There was a tense moment between Janet Street-Porter and Penny Lancaster during Wednesday’s (20 September) ‘Loose Women’, as they became involved in a heated row over the potential legalisation of drugs.
The two were at opposite ends of the spectrum during the debate, with Janet claiming the current system relating to lower-class drugs was “flawed”, while Penny was in favour of them remaining illegal, citing the fact some can cause long-term damage.
Penny claimed that marijuana “stays in [teenagers’] bodies” for prolonged periods of time, which Janet insisted was not the case.
However, the photographer and wife of Rod Stewart was adamant: “Marijuana, weed, stays in your body for two weeks. Alcohol goes out of your body in 10 to 12 hours.”
The two women then began to talk over each other, with Penny defending her case while Janet highlighted the problems that can be caused by alcohol addiction.
For what it’s worth, the NHS website claims the length of time cannabis stays in a person’s body “depends on how often and how much cannabis a person smokes and the potency (strength) of the cannabis”.
They add: “In general, the less cannabis that’s smoked, and the less often it’s smoked, the quicker it leaves the body.
“THC, the active chemical in cannabis, is stored in the fat cells and therefore takes longer to fully clear the body than any other common drug. The stronger the strain of cannabis, the more THC it contains.”
Andrea McLean then jumped in to ask the pair not to talk over one another, to which Janet retorted: “Penny can just take over the show and put her point of view across, but why don’t we ask Maya [Jama, guest panellist]?”
Penny then began to defend herself, claiming she was “only reading the facts”, at which point Andrea turned to Maya, who said: “As someone who visited jail quite often when I was younger - my dad’s been in prison from when I was little - I feel crimes like, for example, using cannabis... I don’t feel like people who have been using drugs that aren’t class-A should be in jail.
“I feel like more important issues should be taking up places in jail.”
She then put forward “healthcare work” and “counselling” as more reasonable alternatives to prison for users of drugs, adding: “If you look at the system in some states in America [who have legalised drugs like marijuana] it’s obviously working for them, better economy, keeping some people off the streets.”
Watch the full discussion below:
‘Loose Women’ airs every weekday from 12.30pm.
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