And The Nanny State Is Really Taking The P!ss

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emordnilap
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Joined: 05 Sep 2007, 16:36
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Post by emordnilap »

leroy wrote:emordilnap wrote:
You could be talking about drink there, you know...
Absolutely, but not most drinkers. Also, alcohol is a drug that is deeply embedded in European culture and cannot viably be prohibited for reason discussed previously. I can't see that this is really a justification for Spar to start selling crack rocks next to the Benson&Hedges.
No, I know. I see drugs on a scale from extremely soft to extremely hard and the 'slider' of legalisation has been moved to a point past tobacco and alcohol just before the next 'hardest' drug. But don't you think - and I don't want to use some of these drugs myself, mind you - that some illegal drugs are 'softer' than drink or tobacco? Cannabis, for instance, is regarded softer than alcohol. Surely on my scale this justifies it being legal?

When I talk about regulating drugs, it's just that I see this as anomaly and think there has to be a better way. More than that, I wonder if we could take away the seedy, violent side of drug use, put a lot of criminals out of work in one swoop, and put users under the spotlight.

My take, to be perfectly honest, is that I can't see the point of legalising some drugs and not others - but all need regulating in some way.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
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leroy
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Post by leroy »

I think some drugs are regarded by the authorities as much more dangerous than they are. Ecstacy, while it might fry the brain a bit, is not massively dangerous but received massive stigmatisation due to the death of Leah Betts on her 18th birthday. Her parents studied the drug and culture surrounding it, and came to the conclusion that testing machines should be put at raves as in Holland, but the media frenzy had faded by then, and I don't think there eventual conclusions made it into the Daily Mail.

Cannabis is a tricky one. Hydroponic skunk is not the same creature as the more moderate stuff found in Dutch coffee shops or in this country 15 years ago. Very strong, lots of people flipping out on it and ending up in psychiatric care. I know a really successful guy who spent a long time recovering from such an episode. I don't think that normal dope is even for sale in England anymore.
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