Illegalizing alcohol - would you be in favour of such a move

tallaghtoutlaws

whiteonion wrote: »

We should raise the drinking age to 21 in this country and also allow the shops to only sell it until 8pm and not at all on Sundays. I am not in favour of a total ban of alcohol at this stage.

The drinking age of 21 stops fook all. All it does is lead to private drinking and parties everywhere where drinking is excessive. Spent many a days drinking in the US on College Campuses or in friends places at parties with folk under 21. And those parties make our ridiculous binge drinking look stupid.

Changing the age wont change peoples self control. As for the hours selling it. Wont change anything just look at holy Thursday. Queues and queues of people buying drink in Dunnes and Tesco and Off licenses around the country.

Mr. Presentable

If it weren't for alcohol most AH posters would still be virgins.

True story!

And no, I'd be against it.

superelliptic

geetar wrote: »

the amount of money the government gets from alcohol tax means your outrageous idea will never happen. they should legalise cannabis, make dublin the new amsterdam, and reap in the extra tourism and tax sales (and cookie sales)

I hope theres a joke in there somewhere :rolleyes:

kingtubby

I am never in favour of banning anything...but maybe it would be good for the young people of this country to have something to focus their bored energy on instead of boos

Pace2008

goz83 wrote: »

Ecstacy has killed plenty of people and is popular with teenagers more so than adults.

It's already been pointed out that the chances from dying from MDMA are extremely low, but I feel compelled to add that your assertion that the majority of ecstasy users are teenagers is utter conjecture. As someone who would socialise in circles where its is very common, I can attest that young-to-mid twentysomethings appear to be the main consumers of the drug.

Perhaps you're right there, but people seem to want what they can't or shouldn't have. There is no way of knowing for sure what would happen if the current illegal drugs were legalised. But I don't think the outcome would be made of fun and games.

One of the most widely experienced acute side effects of ecstasy use is fun and games on a level that's off the Richter Scale.

No, but as smoking is the most popular way, people tend to smoke it. Carrying a bong around the street with you might raise a few eye-brows.

Not enormously relevant, but a bong is not a vapouriser. I'm starting to get the impression that you're not particularly clued-in the whole drugs issue.

I wouldn't know for sure if they are selling drugs or placebos, but the culture exists in my opinion, because of the free flow of cannabis and the fact that it is legal. I have no doubt that if cannabis was banned in Amsterdam, there would be a decline in the sale of harder drugs and a massive surge in the illegal selling of cannabis.

Yet you don't see this sort of thing happening in Canada, where weed is freely available, nor in other Dutch cities for that matter. So I think there's a lot more to it than your claim that cannabis turns turns towns and cities into coke-riddled dens of iniquity and vice.

For what it's worth, a younger Pace2008 can attest that the wares sold by Mr. Charliepills would be more suited to being put in the washing machine rather than up one's nose

the groutch

ban it, but then have it in one town where it's legal, along with smoking in pubs (or anywhere indoors), cannabis & prostitution

goz83

ScumLord wrote: »

Why, is there any reason for this? I could understand cocaine it's a drug that's very easy to become dependant on, it does change the person and can lead to serious health issues but the same can't be said for ecstasy. What valid reason is there for lumping ecstasy in with cocaine other than it's already banned.


They don't really they control the main drugs that everybody wants, everything else is a substitute for those drugs. Nobody would prefer the substitutes over the real things. The simple fact of the matter is they depend on those drugs for income there is nothing to replace them.

You don't need to smoke it, just have vaporiser bars instead, or serve it in restaurants.

How? Your using the gateway drug theory in reverse now.

That's a scam, they're not selling drugs they're just taking advantage of stupid tourists.

RichieC wrote: »

wat

You would need to go back to an earlier post to understand this.



And to Pace: I wouldn't be that clued in with drugs that much. My experience has been what I mentioned with myself and a school friend, i broke contact with when he took to smoking cannabis. My brother smoked it for years and some of my cousins use it and other drugs too, but i'm not really associated with them anyway. From what I see, in my experience, cannabis smokers usually waste their lives smoking it until they snap out of it some day. I know this is not always the case, because I have treated plenty of cannabis users at my clinic and many were people you'd never suspect smoked it.

Call me clued out, but i'm alright by that if my exposure is limited.

HavingCrack

goz83 wrote: »

Y From what I see, in my experience, cannabis smokers usually waste their lives smoking it until they snap out of it some day. I know this is not always the case, because I have treated plenty of cannabis users at my clinic and many were people you'd never suspect smoked it.

Call me clued out, but i'm alright by that if my exposure is limited.

I think the point you're overlooking is that if legal adults (18 plus) make an uncoerced decision to freely smoke cannabis and do not physically harm anyone in the process of doing do they should be entitled to do it. If they want to "waste their lives" who are you to tell them not to. That's statism at its worst.

Daegerty

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

If it weren't for alcohol most AH posters would still be virgins.

True story!

And no, I'd be against it.

I dont think alcohol will do much good in this particular case. Hope and being beyond it ya know

ScumLord

goz83 wrote: »

And to Pace: I wouldn't be that clued in with drugs that much. My experience has been what I mentioned with myself and a school friend, i broke contact with when he took to smoking cannabis. My brother smoked it for years and some of my cousins use it and other drugs too, but i'm not really associated with them anyway. From what I see, in my experience, cannabis smokers usually waste their lives smoking it until they snap out of it some day. I know this is not always the case, because I have treated plenty of cannabis users at my clinic and many were people you'd never suspect smoked it.

Call me clued out, but i'm alright by that if my exposure is limited.

It is odd that all the people you meet through your clinic seem to have some sort of problem with drugs. :rolleyes:

Thomas828

No, I wouldn't support a ban on alcohol. It didn't work in the USA in the 1920s and it wouldn't work here.

goz83

ScumLord wrote: »

It is odd that all the people you meet through your clinic seem to have some sort of problem with drugs. :rolleyes:

Sometimes they make more sense to me than "normal folk" :rolleyes:

But thankfully a small portion of clients who see me are for substance abuse/dependancy. I can't relate in any way to those using/abusing class A drugs, so I send them to someone specialising in that area.

goz83

HavingCrack wrote: »

I think the point you're overlooking is that if legal adults (18 plus) make an uncoerced decision to freely smoke cannabis and do not physically harm anyone in the process of doing do they should be entitled to do it. If they want to "waste their lives" who are you to tell them not to. That's statism at its worst.

Yes, I see your point, but because cannabis is illegal in this country, it is directly tied in with criminal gangs, using the funds to engage in other criminal activities. So, for the 18 plus making an uncoerced decision to smoke his/her cannabis freely in the republic of Ireland....you can't really say that nobody is getting harmed.

Probably time now for this discussion to go back to alcohol. No, I don't think banning it would work, as it is so deeply set into our culture. Responsible drinking habits need more encouragement and in my opinion, the introduction of alcohol should be made by responsible adults in moderation to teenagers ready to take that step. My inlaws use this approach and I have to say, it is quite effective. The attitude to drink is different, but they still enjoy it when they feel like a drink.