Here’s an idea.

I’ve noticed that Colorado doesn’t seem to have disintegrated into a total shambles lately.

Legalise drugs. Regulate supply and content. Apply taxation. Free up gaol space for real criminals.

Just a thought.

good idea, make up a political party with that as the main driver and see how many votes you get.

as long as we agree punitive sentences for crimes committed while under the influence – too bloody right

I thought we might see some sense along these lines a few years ago, till Gordon the Moron sacked Prof. Nutt 👿

Stop that foolhardy reckless sensible reasoning immeadiately, all the nice people at the Daily Mail will be out of a job!

Drugs kill people, in cultivation, in transport, in distribution, law enforcement and in prisons. They sometimes are responsible for the end users’ death too. Your idea would remove over 80% of that equation!

Free up gaol space for real criminals.

Just a thought.

from the spelling it was an American thought 😉

Surroundedbyhills is right, there would be an unmanageable population explosion and none of use would ever get to draw a pension.

good idea, make up a political party with that as the main driver and see how many votes you get.

It ain’t no thing.

You could call the new state “Hamsterdam”

I’m surprised people still argue about this. it’s a complete no-brainer and a good majority (I think, don’t know the actual statistics) of people in the western world seem to agree. We just have to wait til the politicians and vested interests catch up with public and scientific opinion. They can’t hold back the tide forever and I’m pretty hopeful that drugs will be legalised in my lifetime.

from the spelling it was an American thought

Not at all. The word ‘gaol’ is from the Anglo-Norman so is British to it’s core.

the word ‘gaol’ is from the Anglo-Norman so is British to it’s core

But we don’t speak 1000 year old Anglo-Norman dialects in the UK any more so ‘jail’ is what British English currently sees as the correct spelling? Anyway, it was a trivial thought and clearly a poor joke.

fasthaggis, just got to that episode of the wire last night. Loving it.

dazh – Member
They can’t hold back the tide forever and I’m pretty hopeful that drugs will be legalised in my lifetime.

Crystal meth?
What sort of drugs are you referring to?

My motto is simple. The body is yours so do whatever you want with it. But the moment of your habit affect others big time then there should be severe penalty imposed. i.e. perhaps weekend public beheading would be good or public electrocution (half the voltage first like slow frying) or four horse carts torso splitting. Yes. I like that with pop corn and supersize Pepsi please.

The question is why do you need these drugs?

I see marijuana smoke by the Indian Holy man in India but I don’t see their younger generation demanding it so strongly. The question is why westerners crave so much of drugs?

Got a pretty liberal attitude to drugs. But I cannot imagine living in a world where crystal meth and crack were available at tesco express. Nor would I want to.

The question is why westerners crave so much of drugs?

Certain drugs are, shall we say, moreish.

The question is why westerners crave so much of drugs?

Because they are good fun and, when not abused, enhance an experience. Many of the best times I’ve had, be it at clubs or in parties, has been under the influence.

Just because drugs would suddenly become available doesnt mean every Tom, Dick and Harry would start using them.

A legalisation process along with proper education would reduce harm to society so much more than the system we have at the moment.

I’d imagine a system where you’d need a licence to sell drugs, would only be available to 18+ etc

With a proper system in place you’d hope that the nastier stuff like crystal meth wouldn’t be as desirable as they would be legal drugs with known purity rates etc available instead.

The question is why westerners crave so much of drugs?

It really isn’t.

Man has always enjoyed getting bent.
It’s as simple as that.

The question is why do you need these drugs?

Because they are fun. And used responsively, massively enlightening.

But I cannot imagine living in a world where crystal meth and crack were available at tesco express. Nor would I want to.

Like alcohol and tobacco, legalisation would mean sale of drugs through licensed outlets.

If we think that in today’s society, that some substances that can be used for recreational purposes, pose significant risk to the general public’s well being (health/crime/etc) that members of the public cannot be trusted to make their own choices, and the government should restrict/stop the supply of these substances, and enforce and punish those that step outside of those controls, but other recreational substances level of harm/risk is low enough to allow the users/society to consume without these controls, I am fine with this approach, and seems reasonable.

