Time to legalise drugs?

Once again someone in the public eye "admits" they have used drugs.

This time its low level entertainer Graham Norton.

Whilst I don't find him to be funny or entertaining I hate to see the usual crowd come out and attack people for being honest on such a subject.

The British Empire was partially founded on the trade of Opiates from its Colonies in Asia to the rest of the world (including the UK).

Eventually It was made illegal here and the so-called 'war on drugs' began.

This has been a loosing battle ever since.

The damage done by drugs is one thing, the damage done by leaving it a black market activity is rarely if ever discussed & far more serious in my view.

• Firstly, I feel strongly that it is the right of the individual to make choices for themselves providing those choices don't adversely impact upon others.

• We allow certain drugs to be sold and used legally. Its interesting to hear the oft made comment that "cannabis leads on to harder drugs". Do you know anyone who didn't drink or smoke BEFORE they smoked a joint? I don't!

• Allowing drugs to be sold on the black market leaves them in the hands of criminal gangs which leads to violence and no control over who has access to them.

• The damage done to society isn't by the use of drugs themselves but as a result of this so called war. What happens is simple, the laws of supply and demand take over. As these are difficult to import, high prices can be charged for what is really a cheap crop. This results in people committing crime to fund their habit.

I think its about time we stepped up the debate from the old "its bad, just say no" to something more realistic.

People will take drugs whether they are legal or not. If we were to control them by selling them at chemists or other licenced establishments we can eliminate the black market, supply a 'safe' product under controlled conditions & reduce prices so that less crime is carried out to fund expensive habits. The government could even levy a tax and still create a reduction in price.

So I'm just really floating the concept at this stage, obviously such a huge step would need to be fleshed out, debated and changed as necessary.

But the point remains, we've not won the "war on drugs" & we never will. Lets talk about it as grown ups rather than people who've been brainwashed into believing everything we read in the papers!