Legalise "Illegal" Drugs? - Page 88

kestrelx · 15-10-2012, 09:24

Front page of the Times today...

Quote:

Smoking cannabis is no worse than eating junk food or gambling, according to a major report to be published today that calls for drug-taking to be decriminalised. The report, by experts including scientists and former senior police officers, says that illegal drugs are good for some people and that taking them is no different to moderate drinking. Calling for an overhaul of drug laws, the experts argue that the 50-year global “war on drugs” has failed and that a new approach is needed. But their demand that politicians accept that many Britons enjoy taking drugs and that drugs laws should be reformed will be strongly resisted at Westminster, where the Government remains opposed to decriminalisation. Police leaders, a former head of MI5 and the Government’s drugs advisers have questioned the current approach…

The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion

Margaret Pilkington · 15-10-2012, 10:27

This is from a report by the UK Drugs Policy Commission.
I could not find it from the link you gave, but I found it in the Mail online.

The government are trying to rein in smoking and drinking and there is plenty of educational stuff about healthy eating, yet this group casually toss out a soundbite saying the taking of recreational drugs is no worse that these other life style choice...as if, in some way, that makes it all alright.

susie123 · 15-10-2012, 12:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by kestrelx

Front page of the Times today...

Quote:
Smoking cannabis is no worse than eating junk food or gambling, according to a major report to be published today that calls for drug-taking to be decriminalised. The report, by experts including scientists and former senior police officers, says that illegal drugs are good for some people and that taking them is no different to moderate drinking. Calling for an overhaul of drug laws, the experts argue that the 50-year global “war on drugs” has failed and that a new approach is needed. But their demand that politicians accept that many Britons enjoy taking drugs and that drugs laws should be reformed will be strongly resisted at Westminster, where the Government remains opposed to decriminalisation. Police leaders, a former head of MI5 and the Government’s drugs advisers have questioned the current approach…

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

This is from a report by the UK Drugs Policy Commission.
I could not find it from the link you gave, but I found it in the Mail online.

The government are trying to rein in smoking and drinking and there is plenty of educational stuff about healthy eating, yet this group casually toss out a soundbite saying the taking of recreational drugs is no worse that these other life style choice...as if, in some way, that makes it all alright.

This is one subject on which it is difficult if not impossible to change entrenched opinions on both sides.

However if an independent body comes up with the conclusions as reported by the Times, than surely it is at liberty to say so? There would have been no outcry if it had come to the opposite conclusion. According to the Mail article:

...it stopped short of calling for the decriminalisation of most drugs.The commission is an independent charity set up in 2007 to analyse drug policy in the UK. It is not funded by the Government and claims not to have any particular 'standpoint'.

It's time people were treated as adults and allowed to make up their own minds on this subject.

I just came across this book published about six months ago:
Drugs - Without the Hot Air: Minimising the Harms of Legal and Illegal Drugs [Paperback] by David Nutt

Sadly I think it's too late to order it from Amazon before I go on hols on Friday otherwise I would have taken it with me to read. I shall certainly do so when I get back.

Yes I know it's by the infamous Prof Nutt but at least he's not afraid to stick his head above the parapet. From the Amazon review:

Prof Nutt puts the case for an evidence-based scientific approach to drugs. In straightforward language for the lay person, he explains what drugs are, how they affect the body and the mind, and why people take them and get addicted to them. He shows how we can quantify the overall harms of a drug, addressing issues from direct danger of death, through to environmental, financial and family factors, to obtain a true indication of the overall effect of a drug. Then, working from the facts, he recommends how society ought to address drugs and drug-taking, to minimize the harms at every level. [my emphasis]

Surely this is what today's report is about, rather than a blanket ban which leads to bigotry and ignorance?

kestrelx · 15-10-2012, 13:36

Yes Sue, Professor Nutt is talking about the facts not knee jerk reactionism that the politicians use in order to get the "concerned" Middle England vote. Which by the way the Daily Mail represents.

I just came across this out of the Guardian.

A six-year study of Britain's drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation.

Decriminalise drug use, say experts after six-year study | Politics | The Guardian

tommiasfc · 28-11-2012, 18:10

New film about the war on drugs coming out looks pretty interesting.

maxthecollie · 28-11-2012, 18:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommiasfc

New film about the war on drugs coming out looks pretty interesting.

Is that what you were watching on the way home?

tommiasfc · 29-11-2012, 11:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxthecollie

Is that what you were watching on the way home?

Yes the link had been posted by Richard Branson, Alan sugar and a few others

kestrelx · 02-12-2012, 16:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommiasfc

New film about the war on drugs coming out looks pretty interesting.

Are you sweet enough?

If you use artificial sweetners that contain Aspartame you may be poisoning yourself. The point here is that MDMA (commonly known as Ecstasy) was banned with very little realy evidence it was harmful. Yet Aspartame which has shown to cause tumours in human beings is sold openely and is put in over 6,000 types of food/drinks sold freely in supermarkets, inspite of research showing it causes health problems over long term use.

MargaretR · 02-12-2012, 17:03

I have raised aspartame before here -

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...die-41537.html

kestrelx · 23-01-2013, 17:39

5 kids killed by drug called PMA - which is not real ecstasy anyway.

This would not happen if drugs were legal and the whole cloak and dagger element was taken out of drug taking.

This drug PMA takes a long time to come on so users take more and more because they think it's not working, then they are hit by the lot.

Drug deaths: Five die after taking ecstasy - Mirror Online

Gordon Booth · 23-01-2013, 17:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by kestrelx

5 kids killed by drug called PMA - which is not real ecstasy anyway.

This would not happen if drugs were legal and the whole cloak and dagger element was taken out of drug taking.

But then again, it wouldn't happen if they didn't take drugs.

kestrelx · 23-01-2013, 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

But then again, it wouldn't happen if they didn't take drugs.

Yeh but fact is your never going to stop people taking drugs just by telling them it's wrong and they can't do it. They are just going to do it anyway and as the state of affairs attests - people are sold drugs which no one knows about and this is the result.

Drugs - PMA, PMMA, red mitsubishi, killer, para-methoxyamphetamine

Boeing Guy · 23-01-2013, 18:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by kestrelx

Yeh but fact is your never going to stop people taking drugs just by telling them it's wrong and they can't do it. They are just going to do it anyway and as the state of affairs attests - people are sold drugs which no one knows about and this is the result.

Drugs - PMA, PMMA, red mitsubishi, killer, para-methoxyamphetamine

You ever thought of starting the NDA (National Drugs Association)? It's just your argument for the legalisation of illicit drugs is very similar to that of the NRA (National Rifle Association) of the United States of America.

Maybe you could use one of their slogans, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people' to Drugs don't cause crime, people cause crime' after all addicts have been knw to turn to crime to service their habit.