Weed - should it be legal?

[i-need-a-martini]

Uruguay has just changed its legislation and is now the first country in the wrold to sanction the growing, selling and smoking of marijuana.

They have done it to put the illegal drug trade and drug traffikers out of business.

Personally I think it makes sense. If nicotine is legal than there is very little difference between the 2.

Your thoughts?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/uruguay-becomes-first-country-to-legalise-marijuana-trade-20131211-hv59x...

[colic2bullsgirlore]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/07/05/ten-years-after-decriminalization-drug-abuse-down-by...

Drug warriors often contend that drug use would skyrocket if we were to legalize or decriminalize drugs in the United States.

Fortunately, we have a real-world example of the actual effects of ending the violent, expensive War on Drugs and replacing it with a system of treatment for problem users and addicts.

Ten years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs. One decade after this unprecedented experiment, drug abuse is down by half:

Health experts in Portugal said Friday that Portugal’s decision 10 years ago to decriminalise drug use and treat addicts rather than punishing them is an experiment that has worked.

“There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal,” said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.

 The number of addicts considered “problematic” — those who repeatedly use “hard” drugs and intravenous users — had fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the figure was estimated at around 100,000 people, Goulao said.

 Other factors had also played their part however, Goulao, a medical doctor added.

“This development can not only be attributed to decriminalisation but to a confluence of treatment and risk reduction policies.”

Many of these innovative treatment procedures would not have emerged if addicts had continued to be arrested and locked up rather than treated by medical experts and psychologists. Currently 40,000 people in Portugal are being treated for drug abuse. This is a far cheaper, far more humane way to tackle the problem.

Rather than locking up 100,000 criminals, the Portuguese are working to cure 40,000 patients and fine-tuning a whole new canon of drug treatment knowledge at the same time.

None of this is possible when waging a war.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

whatever you do make your decision on this sugject after considering the facts rather than emotional diatribe like

'my sisters 2nd cousin grew a second head when she just sniffed a joint"

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-09/decriminalise-drugs-to-curb-addiction-report/4251256

A national report into illicit drugs has recommended decriminalising ecstasy and cannabis under a government-controlled program aimed at helping to curb addiction.

The 52-page report on alternatives to prohibition, by the Australia 21 group, was released in Adelaide on Sunday.

Its release came as the Australian Federal Police revealed a massive increase in the amount of illegal drugs and criminal assets seized in the past year.

One of the report's proposals is to establish a government supplier for cannabis and ecstasy.

The drugs would be available to people over 16, who would then be supported by counselling and treatment programs.

The report also recommends similar programs for heroin users.

Co-author Professor Bob Douglas says it is clear prohibition is not working, and Australia needs to have a serious debate about legalising controlled drug use.

"It's been a political benefit for people to pretend they're tough on drugs, but lots of politicians in Australia recognise now that this has to be changed," he said.

Professor Douglas says similar programs are being used in Europe with proven positive results.

He says criminal gangs have a monopoly on the black market, but a government regulated drug program could help to safely curb usage.

"Government just stands by and says, 'Well we'll criminalise the people who use drugs and we'll try and catch the people who are distributing them,' but they're not doing very well," he said.

"The report makes clear despite the good work that Australian police are doing, they're not making a serious mark on the markets."

The Federal Government says it will consider holding a national summit on drugs, but it does not support decriminalisation.

Mental Health Minister Mark Butler says the Government balances health responses with law enforcement.


http://www.australia21.org.au/our_research/illicit_drugs_download.html#a

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

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@azureline** wrote:

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@siggie-reported-by-alarmists wrote:

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@azureline** wrote:

Look up Sane Australia and some medical sites...... the evidence shows  it.

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Post the evidence.

The 2013 Harvard Medical School report disagrees.  Can you discredit them Az.

I have not been able to find reports from psychiatrist that state pot causes mental illness.

They state genetics cause mental illness.

As stated earlier, it correlates with mental illness, not causes it.

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For every link you can find to say I am mistaken, I can find one that supports my info.

Will I? No, not that interested. I no longer live near the psychotic nut who terrorised his family and involved us in it, which gave me an interest in it.

