Judge - I am the law and I'll do as I please.

[splodgeyAl 10]

Here are two links.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/emotional_health/addictions/cannabis.shtml

 

http://www.talktofrank.com/contact-frank

 

Its tragic that young ones are exposed to drugs at such a young age.A parents worse nightmare! Thank goodness there are websites to offer advice.There isn't enough help though.Shame on the Goverment!

 

I don't know how i got started on this. I have got things to do,and thats all i have got to say on the matter.

And judging by Hairyloon's link, decriminalisation is the best way ti achieve your laudable goals. Indeed shame on the government for taking exactly the opposite approach to that shown to have worked.

[Bonzo77 13]

I'm not saying people do bad things to others under the influence of drugs,but casual use can lead to addiction and spiral out of control. Lives can be wrecked and many people have died young. Tragic!

I thought differently in my twenties,but thankfully i am more enlightened now.

Come on now , any mature person should know there is nothing glamorous about drugs

 

This can happen. In some cases it does happen. However, it's going to continue to happen. There's nothing that can stop it happening.

 

Legalizing the drug will reduce the amount of suffering.

[ferno 10]

Where is the proof of that? Which other countries?

Have you got any links, I'm sure the goverment has examined all these details.

 

ADDICTION

 

From the perspective of drug warriors, the criminal laws against drug possession are all that protect Americans from a deluge of drugs, an orgy of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine use that would kill children, destroy productivity and basically leave America a smoking hulk of wasteland populated by brain-dead zombies.

 

For example, one opponent of marijuana decriminalization wrote in a 2009 forum in the New York Times that the policy would lead to “hundreds of billions of dollars in new medical-care costs, traffic and other accident costs, reduced worker productivity and lower educational achievements.” (More on Time.com: Is Drug Use Really on the Rise?)

 

But new research on Portugal’s drug policy suggests that this isn’t necessarily so. Portugal decriminalized possession of all drugs in 2001. The outcome, after nearly a decade, according to a study published in the November issue of the British Journal of Criminology: less teen drug use, fewer HIV infections, fewer AIDS cases and more drugs seized by law enforcement. Adult drug use rates did slightly increase — but this increase was not greater than that seen in nearby countries that did not change their drug policies. The use of drugs by injection declined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/23/portugals-drug-experience-new-study-confirms-decriminalization-was-a-success/#ixzz1oRwfyLVh

[Phanerothyme 12]

Its tragic that young ones are exposed to drugs at such a young age.A parents worse nightmare! Thank goodness there are websites to offer advice.There isn't enough help though.Shame on the Goverment!

 

If drugs were legalised and not sold on the streets, then it would be possible to police and enforce age and competency restrictions - whilst they are illegal it is impossible. to impose any kind of restrictions or control.

 

I think this point is often overlooked - the policy of legalising drugs is in large part about taking control of the problems arising from drug use. This includes regulation and restriction where appropriate as well as aiming to reduce the harms associated with illegal drug use.

 

Many people have the impression that legalising drugs would simply mean a big free-for-all drug extravaganza with all the penalties and restrictions lifted. No one will dispute that a policy like that would be chaotic to say the least.

 

I would support an age restriction of 21 for all substances, including cannabis, alcohol and nicotine (including cigarettes).

 

Prohibition is the policy of actively relinquishing information about and control of a substance, and punishing anyone who uses it in the hope it will deter others from doing so. In ten thousand years of human history there's clear evidence of continuous drug use, in spite of savage prohibitions in the modern era and antiquity.

 

Animals get high too - we're talking about a fairly fundamental biological behaviour.

 

Punishing people for satisfying their basic biological needs like warmth, shelter, nourishment, sex and drugs never works, and never will.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Phanerothyme

[Magilla 510]

 

Can you be a bit more specific?

 

You can't think of a legal drug that's widely advertised on TV to encourage/promote it's use?

 

Not a surprise you chose to ignore this one

[Harleyman 12]

OK, but that's in contradiction to your previous positions.

 

 

Nope, but an enlightened society will provide healthcare for its members, generally speaking.

 

 

I don't think you'd have any argument with that. I hope you didn't expect one.

 

But none of these points addresses the total failure of drugs policy, either side of the Atlantic, which rather than making things better, is visibly making things worse.

 

No-one is suggesting that legalisation is a panacea - the most remarkable thing about that idea is the reception it is given. This thread being a good example. The idea of legalising cannabis and other drugs provokes storms of protest, yet no-one deriding the idea can come up with a single good reason for the status quo not to change.

