

Studies show that alcohol is responsible for the death of over 85,000 people[3] every year in the Americas. Meanwhile, tobacco smoking is responsible for close to 500,000[4] annual deaths in the US alone. Cannabis used alone, on the other hand, kills no one, and experts from all over the globe coincide that cannabis isn’t toxic nor fatal[5].

That doesn't imply that education and responsible use aren't necessary, though.

6. Legalization Would Put an End to the Prejudice and Stigma Surrounding Cannabis

As we saw earlier, the prohibition of cannabis is fueled by biased assumptions and old-fashioned prejudices regarding the people who use it. And while putting an end to this prejudice (built up over the past 90+ years) is by no means going to be easy, legalization would help get the ball rolling.

We’re already seeing the negative stigma surrounding cannabis being slowly deconstructed in the handful of legal markets around the world. And as more people open up and normalise their cannabis use, it also helps build a stronger, modern, and free society not stigmatised by old clichés and prejudices.

Legalization Would Put an End to the Prejudice and Stigma Surrounding Cannabis

7. Most People Are in Favor of Legalization

While people's attitudes toward cannabis obviously vary from one country to another, opinion polls show that (in many Western countries at least) a majority of voters support legalization.

Stats from the Pew Research Center, for example, show that over 90% of American voters support legalizing cannabis[6] to some degree (be it for medical or recreational use). 70% of voters in the Netherlands also support legalization, as do the majority of people in Australia, England, Spain, and many other countries. In any decent democracy, we would expect legislative changes to reflect these polls. The cannabis prohibition that still exists in most of these countries, however, suggests that democracy doesn’t apply to legalizing cannabis.

8. Legalizing Cannabis Doesn’t Encourage Young People To Smoke It

Critics often claim that legalizing cannabis will encourage young people to try it. This is concerning, as some research[7] suggests that using cannabis during childhood or adolescence can damage a young person’s developing brain.

However, the fear that more young people will consume cannabis if it is made legal is misplaced. Data from the few current legal markets in the world show that legalizing doesn’t encourage more young people to try it. In fact, in Colorado, the number of young people using cannabis has declined since legalization.

Legalizing Cannabis Doesn’t Encourage Young People To Smoke It

9. Prohibition Simply Doesn’t Work — We Have the Proof!

It is obvious that the War on Drugs has failed at reducing harm and diminishing the illegal drug trade. Statistics show that the stronger restrictions employed by governments as a result of the War on Drugs only push the drug trade further underground.

Prohibition simply doesn’t work. We saw it in the past with alcohol, and we’re seeing it again with cannabis.

Making a substance illegal simply doesn’t stop people from consuming it. But beyond that, prohibition doesn’t help minimise crime; instead, it wastes a ton of law enforcement resources and mainly punishes drug consumers, particularly people of color, and not necessarily the people involved in organized crime.

10. Governments Should Have No Say in What Adults Put Into Their Bodies

If we accept the evidence that cannabis is considerably safer than tobacco and alcohol (which we can buy legally in huge quantities almost anywhere), it starts to become obvious that weed prohibition isn’t just hypocritical, but also a blatant intrusion of our individual freedom of choice.

Banning and enforcing the prohibition of cannabis to such an extent that people are arrested and tried simply for possessing it is ludicrous.

Many decades of prohibition have made all of this very clear, but the last 10 years of progress shows a lot of promise for the future. Hopefully, soon, cannabis will be legal worldwide!

External Resources:
  1. 40% of U.S. drug arrests in 2018 were for marijuana offenses | Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org
  2. The Cannabis Effect on Crime https://www.tandfonline.com
  3. Alcohol consumption is the sole cause of 85,000 deaths annually in the Americas, PAHO/WHO study finds - PAHO/WHO | Pan American Health Organization https://www.paho.org
  4. Fast Facts | Fact Sheets | Smoking & Tobacco Use | CDC https://www.cdc.gov
  5. Can marijuana kill you? https://www.medicalnewstoday.com
  6. Overwhelming support for legal recreational or medical marijuana in U.S. | Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org
  7. News Feature: Cannabis and the adolescent brain | PNAS https://www.pnas.org
Disclaimer:
This content is for educational purposes only. The information provided is derived from research gathered from external sources.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: