brave new world - sci-fi classic

judge dreddd · 23 January, 2004, 08:43:18 PM

legalise it all and tax it...thats what milton friedman said...and he got the noble prize for economics

he said crack would not have been invented if drugs legal as no profit margin to fund the research ......

new label on booze : warning, could make you act like a tosser

Quirkafleeg · 23 January, 2004, 08:56:11 PM

As ever the late great Bill Hicks said best:

Pot, right. Aaah, they lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Liiie. When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well, you just realise, it's not worth the fucking effort.

There is a difference.

"(toke, toke, toke) Sure I can get up at dawn (toke, toke), go to a job I hate, that does not inspire me creatively whatsoever, for the rest of my fucking life.

Or I can wake up at noon and learn how to play the sitar!"

Matt Timson · 23 January, 2004, 09:10:11 PM

Drum roll please....

Matt agrees with Dudley shocker!

You've actually said exactly what I've thought for years. Legalise the lot. Make the only crime indulging yourself in a public place, or doing it underage (and even then- prosecute the person selling, not buying).

Give me a hundred quid and I'll come back with a hundred quid's worth of anything you like within a ridiculously short space of time. I'm not a 'geezer', I'm not 'connected'- it just really is that easy to get stuff. What's the point in trying to police it? A million people will take ecstacy this weekend. I'm not advocating it, but it's going to happen anyway. I'd rather the Police were free to catch rapists, murderers and theives than people out to enjoy themselves.

Does anybody have any idea how much crime is actually drug related? Quite a lot. Muggings, burglaries, car crime, people carrying (and using) guns. You might want to argue that we'd have a nation of drug addicts- but I don't think so. Just because you can can get legally pissed out of your head every night, is that what you actually go and do?

More importantly- the drugs sold would be pure and they would be taxable. At the moment, they are neither of these things and the only people to profit are criminals.

I'm not advocating the use of all, or indeed *any* drugs. All I'm saying is that they are there and that they won't be going away any time soon. By and large, the same people will end up taking them (let's not forget- it's either something you want to do, or something you don't want to do) and I'd no more smoke crack or shoot up if it was legal than I would now- mainly because I wouldn't want to take a drug that was instantly addictive. And I'm afraid of needles.

As for smoking in bars and wotnot- it's less the health risk and more that I don't want to stink of fags. Without wanting to be a patronising wanker- it's something you don't really notice if you're a smoker yourself. At the same time, I'm not going to start coughing and waving my arms about because my mates light up.

Agreeing with Dudley... the shame...

JimBob · 23 January, 2004, 09:10:40 PM

Decriminalisation is the worst of both worlds, allowing a market that only criminals can sell on. Its not a very good idea.
It should either be completely legal so you can buy it in Tecsos at the fag counter, or remain illegal. Anything else is unworkable.
By the way for any one wondering about the reclassification rules.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
The only difference that is in place now is how the courts deal with you. You can still be nicked for possession,the change in legislation has a specific arrest clause. So don't light up your spliff in front of a copper, it's a bad idea. And remember kids if caught in possession the difference between getting nicked and just having it go down the drain is likely to be how you respond.(this may be untrue in parts of the Met)
Mind how you go,
Jim

Oddboy · 23 January, 2004, 09:14:46 PM

Re: tax on cigarettes

This is Britain - there's a tax on everything.
Price of petrol is something stupid like 80-90%...income tax...inheritance tax...Value Added Tax...council tax...TV tax...

Not beeing a smoker of either fags or joints I don't really care what it's legal status is, but I'd say: reclassify canabis equal to tobacco, outlaw smoking in public.

Quirkafleeg · 23 January, 2004, 09:28:29 PM

Prohibition of alcohol lead to the rise of organised crime in the states.

Prohibition of drugs has lead to exactly the same thing... 'bout time people realise that the war on drugs is never going to be won.

The reason that cannabis was prohibited in the first place was that it was a poor black mans drug and people feared it would stop them working hard enough...

Pyroxian · 23 January, 2004, 09:38:43 PM

>The reason that cannabis was prohibited in the
>first place was that it was a poor black mans
>drug and people feared it would stop them
>working hard enough...

Cheers for that, I was wondering why it got prohibited in the first place.

Steve

Devons Daddy · 24 January, 2004, 08:16:43 AM

you are right about the bar with alcholol v the cafe with soft drugs there pyro.
i did not consider that. i was refering more to the culuture of crime that tends to be credited with the drugs scene in general. very apparent in amsterdam,
as oppossed to the extremely low crime rate in singapore where drugs in general carry the death penalty.
i was considering from my own experiences.
as of the the correct way to go.
to be honest i have to say.
DRUGS = DEATH PENALTY, it works you see.
to note.
smoking of any form in air conditioned places is completey banned in singapore. so i never go home smelling of others smoke.

Pyroxian · 24 January, 2004, 02:59:35 PM

>i was refering more to the culuture of crime
>that tends to be credited with the drugs scene
>in general. very apparent in amsterdam,

Didn't notice that so much. But that's probably to do with the fact that Cannabis is still technically not a legal drug in Holland, just decriminalised (which means it's illegal to deal, produce and possess, but OK for personal use and to be sold in Coffee shops). Which I assume means they still have to get it from over-the-border and smuggled in by some criminal organisation (which is one of the reasons I don't use Cannabis over here - the 8th I've bought could be going to fund some gangsters shiny new gun...). Darn it, they should legalise it so they can control its sources.

My aunt (who lives in Australia) will quite happily smoke the stuff when she's at home because she knows where it's coming from (it's grown by people who have a patch in the outback somewhere) but she won't touch it over here because of its source. She also came out with the best line at Sunday dinner - 'I don't mind the kids having a joint now and again, but when they go out on a serious drinking binge I get very worried...' Cue much jaws dropping (amongst parents/grandparents) and stifled gigglings (amongst us younger generation...)

Steve