 

How can you advocate freedom of choice as being everyone's right then say that an enlightened society will provide healthcare for it's members.

 

We live in the 21 st century. Junk foods cause obesity, obesity leads to serious health problems, tobacco and alcohol do serious damage and can also eventually kill.

 

We are warned constantly about the above, all the time, through the media, on bottles and packages. It's right there in our faces. There is no excuse for not knowing. Ignorance of the facts is unacceptable in this day and age.

Yet, irresponsible people who purposely choose to ignore these warnings cost government and healthcare billions every year in treatment and rehab programs.

 

If you think freedom of choice is the way to go then dont expect the rest of those who have some sense of self responsibility to have to foot the bill for that freedom of choice.

[Harleyman 12]

Your such a moron it's unbelievable! And so was the guy who was high while operating heave machinery. You would have to be a total dick to do such a thing. You mix drugs and dicks, that's what's gonna happen!

 

And don't get me started on the Beatles. The music they wrote is still some of the best selling music in the world. They were genius at writing simple pop songs that appeal to the masses.

 

Just goes to prove that you don't know what you are talking about. If you were to do some research into the subjects that you rant about, you would find that the Beatles never wrote a single song about drugs!

 

You're getting overheated I see. Resorting to personal insults. Better mellow out bro or cop out.

Beatle songs that referred to drugs:

Yellow submarine, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

 

The Doors were quite open. "Light my fire"

There were others of course.

 

Those who paid the price drugs and alcohol:

 

Janis Joplin,

John Belushi,

Robert Downey,

Lindsey lohan,

Elvis Presley

Jim Morrison

Whitney Houston

Michael Jackson

 

Easy Rider and Jack Nicholson the joint smoker

 

Wake up and smell the coffee

[RootsBooster 24]

I should hope he isn't telling anyone else to do it.

To have a casual attitude to an illegal substance,should not be promoted.

 

He isn't, I thought you'd already read what he wrote, you would have realised then. If people have a casual attitude to speeding (which causes way more deaths & damage) then why not a casual attitude toward cannabis?

[RootsBooster 24]

You're getting overheated I see. Resorting to personal insults. Better mellow out bro or cop out.

Beatle songs that referred to drugs:

Yellow submarine, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

 

The Doors were quite open. "Light my fire"

There were others of course.

 

Those who paid the price drugs and alcohol:

 

Janis Joplin,

John Belushi,

Robert Downey,

Lindsey lohan,

Elvis Presley

Jim Morrison

Whitney Houston

Michael Jackson

 

Easy Rider and Jack Nicholson the joint smokerWake up and smell the coffee

 

Wait, are you saying that getting beaten to death by bigotted rednecks is a side-effect of smoking cannabis?

 

...and Bonzo, Harley is right, no need for the insults (attack the post, not the poster).

[ferno 10]

Harley's stance is the same as the prohibitionists, the same as the law enforcement officers and prison franchises that make an awful lot of money from drugs' illegality.

 

Harley's reasoning will lead tomore addicts, more deaths.

 

Harley's position will guarantee more young people will die.

 

Harley is arguing in favour of the criminal enterprises of ruthless violent criminals who profit obscenely from the illegal drugs trade.

 

Let's try and break the argument down:

 

"Who here would support measures that are proven to reduce drugs usage?"

[Phanerothyme 12]

Where in Yellow Submarine does it mention or even allude to drugs?

In the town where I was born,

Lived a man who sailed to sea,

And he told us of his life,

In the land of submarines,

 

So we sailed on to the sun,

Till we found the sea green,

And we lived beneath the waves,

In our yellow submarine,

 

And our friends are all aboard,

Many more of them live next door,

And the band begins to play.

 

(Full speed ahead, Mr. Barkley, full speed ahead!

Full speed over here, sir!

All together! All together!

Aye, aye, sir, fire!

Captain! Captain!)

 

As we live a life of ease(life of ease)

Every one of us(every one of us) has all we need,(has all we need)

Sky of blue,(sky of blue) and sea green,(sea of green)

In our yellow(In our yellow) submarine.(submarine) ( Haha! )

??

 

But I particularly like (if we are namechecking achievers & losers who took drugs)

Of course I inhaled, that was the point

[ferno 10]

They found cannabis in the pipe stems in Shakespeare's garden:

 

Sonnet 27 begins:

 

Weary with toil I haste me to my bed,

The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;

But then begins a journey in my head,

To work my mind when body’s work’s expired.

 

(1-4)