Things that make you go.......WTF?

[David]

[Tannin]

It is time for a new approach in respect o the war on drugs. .I have no idea what the solution is.

I fully agree.

We can start by reducing the attack window - i.e., by removing known low-harm drugs from the illicit drug stable. The obvious and by far the most important one is cannabis. That does little harm - vastly less than tobacco or alcohol even though it is used by millions of Australians - and any fool knows it is pretty much harmless. For millions of Australians there is no compelling reason not to use cannabis. For many, the only real and lasting effect of cannabis is that it demonstrates that our drug laws are hopelessly out-of-date and downright stupid. So far as it goes, that is fine. Alas, the next logical step is to say "OK, cannabis is clearly harmless and they lied to me about that, so it must be OK to use speed and scag and coke and all that other stuff too. Hey - they are just illegal drugs that I get from a guy I know, what's the difference?" You have already taken the step of going outside the law; you have already taken the step of ingesting something unknown on the assumption that it is probably what the dealer said it was; this last step - taking one of the dangerous illegal drugs - is a very small one.

In short, cut out the huge free advertisement and harmless sampler programme for illegal drugs that cannabis amounts to, and you have cut out half the problem,.

Alas, the other half of the problem remains, and here, like Member, I am not sure what can be done.

[Tannin]

I agree with Stui also. (We crossposted.) "Energy" drinks are downright evil things. We can copmp[letely ignore their gateway function and they still cause enormous harm - far more, I contend, than cannabis ever did. Nobody ever got bashed to death outside a nightclub 'coz some kid had a couple of joints and sat down to look at all the pretty flowers on the wallpaper. People get bashed and have their lives wrecked by hyperactive kids over-hyped on "energy" drinks every week.

[David]

It certainly sounds theoretically plausible, but do we actually have any stats suggesting that nightclub violence has gone up since energy drinks became popular? Certainly, the causal link with alcohol is well-established.

[stui magpie]

[Jezza]

The Addiction medicine worker just advised me of a press release that there has been a 318% increase in ICE or methamphetamine caused presentations to Emergency Departments from the year 2011- 2012 compared to 2010 to 2011.

That is certainly a disturbing statistic WPT. I am sure it is worse now. It is time for a new approach in respect o the war on drugs. .I have no idea what the solution is.

Pretty shocking.

I reckon it's time to legalize, decriminalize & control illicit drug use while at the same time to massively educate.

When I say making it legal I do not condone its use. However taking it out of policing & crime will immediately:

* reduce the prison population
* get the distributors out of it
* reduce its the "charm" because of it's illegality
& save gazillions of dollars on law enforcement, & the whole criminal justice system.

The monies then could be better directed at prevention, education, rehabilitation where there is chronic underfunding.

At the same time people drug &/or alcohol affected committing crimes should not be seen too a leniently

Once you've got the illegality out of it the criminal element is reduced.

It needs to be a combination of legality & decriminalization - where it is still seen to be socially unacceptable, frowned upon as it were, undesirable but not have legal consequences for using the damn staff (for basically all drugs).

We need to bear in mind (& I know this pisses off a few) that alcohol is the biggest cause of ED presentations by a long way including assaults, falls, accidents, car accidents, domestic violence & other violence: you name it. Then there are the medical consequences which cost the individual, their families & all of us a fortune let alone tying up police, ambulance, ED beds etc.

Find me a pollie who has the balls....

The green go some way down this track & for me this is a smart idea.

Needs to be all of Australia & New Zealand.

Completely agree WPT. The 'War on Drugs' policy has failed not only in Australia, but in the USA as well. It's time to find an alternative to this issue, and by legalising or decriminalising drugs this doesn't mean people are advocating for drug use so let's put that misconception to rest right now.

Did you know that drug use is lower in Portugal where drugs are legal as opposed to the USA. Here's an article discussing the effects that legalising drugs has made for Portugal and why other countries should go down a similar path in regards to this issue.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151635/te ... pened_next

[Nick - Pie Man]

Wayne Carey

That dude has massive hands.

[Nick - Pie Man]

He looks like he has giant cartoon hands, seriously. Very distracting!

[Member 7167]

That is certainly a disturbing statistic WPT. I am sure it is worse now. It is time for a new approach in respect o the war on drugs. .I have no idea what the solution is.

Pretty shocking.

I reckon it's time to legalize, decriminalize & control illicit drug use while at the same time to massively educate.

When I say making it legal I do not condone its use. However taking it out of policing & crime will immediately:

* reduce the prison population
* get the distributors out of it
* reduce its the "charm" because of it's illegality
& save gazillions of dollars on law enforcement, & the whole criminal justice system.

The monies then could be better directed at prevention, education, rehabilitation where there is chronic underfunding.

At the same time people drug &/or alcohol affected committing crimes should not be seen too a leniently

Once you've got the illegality out of it the criminal element is reduced.

It needs to be a combination of legality & decriminalization - where it is still seen to be socially unacceptable, frowned upon as it were, undesirable but not have legal consequences for using the damn staff (for basically all drugs).

We need to bear in mind (& I know this pisses off a few) that alcohol is the biggest cause of ED presentations by a long way including assaults, falls, accidents, car accidents, domestic violence & other violence: you name it. Then there are the medical consequences which cost the individual, their families & all of us a fortune let alone tying up police, ambulance, ED beds etc.

Find me a pollie who has the balls....

The green go some way down this track & for me this is a smart idea.

Needs to be all of Australia & New Zealand.

Completely agree WPT. The 'War on Drugs' policy has failed not only in Australia, but in the USA as well. It's time to find an alternative to this issue, and by legalising or decriminalising drugs this doesn't mean people are advocating for drug use so let's put that misconception to rest right now.

Did you know that drug use is lower in Portugal where drugs are legal as opposed to the USA. Here's an article discussing the effects that legalising drugs has made for Portugal and why other countries should go down a similar path in regards to this issue.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151635/te ... pened_next

This is an interesting article and a good outcome for Portugal. The results would seem to be viewed very differently by US authorities who, as usual, have their own agenda. I will research this further as it would be interesting to see how they micro manage this.

[Member 7167]

[think positive]

quick research, not a good result??

[Morrigu]

Consultant medicos.............................

Illustrating that you can be intelligent (or good at studying ) and a complete moron without an ounce of common sense at the same time!

[5150]

Wayne Carey

That dude has massive hands.

If you're going to slap a woman in the face, big hands get the job done without the need for the follow up back hander.

Also great for grabbing strange womans breasts in the street.

[HAL]

Thanks for your support. Your purpose is grabbing strange womans breasts in the street.

[Member 7167]

Wayne Carey

That dude has massive hands.

If you're going to slap a woman in the face, big hands get the job done without the need for the follow up back hander.

Also great for grabbing strange womans breasts in the street.