Are we being primed for a relaxation in drug laws?

[MK Shrimper]

I have a relative who smoked 40 a day and lived till she was 88, yet others have died in their 40's as a result of lung cancer, having never smoked routinely.

I'm probably more anti-legalisation as both parents work in mental health within the NHS and have seen first hand what prolonged cannabis abuse can lead to and cause. As OBD stated earlier, whereas you were able to limit yourself to a single joint a day to relax, others with an addictive personality wouldn't and would soon lapse into an addiction that would leave them open to a number of cannabis-related mental health issues.

It's swings and roundabouts. I personally would be open to the legalisation of Class C and B drugs, but would leave Class A drugs restricted with severe penalties for those who choose to peddle them.

I can see what you're saying, as heroin, cocaine etc are nasty drugs that ruin lives. But any penalty (including the death penalty) on peddling drugs will not stop it's availability. It's a war that just cannot be won due to the vast sums of illegal money that are involved.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Only because it's more readily available. If they start selling crack down my local, then I imagine it will cause more upset.

Maybe they already do?:unsure:cf Harry Brown.;)

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

I can see what you're saying, as heroin, cocaine etc are nasty drugs that ruin lives. But any penalty (including the death penalty) on peddling drugs will not stop it's availability. It's a war that just cannot be won due to the vast sums of illegal money that are involved.

True, I'm sure there is an answer to this it's just yet to be found.

I also know people who have smoked 60 cigarettes a day. I know people who take cocaine every weekend. I know people who smoke weed every day.
The people that I know who smoke weed most days, have a completely different personality compared to their 'pre' cannabis smoking lives. It has had a serious serious effect on their mental health. When I refer to 'mental health issues' I don't necessarily mean you are going to go on a killing spree and go around licking various pond life.

The person I new isn't their anymore sadly, they are taken up by a weird version of themselves, which to be honest isn't to bad when you are just their mate, but for family it must be a bit strange.

 

[MK Shrimper]

True, I'm sure there is an answer to this it's just yet to be found.

There is. Treat addiction as an illness and provide addicts with clean drugs, needles and area to take drugs whilst working with them to come off of them. Providing all this for free will slash crime and save vast amounts of money than can be spent elsewhere.

 

[EastStandBlue]

There is. Treat addiction as an illness and provide addicts with clean drugs, needles and area to take drugs whilst working with them to come off of them. Providing all this for free will slash crime and save vast amounts of money than can be spent elsewhere.

You are Major Bunny Colvin and I claim my £5.

 

[osymandus]

Well that is a fair point!

I would like to know how many people drink because they enjoy to drink and how many people drink to get absolutely out of their minds.
I could say with almost complete confidence that 99% of people that take drugs do it to get out of their minds!

Depends on the affect of the drug . Not all are say more addictive then alcohol ? I Just drink for enjoyment , but personally don;t use drugs for recreation.

The point of people robbing the chemist is teh same with any item of value .Plans have been drawn up before for a specific drug centre to treat those already addicted . It is the criminal profit that comes from this . And if you destabilize that the gangs in south America suddenly start running out of money to fund themselves . The Drugs prohibition came in over here in the 1930's wasnt it ?

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Personally I don't think the idea of a special little room where you can go and take your drugs, and slowly get yourself off them with the help of professionals, is the way it should be done. If I was in charge of getting people help with drugs, I wouldn't do this, I'd build / buy a block of flats seal the windows up and lock the poor addicted *******s up feeding them 3 times a day, with know contact to the modern world, they'd soon get the point.

 

[osymandus]

Personally I don't think the idea of a special little room where you can go and take your drugs, and slowly get yourself off them with the help of professionals, is the way it should be done. If I was in charge of getting people help with drugs, I wouldn't do this, I'd build / buy a block of flats seal the windows up and lock the poor addicted *******s up feeding them 3 times a day, with know contact to the modern world, they'd soon get the point.

One method , but as already mentioned we take stimulants , downers , hallucinogens etc All for differnet reasons . Better to find out why really .

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

:offtopic:

It's an impossible situation really. It could work. But it is more likely to just make drugs even easier to get hold of and would just add to the problem. If a system that the government put in place was to actually work, I'd be astounded. If they can't sort people TAX codes out, are they going to be able to regulate out of control drug addicts? Probably not. It would be nice, but I just can't see it. I would like to see it happen.

Steveo, I agree with what you say. The knife law should be in place it will be put in place one day, but it's going to seem like it's too late! We will all wonder why it has taken them so long to write this law. Almost exactly the same as school children that are taken out of school for miss behaving, allowing them to stay at home. It just doesn't make sense!

It is already the case that they are unable to regulate them. We attempt to regulate it, by banning certain drugs, but it doesn't work.

Agree Dave. Hate to be the chemist who goes that be £22 please mate only to be shown a nice 12 inch blade in return. I agree with legalise and heavy tax them but they need to be carefully regulated in steady and protected environments. Maybe an actual dedicated drug store with security, metal detectors etc and with built in safe environments where people can inject etc all they want. I think they would be a huge uproar about it but like stated before the dangers of alcohol and smoking are widely known but yet are still sold all over the world just with heavy tax. Drugs would be no different. But on the flip side would it increase crime? The heavy tax could mean you oay £20 instead of paying your old £10 which means less addicts can afford resulting in maybe higher crime. But then I guess this is where the black market comes into play again by maybe lowering the costs through the normal means etc. So maybe there would be no effect at all on society.

