The 'War' on drugs continues

sparkling sea

Hoffmans wrote: »

Its simple cannabis is illegal with good reason, and just looking at the antics of the irish poster boy in favour of legalising it, mr ming it wont be getting decriminalised any time soon.

Its highly unlikely that alcohol would be legalised now either - you can't reasonable argue that its OK to criminalise someone for making, what appears to be the slightly less harmful choice of using cannabis.

The information below is from the Transform the British drug policy reform centre and puts forward the reasons why drugs actually need to be legalised.
1 Address the real issues
For too long policy makers have used prohibition as a smoke screen to avoid addressing the social and economic factors that lead people to use drugs. Most illegal and legal drug use is recreational. Poverty and despair are at the root of most problematic drug use and it is only by addressing these underlying causes that we can hope to significantly decrease the number of problematic users.

2 Eliminate the criminal market place
The market for drugs is demand-led and millions of people demand illegal drugs. Making the production, supply and use of some drugs illegal creates a vacuum into which organised crime moves. The profits are worth billions of pounds. Legalisation forces organised crime from the drugs trade, starves them of income and enables us to regulate and control the market (i.e. prescription, licensing, laws on sales to minors, advertising regulations etc.)

3 Massively reduce crime
The price of illegal drugs is determined by a demand-led, unregulated market. Using illegal drugs is very expensive. This means that some dependent users resort to stealing to raise funds (accounting for 50% of UK property crime - estimated at £2 billion a year). Most of the violence associated with illegal drug dealing is caused by its illegality

Legalisation would enable us to regulate the market, determine a much lower price and remove users need to raise funds through crime. Our legal system would be freed up and our prison population dramatically reduced, saving billions. Because of the low price, cigarette smokers do not have to steal to support their habits. There is also no violence associated with the legal tobacco market.

4 Drug users are a majority
Recent research shows that nearly half of all 15-16 year olds have used an illegal drug. Up to one and a half million people use ecstasy every weekend. Amongst young people, illegal drug use is seen as normal. Intensifying the 'war on drugs' is not reducing demand. In Holland, where cannabis laws are far less harsh, drug usage is amongst the lowest in Europe.

Legalisation accepts that drug use is normal and that it is a social issue, not a criminal justice one. How we deal with it is up to all of us to decide.

In 1970 there were 9000 convictions or cautions for drug offences and 15% of young people had used an illegal drug. In 1995 the figures were 94 000 and 45%. Prohibition doesn't work.

5 Provide access to truthful information and education
A wealth of disinformation about drugs and drug use is given to us by ignorant and prejudiced policy-makers and media who peddle myths upon lies for their own ends. This creates many of the risks and dangers associated with drug use.

Legalisation would help us to disseminate open, honest and truthful information to users and non-users to help them to make decisions about whether and how to use. We could begin research again on presently illicit drugs to discover all their uses and effects - both positive and negative.

6 Make all drug use safer
Prohibition has led to the stigmatisation and marginalisation of drug users. Countries that operate ultra-prohibitionist policies have very high rates of HIV infection amongst injecting users. Hepatitis C rates amongst users in the UK are increasing substantially.

In the UK in the '80's clean needles for injecting users and safer sex education for young people were made available in response to fears of HIV. Harm reduction policies are in direct opposition to prohibitionist laws.



7 Restore our rights and responsibilities
Prohibition unnecessarily criminalises millions of otherwise law-abiding people. It removes the responsibility for distribution of drugs from policy makers and hands it over to unregulated, sometimes violent dealers.

Legalisation restores our right to use drugs responsibly to change the way we think and feel. It enables controls and regulations to be put in place to protect the vulnerable.

8 Race and Drugs
Black people are over ten times more likely to be imprisoned for drug offences than whites. Arrests for drug offences are notoriously discretionary allowing enforcement to easily target a particular ethnic group. Prohibition has fostered this stereotyping of black people.

Legalisation removes a whole set of laws that are used to disproportionately bring black people into contact with the criminal justice system. It would help to redress the over representation of black drug offenders in prison.

9 Global Implications
The illegal drugs market makes up 8% of all world trade (around £300 billion a year). Whole countries are run under the corrupting influence of drug cartels. Prohibition also enables developed countries to wield vast political power over producer nations under the auspices of drug control programmes.

Legalisation returns lost revenue to the legitimate taxed economy and removes some of the high-level corruption. It also removes a tool of political interference by foreign countries against producer nations.

10 Prohibition doesn't work
There is no evidence to show that prohibition is succeeding. The question we must ask ourselves is, "What are the benefits of criminalising any drug?" If, after examining all the available evidence, we find that the costs outweigh the benefits, then we must seek an alternative policy.

Legalisation is not a cure-all but it does allow us to address many of the problems associated with drug use, and those created by prohibition. The time has come for an effective and pragmatic drug policy.



"If the (drug) problem continues advancing as it is at the moment, we're going to be faced with some very frightening options. Either you have a massive reduction in civil rights or you have to look at some radical solutions. The issue has to be, can a criminal justice system solve this particular problem?"

Hoffmans

look you can copy and paste stuff till the cows come home, it makes no difference what studies went on in the uk or usa here in ireland the law is the law and its clear on illegal drugs ,
that is unless your stoned and then most things become unclear including how to hold onto a job.......

