Drug law reform

Senior MPs say Britain is losing its war on drugs and needs to consider legalisation, according to news reports.
Members of the powerful Home Affairs Committee are set to tell Prime Minister David Cameron that the current approach has failed and new strategies are required.
Pressure on the PM is expected to include the setting up of a Royal Commission into redrafting of drug laws.

http://news.sky.com/story/1022930/mp...form-drug-laws


What reforms should there be ?
Is this being considered because it's costing far more to police the laws with little result ? and if so should some drugs be legalized and taxed the hell out of to raise money

[Gary L]

I can imagine people on welfare will be offered legalised drugs from a kiosk in every jobcentre. payments spread over so many weeks.
they'll probably mix some dosile ingredients in to keep them chilled out and not have a tendancy to annoy the public just because they're bored and depressed.

perfect timing really.

Banning things doesn't stop them happening.Make things illegal doesn't stop people breaking the law.

I do consider the banning of recreational drugs and the war on drug dealers does come under the terms of diminishing returns as even maintaining a status quo costs society so much in increased financial costs and increasing crime connected with drug use.It's a situation we can never solve.

Pragmatism dictates that if you can't win a war then you sue for peace..and you seek to make sure that the casualties are as few as possible and that the wounded get the help and treatment they need.

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Banning things doesn't stop them happening.Make things illegal doesn't stop people breaking the law.

I do consider the banning of recreational drugs and the war on drug dealers does come under the terms of diminishing returns as even maintaining a status quo costs society so much in increased financial costs and increasing crime connected with drug use.It's a situation we can never solve.

Pragmatism dictates that if you can't win a war then you sue for peace..and you seek to make sure that the casualties are as few as possible and that the wounded get the help and treatment they need.

As much as i hate and detest drug use (personal experience) i actually agree with you Maggie ,maybe the time has come to not so much give up as be pragmatic and accept that we aren't going to stop it and actually a large proportion of society want it

[thenry]

Originally Posted by Gary L

I can imagine people on welfare will be offered legalised drugs from a kiosk in every jobcentre. payments spread over so many weeks.
they'll probably mix some dosile ingredients in to keep them chilled out and not have a tendancy to annoy the public just because they're bored and depressed.

perfect timing really.

star jumps.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by thenry

star jumps.

Not very street, me.

star jumps?

[thenry]

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/22...t-concern.html

Can we please stick to the topic?

[Pierre]

It's a difficult line to walk. The bottom line is... What is acceptable to you... Therefore, what it acceptable to society?

A blanket ban or blanket acceptance can be equally damaging.

I've taken a whole smorgasbord of narcotics over my formative years, but I consciously stopped short at the like of heroin or crack etc.

For me, I think the drug laws in this country are about right.

[Will21st]

Originally Posted by Pierre

It's a difficult line to walk. The bottom line is... What is acceptable to you... Therefore, what it acceptable to society?

A blanket ban or blanket acceptance can be equally damaging.

I've taken a whole smorgasbord of narcotics over my formative years, but I consciously stopped short at the like of heroin or crack etc.

For me, I think the drug laws in this country are about right.

Regulation doesn't mean blanket acceptance.Tobacco is legal yet there's very little acceptance for smoking.

Personally I see the establishment of a Royal Commission as a good first step.

[Qtx]

So far the war on drugs has achieved what exactly? The drugs are still available and more people are in prison. The policies of the last 30 years obviously have not worked so why continue down the same road?

Previous drug advisor's to the government suggested that they should be legalised and the result was he was fired. Didn't fit in with the PM's own beliefs and what they think will get them votes so ignored the advice. Don't see that senior MP's saying the same thing will make any difference.

Keep the ban on hardcore drugs that consume the person taking them with addiction and leading them to affect others by stealing to fund their habit. Legalise the recreational drugs that many take in their free time while holding down a full time job.

A friend of mine has always worked but once or twice a month goes clubbing and consumes some E. Came out of a club a few months back and police were searching random people who had left there. He got searched and they found a pill on him. He had a choice of getting a generic sounding "possession of drugs caution" or go on a drug awareness course. He took the course just to not get the caution even though he has done drugs for years and the course is pointless. The problem is if he gets caught again he will get a criminal record and will lose his job. Absolutely nothing else would be achieved apart from giving someone a criminal record and making them jobless. No reduction in crime or antisocial behaviour. The clubs he goes to never has any trouble as they are not the drinking type places.

To top all that off, the copper told him that they knew there was never any trouble at the place he left, its just that they needed to top up their arrest stats for the month.

Legalise and tax weed and E's for over 18's or 21's. Keep crack and heroin type drugs banned. Personally I would add cocaine to the banned list too but I can see that would be more open to debate than the others.

[Zee]

There are some drugs which are far less harmful then alcohol and tobacco yet they are class A drugs for example ecstasy, lsd, and class B cannabis. These drugs should be legalised just like alcohol but need to be monitored. On the other hand there are others which should remain illegal such as cocaine, heroine, meth and others, and time and money need to stay in place to crack down on those certain substances.

Some of these drugs, i know MDMA (ecstasy) has many benefits for example treatment for depression, chronic, treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder, it can treat stress and also some types of cancers, leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma and other blood cancers.

These types of drugs, if not made legal should at least be given licences to be studied for possible health benefits to treat certain types of diseases

I know they're are some discussions about this in the US as well. They've had the infamous 'war on drugs' which people are increasingly accepting has been a disaster of a policy. Greatly increased prison rates for relatively minor offences because they're drug related, mandatory minimums which also increased rates but primary in poorer ethnic communities, and all at a massive expense.

It's achieved nothing other than being an expensive way to ruin lives - quite like the drugs themselves.

I am not sure if the same lessons apply here though. We've been a bit more pragmatic than that. Legalising it would send a message that these substances are ok which wouldn't help but maybe we need to quietly tone down the effort spent on minor drug taking for personal use.

[Osem]

Sadly there is no answer to this problem. Whatever we do we face serious consequences. The current situation is far from perfect but then the alternatives aren't either and once the genie is out of the bottle it's damned hard to put back in.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Damien

I know they're are some discussions about this in the US as well. They've had the infamous 'war on drugs' which people are increasingly accepting has been a disaster of a policy. Greatly increased prison rates for relatively minor offences because they're drug related, mandatory minimums which also increased rates but primary in poorer ethnic communities, and all at a massive expense.

It's achieved nothing other than being an expensive way to ruin lives - quite like the drugs themselves.

I am not sure if the same lessons apply here though. We've been a bit more pragmatic than that. Legalising it would send a message that these substances are ok which wouldn't help but maybe we need to quietly tone down the effort spent on minor drug taking for personal use.

Two US states actually legalised the recreational use of cannabis last month - Washington and Colorado.

Of course, it still remains a federal crime, so the DEA and Justice Department could quite easily stomp all over people, despite it being legal under state law...