The price is currently artificially inflated.

There is a huge mark up to compensate for the risk that stems from the whole business being illegal. Instead of paying some backpacker £10k to smuggle it over the border, you could just send it via UPS for £100. As the profits are no longer illegal, you no longer have to launder them and lose 10-15% (or whatever the mark up is for cleaning it).

Sure, it wouldn't all be good news: dealers would have to start paying national insurance, but that's cheaper than paying the risk premium for someone who wants to be compensated for running the risk of a decade in jail (or being shot).

I think you'd be looking at 500% tax easily without increasing the cost to consumers.

 

[Napster]

As the profits are no longer illegal, you no longer have to launder them .

but then we'd lose all the dry-cleaners and non-league football clubs.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I don't know why people bother with illegal drugs when you can have a great night out on a temazepam and a couple of cans of strong lager.

Um..what's temazepam? :unsure:

 

[osymandus]

:offtopic:




It is already the case that they are unable to regulate them. We attempt to regulate it, by banning certain drugs, but it doesn't work.



The price is currently artificially inflated.

There is a huge mark up to compensate for the risk that stems from the whole business being illegal. Instead of paying some backpacker £10k to smuggle it over the border, you could just send it via UPS for £100. As the profits are no longer illegal, you no longer have to launder them and lose 10-15% (or whatever the mark up is for cleaning it).

Sure, it wouldn't all be good news: dealers would have to start paying national insurance, but that's cheaper than paying the risk premium for someone who wants to be compensated for running the risk of a decade in jail (or being shot).

I think you'd be looking at 500% tax easily without increasing the cost to consumers.

Well theres the national debt claered in a few years and every ones happy.... Mars sales go up by 1000%

 

[Hotman]

Hope not, look at what Phil Mitchell did tonight for crack.

 

[GBJ]

If you think drugs related incidents, (i.e. crimes, costs etc) are bad now, just wait and see them rise ten-fold, if drugs were legalised.

I've done (nearly) every drug you can think of, and had a whale of a time whilst on them. However, I know, no good can ever come from legalising them. It's quite simply, a recipe for disaster.

 

[pickledseal]

Hope not, look at what Phil Mitchell did tonight for crack.

I was about to say the same. A great advert for drugs if ever I saw one!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

If you think drugs related incidents, (i.e. crimes, costs etc) are bad now, just wait and see them rise ten-fold, if drugs were legalised.

I've done (nearly) every drug you can think of, and had a whale of a time whilst on them. However, I know, no good can ever come from legalising them. It's quite simply, a recipe for disaster.

Illegality clearly isn't a bar for you, so why do you think it's a bar for other people?

 

[steveo]

If you think drugs related incidents, (i.e. crimes, costs etc) are bad now, just wait and see them rise ten-fold, if drugs were legalised.

I've done (nearly) every drug you can think of, and had a whale of a time whilst on them. However, I know, no good can ever come from legalising them. It's quite simply, a recipe for disaster.

But how much of that crime is due to people stealing to raise money for their next fix?
When you were taking whatever it was, did you start behaving worse in public than usual?

 

[* ORM *]

They're certainly relaxing the laws on Murder. Jailed for 8 years released after less than 4 on the radio today. If people want to take drugs however sad their lives must be to see the need that's their lookout.

 

[Pubey]

Illegality isn't a barrier, as many have testified on here. Would more people try drugs if they were legal, probably... however I genuinely don't believe that out there are 1,000's of potential addicts who are waiting to get hooked but it's just the law from preventing them. Many people have dabbled in drugs but not become hooked. I believe that it's down to many complex issues which determine whether a person decides to regularly take drugs. Stress, lifestyle, confidence, mental health issues, emotion trauma etc etc etc.

Drug crime is obviously down to the illegal nature of illegal drugs. This would pretty much disappear if drugs were legalised. I guess there would still be a group of people who are seriously addicted and need crime to fund their habit.

Drug deaths is a complex issue:

With heroin, a lot of deaths are due to the fact that heroin is cut down with a lot of ****. Either the agent used is dangerous, or the user gets a potent fix and accidently OD's. Both of these causes of death would be eliminated.

With cocaine and other stimulants, they can cause a heart attack. It's very rare, and more likely in patients with pre-existing heart disease... however they are dangerous drugs, and seeing as other recreational 'drugs' such as drinking and smoking can cause heart disease... they really aren't a good idea.

With Ecstasy, the deaths are caused to mis-information, and users drinking too much/too little water. Much better info can be given if the drug is legalised.

Cannabis has medicinal benefits, and my officemate did a big research project in MS sufferers. However it's likely to cause psychosis, depression and schizophrenia in certain heavy users. It's not a drug to be taken lightly.

My issue however comes down to the fact that the deaths per user rate for alcohol and smoking is miles higher than that of cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin. Therefore to everyone the current policy just seems completely illogical. None of the drugs are 'good' for you, and for most of them the answer is just "we don't know". We don't know the true long-term effects because prohibition means we can't do proper long term studies.

I really don't understand why ecstasy isn't class C or de-classified and sold in registered premises. With cannabis, heroin and cocaine, I'm really not sure.

 

[osymandus]

Hope not, look at what Phil Mitchell did tonight for crack.

Well that's easierly solved , we just don't sell to fictional cockneys