Originally posted by @Bearsy
Fuck you!
No, fuck you!
(this is fun!)
I think it all should be legalised - someone may not become a hard drug user if they get it regularly and also it wouldnāt be such a draw for people as it wouldnāt be illicit. Alcohol, tobacco and addictive sugar are all legal and causing a shit load of health and social problems. The war on drugs hasnāt been successful. Legalising coca would help two or three poor South American countries possibly out of poverty. Likely less criminality (all that gang activity taking up most of Londonās time) and prositution. Two other things keeping police busy.
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Norman Lamb, Lib Dem (remember them?) leadership hopeful, weighs in with a bold claim.
Her husband does it to her? And she doesnt reciprocate? Bitch!
Hereās a sensible police commissioner. People in Durham are going to be allowed to grow their own weed at home.
Iām guessing heās betting on the best outcome, which will involve a legal economy of head shops, etc, and the destruction of the illegal market, driving down his enforcement costs.
One to keep an eye on. Could be a trailblazer.
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Originally posted by @Coxford_lou
I think we should ban Skittles.
No Skittles are great you feed them to the grandkids at the end of the day just before the parents pick them up, and say what good kids they have been all day long which they have because the E numbers havenāt kicked in yet.
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Thatās right up there with buying loud toys for kids of parents you want to annoy. Precisely why I bought my niece a drum kit one year.
The Lib Dems apparently commissioned a study into legalising the cannabis market.
āThis is an important contribution to the wider debate on drugs reform and shows the UK could make savings in public spending and generate notable tax revenues from a regulated cannabis market, probably in the hundreds of millions of pounds, some of which could be spent on better education around the dangers of drugs use.
āThere are successful cannabis markets emerging in different parts of the world and we should look to learn from these experiences. The burden is now with supporters of the status quo to explain why prohibition should continue in the face of the emerging evidence.ā
Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem health spokesman
So, the following, comes from Richard Branson
āGreatness comes in simple trappings,ā Richard Nixon once said. It seems appropriate to quote the man who started the failed war on drugs to applaud good efforts to end it.
In an as-yet unreleased statement circulated to the BBC, myself and others, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has shaped much of global drug policy for decades, call on governments around the world to decriminalise drug use and possession for personal consumption for all drugs. This is a refreshing shift that could go a long way to finally end the needless criminalisation of millions of drug users around the world. The UNODC document was due to be launched at theInternational Harm reduction conference in Malaysia yesterday.
My colleagues on the Global Commission on Drug Policy and I could not be more delighted, as I have stated in embargoed interviews for the likes of the BBC. Together with countless other tireless advocates, Iāve for years argued that we should treat drug use as a health issue, not as a crime. While the vast majority of recreational drug users never experience any problems, people who struggle with drug addiction deserve access to treatment, not a prison cell.
Yet, in their zeal for chasing the illusion of a drug-free world, governments have poured billions into tough law enforcement that did nothing to reduce drug supply or demand, or take control from the criminal organisations in charge of the global drug trade. In the US alone, over 1.5 million people were arrested in 2014 on non-violent drug charges, 83 per cent of those solely for possession. Globally, more than one in five people sentenced to prison are sentenced for drug offences.
Itās exciting that the UNODC has now unequivocally stated that criminalisation is harmful, unnecessary and disproportionate, echoing concerns about the immense human and economic costs of current drug policies voiced earlier by UNAIDS, the World Health Organisation, UNDP, The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Women, Kofi Annan and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
If you look at the available evidence, UNODC is on the right side of history. In places where decriminalisation has been tried, like Portugal, drug-related deaths were reduced significantly, as were new HIV or Hepatitis infections. Combined with harm reduction programmes, decriminalisation will save lives as people who use drugs will no longer fear arrest and punishment when accessing healthcare services, it will also reduce crime and ease the burden on prison systems and law enforcement agencies.
As the UN General Assembly gears up for the first drug debate in 18 years next April, I hope this groundbreaking news will empower and embolden governments everywhere, including the UK, to do the right thing and consider a different course in drug policy. In the face of overwhelming evidence, UN expert opinion, and international human rights law, itās not decriminalisation that āsends the wrong messageā - itās the continued refusal to engage, review or discuss reform
Itās good to see evidence and common sense prevail at UNODC. Which government wouldnāt agree with that? But as Iām writing this I am hearing that at least one government is putting an inordinate amount of pressure on the UNODC. Let us hope the UNODC, a global organisation that is part of the UN and supposed to do what is right for the people of the world, does not do a remarkable volte-face at the last possible moment and bow to pressure by not going ahead with this important move. The war on drugs has done too much damage to too many people already.
tl;dr Following evidence from a new report, the UN are to urge governments to end āthe war on drugsā and urge substances to be legalised.
Legalise the lot, bring it out of the underground to over the counter controlled substances. Stop bad batches where people are pumping it full of all sorts of shit and make it to spec.
Saying this people will still push it underground for the āall new super drugā (not the chemist). So it will still have a small underground element to it.
Have always been very iberal about this, given civil liberties etcā¦however, working within the healthcare environment, and having run several projects related to both addiction and mental health, its now IMHO much more difficult to be so black and white about it.
First up for 95% of folks that smoke weed, that is all they will ever do, it wont be harmful in moderationā¦ etcā¦ like with aything overuse can cause problems, the slured speech of the persistent weed smoker is the obvious symtom, and there is one found in every 60s/70s rock band (if they are still alive) but more frighteningly, is that smoking can be a trigger for other neurological problems - there is no evidence that it is causational, but there does appear to be a link between smoking higher grades of grass/skunk etc and triggering the onset of mental health problems in those at higher riskā¦ its possible that this is simply co-incidence, given that young men tend to smoke more weed and are also a group of higher incidence of mental health problems, but some experts do believe that it ca be a potential triggerā¦ not making a judgement, but when there are possible or potential health implications, then these do neeed to be made clearā¦ then again alcohol, smoking etc fair enough, there just needs to be fair understanding of the benefits AND the risks - so that when you can make an informed choice
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Just watching an article on news about the kids being used from St Helenās in Wales. The knock on effect by the drug use / trade is huge.
Iāve seen an increase in police reports re raids too.
The vulnerable kids getting caught up in it.
There needs to be a solution but the government doesnāt want to cough up the cash to make this happen. Instead stick a note on a chicken box.
Oregon have just voted to recriminalise drugs just over two years after decriminalising them
Out of control fentanyl addiction described as a dystopian nightmare
I have to say having visited the states recently, I absolutely hate the smell of the dope people smoke in the streets - it is so pungent - I really hope we donāt follow this path
Came across a story about Edward Furlong, of Terminator fame. Apparently fell into booze and drug addiction, ending up losing his teeth through crystal meth and heroin abuse. Heās turned his life around now thankfully, but I do think the copy writers could have thought this caption through a tad more carefullyā¦
