Drugs."Small amounts of possesion should not be a crime" report states

[Tangled up in Blue]

A far more effective drugs program would be sending Barna round schools warning kids this is what you'll turn into if you use.

Education not criminalisation.

Ok, give me a few minutes, I'll find an example.



Ah. There we go.

Try playing the ball occasionally chaps.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Why is it the wrong message? It has been proven that cannabis and ecstasy are less harmful than alcohol, yet plenty of people can legally drink themselves in a stupor every day. Our drug laws are an absolute joke.

You don't pay tax on ecstasy or cannabis! Have no idea how old you are but cannabis now is very different to what I tried 20 odd years ago. Also some pretty nasty people associated with the drugs world as well (not a bad reason to legalise I suppose) The benefits to MS sufferers is well documented so I would advocate some kind of controlled use for pain relief but not out right acceptance. Believe a health minister came on telly a while back and stated if cigarettes came onto the market tomorrow they would be banned. Just because people are killing themselves on alcohol and tabs doesn't mean we should allow a very dangerous mind bending drug like skunk into the main.

 

[MK Shrimper]

You don't pay tax on ecstasy or cannabis! Have no idea how old you are but cannabis now is very different to what I tried 20 odd years ago. Also some pretty nasty people associated with the drugs world as well (not a bad reason to legalise I suppose) The benefits to MS sufferers is well documented so I would advocate some kind of controlled use for pain relief but not out right acceptance. Believe a health minister came on telly a while back and stated if cigarettes came onto the market tomorrow, they would be banned. Just because people are killing themselves on alcohol and tabs that doesn't mean we should allow a very dangerous mind bending drug like skunk into the main.

It doesn't matter if it's illegal or not, people will still smoke it. And throwing billions of pounds at criminalising people hasn't worked for 80+ years.

BTW, I'm 41 and haven't touched any form of drug it 10+ years due to the fact that I can get randomly tested at any moment at work.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

It doesn't matter if it's illegal or not, people will still smoke it. And throwing billions of pounds at criminalising people hasn't worked for 80+ years.

BTW, I'm 41 and haven't touched any form of drug it 10+ years due to the fact that I can get randomly tested at any moment at work.

Don't really disagree with you about working or not working but to make something like skunk legal sends the wrong message in my view. There's enough loony tunes walking around the streets without adding to the problem.
Also, when discussions like this one take place, people tend to judge on how they have reacted to a certain substance and assume the great masses will follow a similar pattern.
In short, skunk is dangerous and should be kept away from the streets as much as possible.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Don't really disagree with you about working or not working but to make something like skunk legal sends the wrong message in my view. There's enough loony tunes walking around the streets without adding to the problem.
Also, when discussions like this one take place, people tend to judge on how they have reacted to a certain substance and assume the great masses will follow a similar pattern.
In short, skunk is dangerous and should be kept away from the streets as much as possible.

Don't take drugs because it's illegal sends out the wrong message anyway. The reason people shouldn't take drugs isn't because they aren't allowed to, but because they aren't good for you.

Decriminalisation should be accompanied by switching the budget from policing to education and health. Opening up new mental health wards especially for people who've taken too much cannabis is surely a far more effective message IMO than the occasional drugs bust.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Don't really disagree with you about working or not working but to make something like skunk legal sends the wrong message in my view. There's enough loony tunes walking around the streets without adding to the problem.
Also, when discussions like this one take place, people tend to judge on how they have reacted to a certain substance and assume the great masses will follow a similar pattern.
In short, for some people skunk is dangerous and should be kept away from the streets as much as possible.

Thousands of people will go out this weekend, get a skinfull and beat the crap out someone for looking at them the wrong way, or jump in a car and kill someone. In short, for some people, alcohol is dangerous.

Tell me, what's the difference apart from one is sactioned by the laws of the land?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Try playing the ball occasionally chaps.

That's going to be difficult when you're always so far behind the play.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I know a lot of people that smoke the funny stuff, and nearly every one of them went on to try harder drugs of one sort or another after the effects started to be less and less as time went by.
At the moment, the journey seems to be Cannabis..........Skunk.........Cocaine........and other drugs.

There are those that will start drugs no matter what. But dealing with it this way will make a lot of the shall I, shant I majority , start this journey.

 

[Swiss Tony]

That's going to be difficult when you're always so far behind the play.

Keep up Barners :runner::footballer:

 

[Dick Bate's Protege]

How about stopping 25% of earnings (be it benefits or employment) for a set period from anyone convicted of drug possession starting at a year and rising with the severity of the drug. In turn take the 25% and invest it in the Prison system, creating Prison Boats that sit offshore; preferably off Scotland once they've rejected independence. Use said Boats to house repeat offenders who use the 25% loss as an excuse to steal the property of decent hard working folk.

