Liberal Democrats want inquiry into decriminalising drug possession | Politics | The Guardian I doubt it's going to go anywhere but still nice to hear. They're a pretty hated party but this raises my confidence in them a little bit.
At the very least it will bring in some press, which in turn, more may be educated. I would be more happy with a hundred failed attempts to no attempts, as it shows more people the issue at hand
well since everyone in the US is going to get fucked HARD by the new super committee, it would be nice if drugs were legalized at least. but ive got so little faith in the democrats these days. they talk of being very liberal but dont have much to show for it.
I'm half and half, I don't really support the legalization of hard drugs. That crap can mess peoples lives up, and it does all the time. Same argument can be made for alcohol though, I guess it's just my personal opinion. I don't see anything other than marijuana being legal to use in the United States. We aren't that liberal, any probably never will be. Our liberal is practically conservative in Europe, nowhere near breaching modern liberalism lol. It's just not a popular thing in the U.S., even with all of these fucking hipsters running around.
Decriminalisation, not legalisation. I think it's a good idea. Prison won't help a heroin addict, it'll just ruin their lives more. If it's decriminalised it'll still be illegal to sell, but addicts will be given proper treatment instead, weaned off it, given safer needles and taken out of social circles where heroin is taken. It's the system they use in Portugal where hard drug use has gone down.
No, no, no... what happens when the black market still exists? All of the problems of prohibition continue, and may, in fact, be WORSE under a system of decriminalization. The only things that would "change" would be a shitload of revenue for the government for "busting" but not jailing users, and the continuation of the status quo for all other undesirable consequences of prohibition. By careful what you ask for. "Proper Treatment" could mean any number of intrusions into one's life, just because its not sitting in a jail cell or reporting to a PO. For instance, if you were required to go to "drug classes" instead of reporting to your job. Is being unemployed now better than being a drug user? Probably not. Plus, just as criminal records are not the only thing employers snoop into now, getting your name on the "drug re-education list" would likely still be a red flag to employers. I have little faith that government can be trusted to any degree, therefore, all criminal penalties must be removed. You can't allow the criminals (politicians) to determine what is "criminal." They are slime.
Actually there are plenty of people who go to prison who don't get back on drugs. Because they break that physical/mental addiction. I know plenty of people lol, my neighbor hosts this group of a bunch of ex cons that he was in with. Some very interesting people, and now very accomplished people. I've commonly heard the statement "If I hadn't gone to jail, I would be dead". I'm not saying throwing people in jail is always the best option, but you are generalizing without even considering that jail time does help some people.
Addicts won't need to use the black market, they'll be able to use prescription heroin and encouraged onto treatment programs from there. Crime rates would also go down as people wouldn't need to steal to fund their addiction, it takes money away from dealers and pushers, doctors would be able to give safer doses of heroin not cut with all sorts of shit with clean needles and spot potential problems that lead to major health problems (heroin addicts can end up with a variety of serious problems that become more expensive and more dangerous the longer they go without being spotted including needing arms amputated and other gruesome things). In trials (and in Portugal) this system has reduced drug use, deaths and crime rate. Of course it's not perfect, people'll still use the black market, but I do think it'd be an improvement. In Portugal since decriminalisation the number of addicts looking for treatment has more than doubled. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html I'm not so sure on this point, you could be right but I do have some trust in the government that they'd encourage addicts to get employment and try not to hinder this. Sure, I can see how it could help some people but I definitely think it's a worse solution.
I would just like to point out, pretty much everyone who wants to do drugs, Does do drugs. How many people do you know are like, "Damn, if only weed was legal THEN I would smoke it..." Most people are like, "Damn, this shit is good, this should be legal" then a huge hit comes out.
Id love it if the uk reformed its drug laws but, call me a pessimist, i dont belive we will have the reforms whilst theyre in coalition with a tory government... and lets face it the lib dems willl never get elected by themselves. The other thing is they want to introduce a decriminalised system which i personnaly think is a system thats desighned to a fail in a way as, like in holland, its still illlegal to grow and supply cannabbis but it is ok to sell in small quantities in coffee shops (altho only 5g's a time) This system may cut out the more obvious street dealer type but i still encourages and sustains the illegals source of drugs. We need to fully legalise, and yes tax although of course there should be a clause in the act allowing people to grow as many plants as they want. of course thats an ideal world which i think probably isnt attainable, but fuck it i hope im proved wrong, till then im gonna smoke it like its legal anyway thats my slightly stoned two cents peace
Im seeing the problem stemming from us giving them mixed signals, the government doesnt know and does not yet want to make a decision because once its acted on, the cat will be out of the bag. We have a large portion saying they want medical use but still most people are doing it recreationally. They dont know, because medicine isnt supposed to be used recreationally, but people say they want it for medical only yet people do it recreationally, and that cycle goes on and on. In the end the only thing they can do is legalize a drug for everybody whether for medicine or just for whenever.
But why stop at decriminalization? Isn't one of the main problems with the drug war the fact that illegal dealers kill each other for territory and get people caught up in the criminal underworld? I have NEVER understood why anyone would recognize the lunacy of the criminalization of drugs, but not be able to grasp that the way to truly solve the problems would be to legalize and regulate. $1,000,000,000s in Weed revenue is going to the cartels right now every year, leading to thousands of murders and countless dollars lost due to drug jobs being done by people who avoid taxes and who have no interest in following the law.
With all due respect, an "improvement" to what is going on at present with prohibition takes us up one notch from horrible atrocities to fewer horrible atrocities. Why spend so much energy arguing for "better?" Let's try different. Vastly different. 180 degree different. The drug war is a trojan horse for so many things. It has to go.
the drug war will never end because the government will never admit they are wrong. people would realize the government was lying to them about pot, and would start to wonder what else theyr lying about...
The drug war is already making more people wonder that. I mean sooner or later they've got to give up on this fight. What are they gonna do in 10-15 years when all the old religious people die off and suddenly they've got a culture where >50% of the population wants pot legalized or at least decriminalized and >70% wants MMJ to be recognized on the federal level. The longer they drag this out the moor painful it's gonna get and the worse they're gonna look.
I'm all for total legalization of soft drugs at least, but there's no way the government's going to do that. Decriminalisation is looking possible though. One step at a time.