Happy 4/20, everyone.

I'm looking forward to the day when marijuana is legalised. Now, I'm not its biggest fan, and I've seen first-hand the psychological damage it can do when it's abused. (It indirectly jeopardised my final year at uni. Long story, for another time maybe.) But try comparing it to the two drugs that are legal - alcohol and tobacco. Both of these are responsible for around a quarter of all deaths in the developed world, placing an unnecessary workload on our already struggling healthcare systems. Yet their abuse is encouraged, as it provides a booster for our flagging economy.

Cannabis gets its bad reputation simply because of its common use with tobacco. However, on its own, the evidence of its medical benefits based on research from the past ten years is mounting up. It's an excellent analgesic and has been shown to effectively treat the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, arthritis and even HIV. Yet it's illegal to even prescribe it medically.

Legalising it, however, would be only one step towards regulating its production, its sale and its use. Keeping it illegal seems stupid to me - those that would control it have little to no idea who's growing it, or who's consuming it. There's a lot of money in the marijuana trade. That's money that could do a lot of good in the right hands - for instance, funding more research into its medicinal effects - but nobody knows whose hands the money's in right now.

Marijuana's not this big evil monster the government would have us believe it is. Yes, when used incorrectly it can wreck people. But I see marijuana in the same way as music downloads or DVD "piracy". The powers-that-be hate it because they're losing revenue because of it. But people will find a way of doing it, so the only sensible long-term option is not to fight it, but to harness it. The sooner the government embraces the cannabis trade instead of shunning it, the better.

Think about it: when was the last time you saw two stoned people in a fight? Wouldn't it be easier on our police forces if people were stoned instead of drunk on a Friday night? When was the last time you heard of someone overdosing on marijuana? Yes, the health implications of smoking weed are bad, but say it were to be legalised, and healthier methods of consumption were found, especially for those who use it medically - would that not take some of the pressure off our hospitals?

Legalise it. Regulate it. Tax it. Use it as a power for good. At the end of the day, it's just a plant, not Lucifer incarnate.