Drug decriminalisation, your views.

trojan698

trojan698

trojan698

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What are your thoughts on drug decriminalisation?

Portugal decriminalised all drugs in 2001 and statistics are somewhat impressive. Do you think the UK partakes in a culture of fear regarding drugs policy? Is it progressive to criminalise those who have a problem? I'd argue that decriminalising drugs allows people to make up their own minds instead tabooing and thus potentially enhancing their appeal. We need to help people not put them in jail.

Article on portugals decriminalisation here:http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

and more here:http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/04/08/portugal/

Particularly relevant to the lib dems views on cannabis legalisation:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...s-and-prescribe-heroin-to-addicts-653503.html

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "With so many people using cannabis regularly it is self-delusion to pretend that prohibition is working. The evidence is that cannabis does less harm than many other current illegal drugs, let alone legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco."
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And why not tax it while we're at it?

Prescibing herion to addicts can also only be viewed as a good thing, especially in light off the recent deaths where herion was cut with anthrax.

NB re GD quality: I want this thread to have mass appeal (and I can't be bother with speakers corner) as such please keep comments relevant and the discussion on topic. Do not discuss personal drug use either (if you engage in it.)
 
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Do Portugal allow coffe shops and stuff? Sorry not read my T-Mobile dongle is very slow.

Long live basic forums :D

O and yes very much so, we must waste millions housing petty drug dealers. If it is controlled our state can benefit of the tax from it and keep it more controlled. Espically softer drugs.
 
trojan698 said:
What are your thoughts on drug decriminalisation?

Portugal decriminalised all drugs in 2001 and statistics are somewhat impressive. Do you think the UK partakes in a culture of fear regarding drugs policy? Is it progressive to criminalise those who have a problem? I'd argue that decriminalising drugs allows people to make up their own minds instead tabooing and thus potentially enhancing their appeal. We need to help people not put them in jail.

Article on portugals decriminalisation here:http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

and more here:http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/04/08/portugal/

Particularly relevant to the lib dems views on cannabis legalisation:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...s-and-prescribe-heroin-to-addicts-653503.html



And why not tax it while we're at it?

Prescibing herion to addicts can also only be viewed as a good thing, especially in light off the recent deaths where herion was cut with anthrax.

NB re GD quality: I want this thread to have mass appeal (and I can't be bother with speakers corner) as such please keep comments relevant and the discussion on topic. Do not discuss personal drug use either (if you engage in it.)
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You'd never get heroin in the NHS. However you'd get put on a methadone reduction course instead to get you off the drugs.
 
Some drugs, ok to legalise i reckon a bit of weed every now and then isn't such a terrible thing.

Hard drugs are dangerous though, no way should they be made legal. I had a serious problem with speed at one point and it's caused some long term damage emotionally.

They've just made a series of legal highs illegal, methadrone, mdpv and a few others. I doubt they'll be legalising anything soon.

One major problem with drug use these days is stupidity, people take to much or get addicted and thats where the problems start.

Shouldn't be done until we can prove we're able to handle alcohol sensibly. If that ever happened - put it to a referendum.
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Whats your problem with alcohol, drinking hasn't evolved in years unless you count someone coining the phrase "Binge drinking" to replace "A fun night out with the lads"
 
Do Portugal allow coffe shops and stuff? Sorry not read my T-Mobile dongle is very slow.

Long live basic forums :D

O and yes very much so, we must waste millions housing petty drug dealers. If it is controlled our state can benefit of the tax from it and keep it more controlled. Espically softer drugs.
 
I would legalise drugs not decriminalise them as you end up with my main grudge agaisnt the current status. My main gripe is that all the money goes to the criminals even if decriminalisation took place. At the end of the day a drug user should have the same legal protection as someone buying a pint or fags. Something has to be done as its the poor people that get shafted when caught. I wouldn't decriminalise all the dugs and as for the " wrong message been sent" look at the dutch, all pot somking from the age of 3
 
I feel the softer stuff such as cannabis is okay to decriminalize, but there must be a huge difference between decriminalizing and legalizing, who has the right to sell these drugs then.
 
I think we need an open and honest public debate about this. We need to hear from experts who can put into context the effects of illegal substances on the individual, their loved ones and society in general. We need to hear from the drugs advisers who have resigned recently. All this needs to take place without resorting to fear mongering or forcing experts to toe party lines. We should do the same in regards to prostitution.

Personally, heroin, cocaine (in its various forms) and methamphetamine are the only drugs I can think of that I might object to being decriminalised/legalised.
 
Has it not been proven that cannibis is one of the least harmful drugs?

It has this stigma about it, espically with the older generation. But if alcohol was illegal, it would also be like this?

I so hope it does get legalised, even if I most likely still wouldn't be able to use it.
 
iNPUt said:
I feel the softer stuff such as cannabis is okay to decriminalize, but there must be a huge difference between decriminalizing and legalizing, who has the right to sell these drugs then.
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Here drugs are decriminalized yet openly sold. They are certainly not legal though.



Anyhow, I'm for full legalization and taxing it.
 
All drugs in portugal are legal? So are you able to walk into a shop and purchase a gram of pure MDMA??

Or is it just cannabis thats been decriminalised?
 
They're all decriminalised and they don't want to encourage an amsterdam type culture. It would take legalisation for that situation to arrise. The penalties for distribution are still heavily enforced but the focus is on helping individuals, not punishing them. So for example if someone was caught with a personal amount of MDMA/cannabis/herion, they would not be punished, though may have it confiscated and questioned on their source.

Cannabis in the netherlands is only decriminalised, they just choose not to close down the coffee shops, probably due to the huge amounts of revenue generated by them.
 
Macky said:
Legalize cannabis IMO. A relatively safe high in small doses like alcohol. :)
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Then mdma needs legalizing too. relatively safe in high doses, very safe in small (in the correct environment when not mixing with anything else)
 
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James J said:
You'd never get heroin in the NHS. However you'd get put on a methadone reduction course instead to get you off the drugs.
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Actually you can as diamorphine is used for similar uses as morphine. There have been several trials in prescribing diamorphine to addicts with possitive results both reduction in crime and street drug use. It is the underground nature of heroin which causes many of the problems as it is impossible to control the dose and it could be cut with anything. With a controlled doses diamorphine is actually pretty safe.
 
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