Making the news today....

[Mark J]

Priti Patel accused over Heathrow meeting with billionaire businessman

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

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Senior Labour figures suggest home secretary broken ministerial code for second time

 

[doobin]

On 17/09/2021 at 20:48, Rough Hewn said:

Shades of grey my friends…
I’ve lived and worked in Brighton for years… worked with transgenders.
They mostly just want to be accepted not vilified.

We're missing the 'barf' like icon

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

[openspaceman]

10 hours ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

I don't want to see Scotland leave the UK but I have no problem with fining someone for littering and only giving a warning for possession for personal use, drug problems need addressing not punishing.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

1 minute ago, openspaceman said:

I don't want to see Scotland leave the UK but I have no problem with fining someone for littering and only giving a warning for possession for personal use, drug problems need addressing not punishing.

I know - it was a cheap dig - but any chance to have a pop at SNP must be exploited 😂

 

Its fair to say the drugs misuse / addiction counter measures currently in place are ineffective. 
 

Having a ‘law’ that is widely ignored by (apparently) such a large portion of a society generally indicates that the ‘law’ is wholly inappropriate. 
 

I wouldn’t suggest decriminalisation is the answer - certainly not in isolation. And legalisation also has consequences - legalised supply of pharma produced product really will lead to a zombie nation. 
 

What is the answer?

 

Just say no....

[Stere]

 

Quote

I wouldn’t suggest decriminalisation is the answer - certainly not in isolation. And legalisation also has consequences - legalised supply of pharma produced product really will lead to a zombie nation. 
 

What is the answer?

 

Have you seen this clip? .... like a zombie apocalypse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stere]

Some background infos

 

Trapped by the ‘Walmart of Heroin’ - The New York Times

WWW.NYTIMES.COM

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A Philadelphia neighborhood is the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast. Addicts come from all...

 

[Mark J]

48 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

I know - it was a cheap dig - but any chance to have a pop at SNP must be exploited 😂

 

Its fair to say the drugs misuse / addiction counter measures currently in place are ineffective. 
 

Having a ‘law’ that is widely ignored by (apparently) such a large portion of a society generally indicates that the ‘law’ is wholly inappropriate. 
 

I wouldn’t suggest decriminalisation is the answer - certainly not in isolation. And legalisation also has consequences - legalised supply of pharma produced product really will lead to a zombie nation. 
 

What is the answer?

 

Just say no....

In many cases addictions are acquired through exposure to trauma of sorts. I think decriminalisation of possession for personal use is a wise idea. (I'm aware that there will likely be a counter-paper out there too.)

Drug Policy in Portugal: The Benefits of Decriminalizing Drug Use

WWW.OPENSOCIETYFOUNDATIONS.ORG

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This Open Society Foundations report documents how decriminalization can reduce drug consumption...

I also think that there needs to be more money pumped into the system to encourage rehabilitation and to prevent people from falling into addiction in the first place. It currently takes months to even get on a waiting list.

Fining addicts is like fining the homeless, it's a vacuous pursuit. Litterbugs deserve to be fined.

@TIMON  What's your take on it?

Edited September 24, 2021 by Mark J

[sime42]

 

 

I don't see a problem here, both very sensible policies again

 

On the issue of littering I'd go even further. Increase the fine to something hefty like a couple of hundred and also make the perpetrators do a couple of weeks of full time litter picking. To really bring the point home. There really is no excuse that I can think of for such behaviour, in any circumstance. Possibly controversially, I would also classify dog shit as litter, if it's in an urban environment.

 

Drug abuse is clearly a much bigger issue to resolve. It's not as simple as punishing addicts. That's just pointless and unfair. Obviously punish dealers and traffickers as harshly as possible but we're never going to stop the supply as long as there's money to be made. Anyway, history shows that prohibition never works. It's a tired cliché but we need to treat the cause of the malaise, not the symptoms. That is a huge subject!

 

Addendum.

The issue with drugs in prisons really needs to be tackled. That should be much easier to stamp out or at least severely curtail, than drug supply and abuse in wider society. Apparently a significant number of people acquire a drug addiction in jail. That's not right.

 

 

 

 

[TIMON]

In many cases addictions are acquired through exposure to trauma of sorts. I think decriminalisation of possession for personal use is a wise idea. (I'm aware that there will likely be a counter-paper out there too.)

Drug Policy in Portugal: The Benefits of Decriminalizing Drug Use

WWW.OPENSOCIETYFOUNDATIONS.ORG

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This Open Society Foundations report documents how decriminalization can reduce drug consumption...

I also think that there needs to be more money pumped into the system to encourage rehabilitation and to prevent people from falling into addiction in the first place. It currently takes months to even get on a waiting list.

 

Fining addicts is like fining the homeless, it's a vacuous pursuit. Litterbugs deserve to be fined.

 

@TIMON  What's your take on it?

 

What would really help is more help and funding for programmes that actually work... at least that way those that genuinely want help to conquer their addictions can get help.

(Trouble with that is... as soon as the government decide to fund a programme, the money comes with so many strings and conditions attached, the programme inevitably loses its effectiveness because of red tape and interference from ‘experts’ who are anything but..,,)

 

Decriminalisation won’t stop people taking drugs it will just mean that ‘dealers’ will become licensed. Perhaps there’s an opening for Mr Bezos there..

 

Prohibition doesn’t work, but it at least provides a small measure of resistance against the tide.

 

Locking people up doesn’t work and being at the mercy of drug barons inside due to addiction is a hell on Earth.

 

More incentives for people to get help is what is needed.

 

Edit: Now that the Taliban have free reign in Afghanistan, I imagine the flow of cheap heroin through Pakistan will increase.