Although it wouldn't be self funded, if the Government could persuade the Police force to pursue convictions with the same ferocity with which they pursue speeding offences we'd be on a winner. It would also require the CPS to favour the law rather than the criminal.

 

[EastStandBlue]

How about stopping 25% of earnings (be it benefits or employment) for a set period from anyone convicted of drug possession starting at a year and rising with the severity of the drug. In turn take the 25% and invest it in the Prison system, creating Prison Boats that sit offshore; preferably off Scotland once they've rejected independence. Use said Boats to house repeat offenders who use the 25% loss as an excuse to steal the property of decent hard working folk.

Although it wouldn't be self funded, if the Government could persuade the Police force to pursue convictions with the same ferocity with which they pursue speeding offences we'd be on a winner. It would also require the CPS to favour the law rather than the criminal.

They trialed something very similar to this, albeit a lot more severe, in Florida earlier this year. During the trial some of those who wanted to claim welfare payments were made to take a drugs test in order to qualify. It ended up costing the state more than it saved through non-payment to drug users, and was used as ammunition to fight the case against it - http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/20/2758871/floridas-welfare-drug-tests-cost.html.

Of course you can't extrapolate the results of the trial to a nationwide, no-nonsense approach, but it makes for pretty interesting reading on the debate. The big concern is that those on welfare and who are battling addiction will merely turn to crime, so there'd need to be a way in which people could keep their benefits if they were willing to subscribe to a state-funded help programme and ongoing testing. All very, very expensive if rolled out across all 50 states.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Keep up Barners :runner::footballer:

Sorry,I have work to do.:smiles:

 

[hockleyeast1964]

Watching southend is the same as taking drugs.One week you have been on the heroin,next week on the coke.Accrington was heroin,Exeter was coke .

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Watching southend is the same as taking drugs.One week you have been on the heroin,next week on the coke.Accrington was heroin,Exeter was coke .

So what was Rotherham?Extasy?:winking:

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I know a lot of people that smoke the funny stuff, and nearly every one of them went on to try harder drugs of one sort or another after the effects started to be less and less as time went by.
At the moment, the journey seems to be Cannabis..........Skunk.........Cocaine........and other drugs.

There are those that will start drugs no matter what. But dealing with it this way will make a lot of the shall I, shant I majority , start this journey.

If you want to break the journey from cannabis to harder drugs the best thing would be to legalise cannabis. Everyone says that cannabis is a gateway drug, but the gateway is surely the dealers. Cut off this link between the dealers and cannabis users.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

If you want to break the journey from cannabis to harder drugs the best thing would be to legalise cannabis. Everyone says that cannabis is a gateway drug, but the gateway is surely the dealers. Cut off this link between the dealers and cannabis users.

I'm fine with that line of argument but where do you stand on skunk cannabis, which is aparently much stronger than anything I used to smoke?

 

[TrueBlue]

If you want to break the journey from cannabis to harder drugs the best thing would be to legalise cannabis. Everyone says that cannabis is a gateway drug, but the gateway is surely the dealers. Cut off this link between the dealers and cannabis users.

I am sorry mate but you know nothing about the world of drugs you dont strike me as a person who will ever understand either! and a good thing too I hope you never have to be faced with choices like that

 

[MK Shrimper]

I am sorry mate but you know nothing about the world of drugs you dont strike me as a person who will ever understand either! and a good thing too I hope you never have to be faced with choices like that

Not everybody's life turns into a car crash once they start "experimenting". I was never offered anything harder and I never wanted it. There are thousands of people who dabble at the weekend but then don't fall into shooting up in dark alleyways.

Plently of people get drunk on a friday/saturday but don't become alcoholics. This gateway thing is a myth IMHO, it's more due to people who have addictive personalities and if it wasn't drugs it'd be gambling/sex/work etc.

 

[TrueBlue]

Not everybody's life turns into a car crash once they start "experimenting". I was never offered anything harder and I never wanted it. There are thousands of people who dabble at the weekend but then don't fall into shooting up in dark alleyways.

Plently of people get drunk on a friday/saturday but don't become alcoholics. This gateway thing is a myth IMHO, it's more due to people who have addictive personalities and if it wasn't drugs it'd be gambling/sex/work etc.

Not saying that, my point is that its ok harping on looking in from the outside but until you have been in those positions then you really can't make an informed judgement

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I'm fine with that line of argument but where do you stand on skunk cannabis, which is aparently much stronger than anything I used to smoke?

I don't believe using skunk cannabis should make someone a criminal.

The state needs to be rolled back and people need to take personal responsibility for their actions.

I am sorry mate but you know nothing about the world of drugs you dont strike me as a person who will ever understand either!

Why?