I thought it wasn't legal, but tolerated, in Holland and they have huge issues with drug related crimes still. Remember sex with a minor over there means pre-pubescent almost otherwise tickety-boo, so how far into the liberal abyss would you want to go...Of course they have lots of other factors where they have 'reduced crime' legalised prostitution for example. Btw for what its worth I'm not totally adverse to the approach which tries to take the criminality from some drug use, allowing pharmaceutical type control akin to tobacco sales or quality of alcohol. Not sure I'd go as far as class A stuff, given how addictive, and how expensive, these things are and like some would say of climate change, sometimes radical, and expensive, action is needed to break the state and start a fresh.
Using this guy's logic, and given that the vast majotity of motorway traffic moves at 85mph-ish, shouldn't the same argument apply? Where is the senior police officer calling for the totally unenforceable 70mph limit to be scrapped? Ahhh... but you can't enforce the drug laws with an automatic camera can you? Call me cynical...
Approx 90% of all acquisitive crime is drug fuelled/related (theft, burglary, robbery etc). Drugs are a big business and are seen as such by the criminals (met enough serious yardie types through the years that will attest to this). So they use fear and violence to control their interests. So take the big business drug dealers out by bankrupting them, then give drugs to those who want to use them in a controlled atmosphere, and make money for the govt, and reduce acquisitive crime and the fear of being robbed, mugged, burgled. Use the funds to help prop up the NHS etc; and help return the economy to boom. As a top cop, he has far more insight into the reality of drug use/ misuse and all the related social problems than a vote chasing politician, so why shouldn't he open up the real debate? as an aside heroin was legal in to the early 20th century, to the point we went to war with china in the late 19th century (opium wars).
I would like to take this back a couple of steps. New drugs are being developed all the time by pharmaceutical companies, and they have to go through a testing and approval process. If approved they can be used by humans, either on a doctor's prescription or off prescription; if not approved they are illegal drugs not permitted for human use. There seems to be a fundamental flaw in the approval process. Drugs are approved if and only if they can effectively be used to treat some medical problem (disease, condition, wound, pain, etc). There is simply no mechanism for a pharmaceutical drug to be approved on the basis that it enhances mental or physical function in a healthy person, let alone on the basis that it is pleasurable. The consequence is that there is a long and ever-growing list of drugs which are banned and illegal on the misleading basis that they are allegedly "harmful". Actually they may or may not be harmful, but they have been rejected for approval because they have no proven function in treating a medical condition; their other possible benefits and uses are not even considered. Worse still, the Home Office has taken to declaring drugs illegal automatically, without studying them or finding any evidence of harm at all. This naturally destroys whatever legitimacy the "war on drugs" may have had. Everyone who works in the field, such as senior police officers and scientists, knows that the whole thing is on an unrealistic, unreasonable basis. Just occasionally one of them puts his head above the parapet and points out that the emperor has no clothes - and is promptly sacked.
Fascinating, Pete. Do you have any examples of such a drug? I could google it but ... well ... QIXL is on TV and I am quite enjoying it.
Do most people brew their own illegal hooch, or do they just buy some of the many alcohol brands that are available? So if you could buy ecstasy at Boots, would you do that, or buy some weird pills off some dodgy bloke in a squat? There are advantages to bringing the whole thing out into the open.
My, again limmited, understanding is that many of the problems associated with illegal drugs are related to purity and hygiene. Rock star biographies detail the great lengths, and expense, they went to to source a high quality product but in desperation occasionally had to accept what they could get and that was when the problems kicked in.
Hey I'm no pusher man. Lol. Hehe. I cant even find my own green when I want some. What I want is mail order of small quantities for my infrequent tipple. I'll happily pay tax on it. boots
Boots, people cannot be trusted to make their own decisions, or to look after themselves. The only way we can change this is by taking the decisions away from people. Then we can trust them. (Wait - is that what the concept of trust really means?) As new threats to the fabric of society emerge, the only way to meet the challenges is to take away the people's right to make choices about such threats. That's how you build a healthy society. By removing the ability to decide between a Healthy Lifestyle (©The Daily Mail) and an "unhealthy lifestyle".
when living in aberdeen a lot of people i knew got in to smack after a 6 month blitz on cannabis, pills, speed and smack readily available but no dope to chill out on after clubbing, some made it some didn't. luckily for me pills were never my thing. beggars belief why these people got into it, some very intelligent from Wat appeared to be good backgrounds.not saying it was police or policy makers fault as they didnt force the shit into them, but suspect the resources could of been better targeted.
What like Stalin, Mao, Hitler et al???? Are you advocating a nanny state without the freedom to make a decision irrespective of how ill informed?
No, I'm not advocating what you said. In fact, if you read my post with even a cheap'n'cheerful sarcasm detector, you'll see that I am advocating quite the opposite.
It's been 12 years since small amounts of drugs were decriminalised in Portugal, by most accounts a success, with the country having one of the lowest drug user rates in Europe, having halved in the past 10 years. Portugal Drug Policy: Decriminalization Works - Business Insider Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies | Cato Institute Evaluating Drug Decriminalization in Portugal 12 Years Later - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Meh, that is not really true mate. How likely would you be to try heroin even if it was legal? Facts are, in places they have gone with the approach of decriminalising drugs, such as Portgal and Netherlands, drug use have actually decreased. (Have posted some links to research supporting those claims). As have been mentioned before, where society saves costs is where the addict no longer need to steal, rob or hook to obtain their drugs in form of lower cost for insurance and healthcare (less petty crimes like burglaries and less cases of HIV to mention a couple of examples) You'll always have kids taking Molly on weekends, bankers snorting boutros in Nobu's bogs and rastas smoking weed in Bermondsey park, these things will not change, but if decriminalilsing drugs could make life a bit better for the hardcore addicts and save us a few quid in the process, why not? Results speak for themselves.
Similarly I have also worked in the water business for many years and I agree that alcohol is definitely the biggest trigger for violence.
