Saturday, October 07, 2006

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!

1 comment:

Konciousness said...

As a user of cannabis myself i agree completely with what you say. The notion that cannabis is a gateway drug is absurd. What it actually comes down to is willpower and strength of mind. I have smoked weed now for 6 years, but do I need it? NO. I enjoy it, it relaxes me, but i have no cravings like those so often associated with cigarettes. I personally cannot understand why people even smoke cigs, obviously i use them for joints but that's it.

I have even quit drinking alcohol, as i realised how much it affects me in a negative way. I didn't like the way alcohol was making me feel or even the cost. I have friends that on a night round town won't blink an eye at spending up to and above £100. That would buy enough weed to last a month or so for me.

So cannabis remains illegal while tobacco and alcohol are legal the world over and killing people every day. How is it possible that the government can tell us that marijuana is a danger to society? A look at the link below shows the figures for deaths by alcohol tobacco and other drugs.

Death figures

Any substance is open to abuse be it cannabis, alcohol or even penicillin, as shown by the penicillin resistant bugs that are now developing. By legalising marijuana the government can then ensure that people have a way to buy their drugs without dealing with unsavory types and without supporting organised crime(though i find usually people selling weed are just normal folk trying to get an easy wage).

I'll leave it there because i could rant forever, but i advise you all to sign the online petition.