In order to do this, then we should take a considered appraisal of the various recreational substances, classify them into “risk” bands such as:
1)Dangerous, ban
2)Risky, control and regulate (possible high/med/low)
3)Safe

This is actually very close to the system we have now..
i.e.
caffeine – Safe no regulation (6yr old can buy coffee in a shop)
Alcohol – Risky, sale is licensed, age restrictions etc.
Heroine – Dangerous, illegal

Only problem is the current situation isn’t based on an actual proper study of the substances level of harm.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61462-6/abstract

The Lancet (respected medical journal) published a study of “drugs” and their relative levels of harm to society/individual
That would be a good start.

Just saying like, the system we have now is very hypocritical, but nearly ideal.

What sort of drugs are you referring to?

Ideally all of them, but realistically I’d settle for the open legalisation, sale and regulation of the most popular recreational drugs like marijuana, lsd, magic mushrooms, ecstasy and cocaine, with the likes of heroin, crack and crystal meth moved into a more medicalised, treatment based solution.

The question is why westerners crave so much of drugs?

Good question, which would require a long answer. One answer could be that westerners lives, having been reduced to a deeply unsatisfying self-perpetuating cycle of work and consumption, require the instant relief provided by the use of mind-altering substances.

The question is why westerners crave so much of drugs?

I blame Thatcher…

I blame Thatcher…

YES!!!!!!!! For everything.

Alcohol – Risky, sale is licensed, age restrictions etc.
Heroine – Dangerous, illegal

On what evidence do you judge heroin to be so much more dangerous than alcohol that it requires prohibition while the other does not? Heroin’s actually quite safe given a clean product and the knowledge of how to use it. The differences between heroin and alcohol are not nearly as large as you might think.

The Lancet (respected medical journal) published a study of “drugs” and their relative levels of harm to society/individual
That would be a good start.

It’s an interesting graph when you consider alcohol’s legality in comparison to everything else there.

I’ve not read the original article, but it would be interesting to know how much of the damage caused by alcohol (both to the user and society) us because of it’s large scale consumption.

On what evidence do you judge heroin to be so much more dangerous than alcohol that it requires prohibition while the other does not? Heroin’s actually quite safe given a clean product and the knowledge of how to use it. The differences between heroin and alcohol are not nearly as large as you might think.

I fully agree with this. One of the benefits of having a legal drug trade would be that quality and purity would be known so the associated risk would be lowered.

I actually agree with your statement, and was just providing examples in the “current” system, that I think is broken, as not based on facts.
If you look at it, according to the current system, heroin bad/alcohol ok

According to the lancet study i referenced, they determined on combined impact from a personal/social stand point Alcohol was worse than Heroine.

I advocate re-assessing all substances, and classifying them based on fact and reasoned criteria.

I know not the answer as to where the line between the classifications “should” fall, how you should determine the classification rating system, or what would fall on what side.

Happy to start assembling experts to determine all that and reform the law, if anyone form the conservatories want to employ me full time to deliver this review and implement the changes in law

“Got a pretty liberal attitude to drugs. But I cannot imagine living in a world where crystal meth and crack were available at tesco express. Nor would I want to.”

Suppose their ability to buy in bulk and discount would make things difficult for the local traders.

Alcohol is plentiful but I only drink a very tiny amount every few months or use it for medicine purpose only. To me alcohol is a boring drink but only for occasional social events. How people binge drink every weekend I don’t know.

Anyway back to legalising drugs.

1. Adopting the leftie thinking – drugs are “good” and do “not” harm so should be legalised. Now, there is a strong contradiction here with the basic leftie belief. Who is going to pay for them? I mean according to the leftie we are all in the same boat so need to look out for each other. Yeah right. I am not your relative nor your brother so go away and stop being nosy.

2. Adopting the right wing thinking – drugs are “bad” and will harm the society if legalised. Now, there is also a strong contradiction here with the basic right wing thinking. Aren’t you suppose to have hands off approach to personal lives? Aren’t you suppose to not meddle in others affairs? Why not let people be themselves? If they want to waste their lives away that is their prerogative isn’t that so?

