1) Weed is 114 times safer than alcohol

Cannabis could actually be the safest drug available, after a study found it is actually 114 times less deadly than alcohol, according to the journal, Scientific Reports.

The reports‘ authors studied the effects of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, tobacco, ecstasy, crystal meth and cannabis.

2) Weed can kill cancer cells

Marijuana can kill cancer cells, the US government has confirmed – and can also shrink some of the most serious types of brain tumours.

The research was carried out by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is funded by the federal government.

3) Weed is actually less addictive than drinking coffee

Coffee’s addictive effects mean that it might actually be a more harmful drug than weed, an expert has argued.

Matthew Lazenka, a researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System argued this year in Science 2.0 that caffeine ticks off just as many boxes as for drug abuse as THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

4) Legalising weed would recharge the Northern Irish economy

If we legalised cannabis, up to £900m could be raised annually in taxes, according to the Institute for Economic Research.

States such as Colorado which have legalised cannabis have seen increased tax revenues.

5) Legalising weed creates jobs

In American states such as Colorado, where cannabis has been legalised, thousands of jobs have been created.

Ten thousand people now work in the area’s cannabis industry.

6) Legalising weed DOESN’T encourage young people to smoke it

In Colorado, legalising cannabis has actually led to a drop in the number of young people smoking it

7) Most people in the UK and the U.S. now support weed being legalised

As states in America have legalised weed without society breaking down, people’s attitudes to it have softened. In both America and Britain, opinion polls show that a majority of people support dope being legalised – it’s just political parties who don’t.