Early Release

[Passing Time]

Fucking hell, didn’t take long for this to turn into a PK vs Helix dick waving competition…

[P.K.]

7 hours ago, Passing Time said:

Fucking hell, didn’t take long for this to turn into a PK vs Helix dick waving competition…

Excuse me but the correct expression is "willy-waving" if you don't mind...

It's an interesting debate. Spain has pretty much decriminalised drugs and now 10% of the population use cocaine. However their proximity to Morocco means a lot use marijuana. The youngsters in particular carry their own use supply in a little baggy worn around the neck so the police don't search them. Interestingly if caught smoking it in public it's not a criminal offence but an "administrative" one. Eh?

Contrast that to the USA where every year well over a hundred thousand die from overdoses...

[John Wright]

29 minutes ago, P.K. said:

Contrast that to the USA where every year well over a hundred thousand die from overdoses...

But not overdoses of cannabis.

The most recent big thing in the States is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that was a prescription drug.

How you deal with drugs, and what is legally and socially acceptable is a complex crossover between public perception, and political proscription.

And, in many cases it’s driven on the political side by revenue raising imperatives.

The war on drugs is never going to be won. The medical/social model can work, but there’s a cost in ensuring the medical and social support is there.

It’s just another facet of the prescriptive punitive approach that has seen the English prison population double since 1978, when it was approaching 40,000 and capacity. The answer isn’t to build more cell spaces and keep more people on remand or sentence or to make sentences longer. It’s how to keep offenders in society, supporting and reforming whilst minimising risk.

Theres always this temptation to knee jerk and demand lock up more, for longer.

[TheTeapot]

Throughout human history people have sought ways to get high. Really quite creative ways. Imprisoning them doesn't stop it. Prohibition doesn't stop it. It just makes things worse.

[The Phantom]

7 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

Throughout human history people have sought ways to get high. Really quite creative ways. Imprisoning them doesn't stop it. Prohibition doesn't stop it. It just makes things worse.

Dolphins lick pufferfish to get high! 

[TheTeapot]

Jail the fucking dolphins.

Pricks.

Dragging down society.

[La Colombe]

I doubt there are that many inmates in UK prisons for possession of personal amounts of drugs. That's more of a Manx thing. 

[Auntie Depressant]

48 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Dolphins lick pufferfish to get high! 

Pass the puffer on the left hand side. 
 

[The Voice of Reason]

Well apart from the very odd occasion ( maybe thrice in my sixty odd years) I have not  “ done” cannabis.  
On each occasion it hasn’t provided me with any great thrill. Made me heartily sick one particular time. 
I’ve no inclination to try harder drugs ( ecstasy, cocaine, stuff like that)

From time to time I enjoy getting mildly drunk be that in the pub or with friends at home.
Yes there are those that consume too much alcohol that they become a menace,

But should drug use be tolerated or accepted? Well it’s a toughie.

As a non drug user it appears to me that plenty of people happily use all sorts of drugs without any adverse consequences.

But, and this cannot be denied, an awful lot of harm is done in society by those drug users addicted to their habit. Be that those who can’t afford it and take to crime to feed their habit. Pregnant women passing on their addiction to their babies in the womb etc

Legalising all drugs won’t prevent these problems. 

As for imprisonment for drug supply  offenses it seems  to me that the IOM has a lot more enlightened view than it had when I came here decades ago.
But there is still  a place for  incarceration for those trading on human misery. ie those taking advantage of the seriously addicted, rather than those taking drugs for recreational use. It’s up to the courts 
 

[HeliX]

10 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Legalising all drugs won’t prevent these problems. 

Crucially it does seem to make them better rather than worse, though.

[La Colombe]

2 hours ago, The Voice of Reason said:

But should drug use be tolerated or accepted? Well it’s a toughie.

It really isn't. Just mind your own business. 

[The Voice of Reason]

8 hours ago, La Colombe said:

It really isn't. Just mind your own business. 

Said Huw Edwards     (possibly)

[thommo2010]

15 hours ago, La Colombe said:

I doubt there are that many inmates in UK prisons for possession of personal amounts of drugs. That's more of a Manx thing. 

I can't remember the last time someone was jailed for personal possession of drugs, been a few years 

[The Voice of Reason]

13 hours ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Said Huw Edwards     (possibly)

Helix I note you left a confused emoji.

My point is that La Colombe wrote “ just mind your own business” in relation to using drugs, as to whether it should be accepted or tolerated.

Well they may think it’s no one’s business but theirs if they choose to take the drug of their choice. It’s innocent enjoyment, they are not hurting anyone else are they?

But in doing so they are contributing to the sinister underbelly of the drug dealing industry. Yes,  they may live a normal life unconcerned as to the infrastructure behind the industry whose products they enjoy. Unconcerned also as to the misery that leads some of their fellow drug takers into financial meltdown, loss of employment or even suicide.

Users of child pornography ( like Edwards)  may also take the same line. They are not directly involved in the production of such material. They just “ enjoy” the efforts of those that do and turn a blind eye to the nature of the industry that supplies them with the product  they want.

So it’s not a case of “ just mind your own business”  because drug taking does have an impact on society as a whole.  I can’t drive my car at whatever speed I like because that is solely “ my business”

A- ha! I hear you say, legalise drugs and all will be well.  Maybe to a degree. It does seem that there is increasing liberalisation regarding possession  and use of softer drugs like cannabis in terms of prosecution and punishment, seemingly in line with public opinion.

But who wants all the zombie stuff you see in LA. That does need addressing by law enforcement.
 

Anyway my point is that although “ just mind your own business” is a concept that should be embraced  where possible, societal vices affect us all and need to be legislated for where appropriate.

 

[Passing Time]

21 hours ago, The Voice of Reason said:

 

But in doing so they are contributing to the sinister underbelly of the drug dealing industry. 

 

 

They wouldn’t be if they just legalised it and take the criminal aspect out of it