3. Adopting the in-between thinking – you are too anal to deal with the small things you loose control of everything.

See! Maggots everywhere left, centre and right. All of them.

p/s: was binge drinking (once a year thingy force on me) in the far east with friends and plenty of female guest relation “officers” (some HIV positive), all I can say is the occasion was of immense torture. Nothing fun at all downing alcohol non-stop in the evening.

I cannot imagine living in a world where crystal meth and crack were available at tesco express.

Alcohol is freely available in my local tesco. Lager drinking is massively popular, methylated spirits drinking less so. OK there are meths drinkers, sad and broken individuals who’s problems are much more complex than the fact that they will drink alcohol in the form of methylated spirits to blot things out. As a society it should be our responsibility to help these individuals. A society in which drugs were regulated and freely available and enjoyed responsibly by the majority of consumers would sadly inevitably include users of “bad” drugs like crystal meth. Again thats because these individuals suffer deep seated problems, the misuse of “bad” drugs is a symptom and not the cause. As already stated as a civilised society it should[/I] be our responsibility to help these people not condemn and criminalise them.

billyboulders – Member

As a society it should be our responsibility to help these individuals. … As already stated as a civilised society it should be our responsibility to help these people not condemn and criminalise them.

As a society, hmmm can you spare me some cash please as we are now in the same boat?

errmm … or can we torture the pushers instead?

🙄

BC would do rather well on this model and that potential $40million in tax revenue would make BC a pretty wealthy state!
Currently the underground BC cannabis industry exceed the revenue of fisheries and forestry! 40 million in revenue is a pretty conservative estimate based on Colorado’s population vs revenue.

Instead we are exploring fracking and LNG.. brilliant!

Sadly Chewkw I’m only only on just about minimum wage and don’t have any spare cash. As someone who would like to think I have compassion for a fellow human (or any living thing come to that) if you are in need and there is any other way I may be able to help give me a shout 🙂

Surroundedbyhills is right, there would be an unmanageable population explosion and none of use would ever get to draw a pension.

Actually the opposite is true, it’s the lack of young tax payers that will end pensions.

Does being the lesser of two evils make it less evil though? Will legalisation increase consumption is the real question.

chewkw – Member
weekend public beheading would be good or public electrocution (half the voltage first like slow frying) or four horse carts torso splitting. Yes. I like that with pop corn and supersize Pepsi please.

chewkw – Member
errmm … or can we torture the pushers instead?

You sound like a pretty disturbed violent individual.
Sit back and have a toke, it might mellow you out a bit.

Abstinence goes against human nature and should be viewed as an abomination

billyboulders – Member

Sadly Chewkw I’m only only on just about minimum wage and don’t have any spare cash. As someone who would like to think I have compassion for a fellow human (or any living thing come to that) if you are in need and there is any other way I may be able to help give me a shout

Thanks for the offer but no thanks as I just have to work harder that’s all. Same here with minimum wage. Think I earn less than a secretary.
Compassion for fellow human yes. But compassion just for the sake of the word compassion. No.

sbob – Member
You sound like a pretty disturbed violent individual.
Sit back and have a toke, it might mellow you out a bit.

On the contrary to be honest. I am not a violent person but compassionate being for the right reasons, however, if punishment is concerned it must be done to the hilt. Especially for those maggots who caused some much suffering to others. No mercy and maggots should think twice before they commit. I have seen enough of maggots from Far East to the West. They are all the same maggots.

No, really dude, you sound like you need help.
There’s a lot of anger there, I’m sure you have some issues that need resolving.

There are a lot of Slipknot fans in the world chewkw 😀

One very good reason drugs should not be legalised, pot heads are the most boring people on the planet and we don’t need any more of them!

In many cases the laws surrounding drug use do much more damage than the drugs themselves.

I don’t believe its in anyones interest to see an occasional cannabis user get slapped with a criminal record that they’ll have to carry around for life, it can make finding work difficult if not impossible.