Not The Real Scarecrow

Hoffmans wrote: »

look you can copy and paste stuff till the cows come home, it makes no difference what studies went on in the uk or usa here in ireland the law is the law and its clear on illegal drugs ,
that is unless your stoned and then most things become unclear including how to hold onto a job.......

I take it you've never done any type of illegal drug then. I have never met anyone who lost a job because of cannibis use but know a few who lost it because of alcohol.How many days do peole miss in work a year from hang overs or alcohol related sicknesses?I'm sure if you compared it to cannibis users it would be dramatically higher(no pun intended).I don't smoke any more but when I did I never missed a day from work because of it nor did it effect my professional life in any negative fashion. I'm sure thats the same for most users. Like any drug if its abused it'll **** you up but if you're going to be stupid enough to let that happen, then you get what you deserve.
Studies have shown that peole who smoke are more productive workers than those who don't as they use the promise of a smoke as an incentive to work.
Unless you actually have any experience with the drug you shouldn't really be making any ridiculous unfounded comments, you're just making your self look like an idiot at this stage with stereotypical sit com tropes of stoners from the 70's. Ill founded nonsense based on other peoples flawed logic.Do your self a favour and smoke a bit of weed, take some acid and listen to Bill Hicks.

sparkling sea

Hoffmans wrote: »

look you can copy and paste stuff till the cows come home, it makes no difference what studies went on in the uk or usa here in ireland the law is the law and its clear on illegal drugs ,
that is unless your stoned and then most things become unclear including how to hold onto a job.......

Actually its not as clear as you may think; for example it is not illegal to ingest illegal drugs - its just illegal to supply or possess them.

I get the feeling that you are not particularly interested in the legality etc. You have thrown in a statement on gateways and cannabis but you haven't backed it up with any evidence?? The facts don't interest you!!

You appear to want to state an obvious fact - illegal drugs are illegal. You don't address the issue of whether they are illegal because they are wrong or wrong because they are illegal.

sparkling sea

Meatwad wrote: »

Studies have shown that peole who smoke are more productive workers than those who don't as they use the promise of a smoke as an incentive to work.
Unless you actually have any experience with the drug you shouldn't really be making any ridiculous unfounded comments, you're just making your self look like an idiot at this stage with stereotypical sit com tropes of stoners from the 70's. Ill founded nonsense based on other peoples flawed logic.Do your self a favour and smoke a bit of weed, take some acid and listen to Bill Hicks.

Any chance you could name the studies that explicitly state a correlation between smoking and increased productivity - would really like to take a look?

You don't really need to take ilegal drugs to know they are bad for you - all drugs are bad for you when they are taken with out any imposed quality controls, etc - even vitamins.

Tragamin2k2

lads, just stop ok. if you argue for legalization, you look like a fool. if you argue against, you look like an even bigger fool. leave people live in their gateway drug bubbles if they want. everything affects everyone differently. 80 percent of schizophrenics smoke tobacco, why no calls for banning tobacco? eventually the majority of people will get over the moral panic and all will be well. its already happened in parts of US and Canada. it will be a while for Ireland though, since the main image of cannabis smokers is the boys skinnin up outside tesco.

guymartin what did you expect starting this thread? 5 or 6 fair play to our boys in blue posts? every cannabis thread on boards descends into a war of who can copypaste the most biased drivel.

zenno

May the cannabis bud live on for another 6 thousand years regardless of evil men to destroy this beautiful herb.

The only herb on this planet that can make a man/woman think positively and have the conciousness to love it's surroundings.

kryogen

Ecstasy used to make me think positively, and I thoroughly enjoyed all my surroundings.

Should be legal too by this reasoning?

zenno

kryogen wrote: »

Ecstasy used to make me think positively, and I thoroughly enjoyed all my surroundings.

Should be legal too by this reasoning?

There is a huge difference.

The Ecstasy is man-made via chemical production and it has no correlation in any way to a natural herb that grows in the wild.

7upfree

guymartin wrote: »

It is a joke alright, Why is cannabis illegal?

I just don't get it. More to the point if we live in a democracy why can't we vote on the issue.

I suppose the thinking is that if you legalise cannabis, then it will be "why isn't cocaine legal" and so on.

7upfree

zenno wrote: »

May the cannabis bud live on for another 6 thousand years regardless of evil men to destroy this beautiful herb.

The only herb on this planet that can make a man/woman think positively and have the conciousness to love it's surroundings.

:eek::D

zenno

7upfree wrote: »

:eek::D

Potential-Monke

Tragamin2k2 wrote: »

lads, just stop ok. if you argue for legalization, you look like a fool. if you argue against, you look like an even bigger fool. leave people live in their gateway drug bubbles if they want. everything affects everyone differently. 80 percent of schizophrenics smoke tobacco, why no calls for banning tobacco? eventually the majority of people will get over the moral panic and all will be well. its already happened in parts of US and Canada. it will be a while for Ireland though, since the main image of cannabis smokers is the boys skinnin up outside tesco.

guymartin what did you expect starting this thread? 5 or 6 fair play to our boys in blue posts? every cannabis thread on boards descends into a war of who can copypaste the most biased drivel.

But is this not a discussion thread? If someone comes on here, and reads something that will actually educate them on the effects of cannabis then it's a win thread already. I'm not saying that they have to now be pro-cannabis, but if it stops people thinking the crazy "cannabis will kill you" attitude, and it's associated falsities, then some good has come from it.