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Posting that evidence supports your view, but refusing to post it into this discussion is a cop out.

I will take it that you couldn't find any.  

Your person views are not evidence.  

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Unfortunately hidden addiction (and the lack of want to seek help for same for fear of incrimination) and drug abuse in general is not the only

social problem assisted by prohibition

.... Why do you think black market gangs (all BM gangs) shoot at each other???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug_trade

The Illegal drug trade is a global black market that is dedicated to the cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and sale

of drugs that are subject to drug prohibition laws.

Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws.
A UN report said "the global drug trade generated an estimated US $321.6 billion in 2003."

With a world GDP of US$36 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade.

Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally.

Violent crime

In many countries worldwide, the illegal drug trade is thought to be directly linked to violent crimes such as murder; this is especially true in developing countries, such as Honduras, but is also an issue for many developed countries worldwide.

Profits

US$207 million and additional amounts in other currencies were confiscated from Mexican Zhenli Ye Gon in 2007
Hashish seized in Operation Albatross, a joint operation of Afghan officials, NATO and the DEA.

Due to its illicit nature, statistics about profits from the drug trade are largely unknown.

In its 1997 World Drugs Report the UNODC estimated the value of the market at US$400 billion, ranking drugs alongside arms and oil among the world's largest traded goods.

An online report published by the UK Home Office in 2007 estimated the illicit drug market in the UK at £4–6.6 billion a year

In December 2009, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, claimed that illegal drug money saved the banking industry from collapse.

He claimed he had seen evidence that the proceeds of organized crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse during 2008.

http://www.news.com.au/national/is-australia-staring-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun-crisis/story-fncynjr2-...

THERE is a gun battle going on in Australia.

As bikie gang members and drug dealers gun each other down on a regular basis, sending fear through the

community, authorities seem to be fighting a losing battle to keep firearms out of their hands.

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IMO the current gun violence plague in Australia is almost totally driven by illicit drug sales profits and the war to get the biggest cut

So how do we get the illicit drug supplying gangs to stop shooting at each other?????

by taking the profit away from the black market

Minimal black market profit = minimal blackmarket drug gang violence


How can society help those that have a drug abuse problem????

By supplying mechanisms where they can legally access the drug while also offering education and counselling to all

drug users... not just the addicts

Win/Win ???

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Peter :

10 Sep 2012 11:58:23pm

I always hate how the debate is framed around 'addicts (and then HIV, Heroin etc) - what about the thousands of people (students, public service workers, tradies, hospitality workers, professionals) who go out on a weekend, smoke a few joints with mates or drop some MDMA at a dance club and are back at work on Monday morning?

This is the reality of most drug users, the same as most people who drink aren't

alcoholics lying in the gutter.

I guess the illegality of it means us normal users don't 'come out' - but we are out there, and there's a great

number of us!

[punch*drunk]

I would like to see a study done on domestic violence and regular dope use, I think it would be an eye opener for many people.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Who do you think would incriminate themselves to take part in said survey???.......

If illicit drugs were decriminalized then I think there would be many surveys and many open eyes

Some eyes that would be shut however would be those that at night that live in suburbs that continually experience

driveby shootings who now lay awake in fear

I really don't understand the way that some would prefer to look at what they see in their little picture rather than assessing

problems as a whole

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

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@punch*drunk wrote:

I would like to see a study done on domestic violence and regular dope use, I think it would be an eye opener for many people.

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So would I.....

There seems to be a lot however, on violence and alcohol which is currently prolific in Australia.

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

Keep in mind punchdrunk, that pot has a sedative effect, unlike alcohol, cocaine and other stimulants.

[polksaladallie]

It is a myth that a sweet gentle husband turns into a violent abuser of his wife because he has a few (or many) alcoholic drinks. 

The violence is there all the time, waiting for a trigger.

The violence inflicted by a sober husband can be far greater and more prolonged then when he is drunk.

I'm sure that many wives wished that their husbands had chosen the happy drug.

[icyfroth]

It's a sedative alright.

To the point where the habitual smoker loses all drive, ambition and sense of responsibility and becomes a paranoid schizophrenic instead.