I'll start this week's

[rapparee]

Alcohol and tobacco are legal. Do you believe those substances are not harmful?
Possession of solvent based glue and paint is not a criminal offence. Do you believe those substances are not harmful?

Glue and paint have legitimate uses, what good are a few lines

 

[rapparee]

So are you saying we need a nanny state to look after us all?

Yes a state has a duty to look after it's citizens even if the problem is the citizens themselves

 

[Adam W]

That pretty much goes with the whole european dignity and control, to legalise drugs to the irish would be a free for all, and the brits are cut from the same cloth when it comes to self control

Exactly, that's why the 24 hour drinking laws haven't worked - we have more of a Scandinavian drinking culture than a European one - at the weekend people go out to get pished, not to have a couple of glasses of wine after their paella.

 

[ferg]

I disagree with legalising all drugs on date X.

Legalising one or two and then using the taxation from them to tackle the social problems which cause the need for people to seek oblivion.

Then a rolling program of the same for all the others.

That way when a new rather nasty legal or illegal drug comes on the market there are safer alternatives.

We will have invested the astronomical amounts of money saved from the war on drugs on solving some of the social problems we have in this country.

If Drugs are illegal and a non criminal person takes drugs and gets caught they are now a criminal.
So someone with a previously unblemished record harmed nobody else and is now a criminal unable to find work in certain fields.

Putting people in prison for hard drug use destroys their lives even further and only promotes further hard drug use.

If my missus was walking home at night I'd far rather she bumped into 6 guys giggling and on the way to the shop for munchies than 6 guys ****ed up.

 

[rapparee]

I disagree with legalising all drugs on date X.

Legalising one or two and then using the taxation from them to tackle the social problems which cause the need for people to seek oblivion.

Then a rolling program of the same for all the others.

That way when a new rather nasty legal or illegal drug comes on the market there are safer alternatives.

We will have invested the astronomical amounts of money saved from the war on drugs on solving some of the social problems we have in this country.

If Drugs are illegal and a non criminal person takes drugs and gets caught they are now a criminal.
So someone with a previously unblemished record harmed nobody else and is now a criminal unable to find work in certain fields.

Putting people in prison for hard drug use destroys their lives even further and only promotes further hard drug use.

If my missus was walking home at night I'd far rather she bumped into 6 guys giggling and on the way to the shop for munchies than 6 guys ****ed up.

What about coked up

 

[shanky887614]

I disagree with legalising all drugs on date X.

Legalising one or two and then using the taxation from them to tackle the social problems which cause the need for people to seek oblivion.

Then a rolling program of the same for all the others.

That way when a new rather nasty legal or illegal drug comes on the market there are safer alternatives.

We will have invested the astronomical amounts of money saved from the war on drugs on solving some of the social problems we have in this country.

If Drugs are illegal and a non criminal person takes drugs and gets caught they are now a criminal.
So someone with a previously unblemished record harmed nobody else and is now a criminal unable to find work in certain fields.

Putting people in prison for hard drug use destroys their lives even further and only promotes further hard drug use.

If my missus was walking home at night I'd far rather she bumped into 6 guys giggling and on the way to the shop for munchies than 6 guys ****ed up.

thats the point though isnt it, there are certain class c drugs which are not that bad.

look at america with canabis people are not dropping dead from it.

infact it would do a lot of people some good to destress occasionally after work

 

[trev]

Glue and paint have legitimate uses, what good are a few lines

I agree, I don't see the point of a line of coke. Round our way it's £50 a gramme, a guy can make a shed load of money flogging it in the town centre of a weekend. If it were available in the same way as alcohol is and there was revenue going into the public purse from it is that not a good thing?
The people buying it have no idea what it's mixed with and that can cause all sorts of problems for the NHS to pick up. If it's cut with Harpic it can be very dangerous, if it's cut with glucose it's less so.
Glue and paint have legitimate uses, yes. So do lots of currently illegal drugs, marijuana has been proven to be beneficial to people suffering from MS but it's illegal, it cannot even be prescribed by a doctor.

 

[ferg]

What about coked up

I'd be ok with it in moderation and not mixed with alcohol TBH

 

[Adam W]

I'd be ok with it in moderation and not mixed with alcohol TBH

How would you moderate/police that?

 

[trev]

Here's a scenario for you all.
A 17 year old is caught with a bit of cannabis resin in his pocket and gets a criminal record for it. She lives a completely blameless life for the next 25 years and becomes a totally different person from the one she was at 17.
At 42 years old she applies for a job and it crawls out of the woodwork and prevents her getting it. A job that she has been working towards for a few years and is amply qualified to do to a high standard.
Is that justice?

 

[ferg]

How would you moderate/police that?

That was in reference to a particular scenario.

 

[ferg]

Here's a scenario for you all.
A 17 year old is caught with a bit of cannabis resin in his pocket and gets a criminal record for it. She lives a completely blameless life for the next 25 years and becomes a totally different person from the one she was at 17.
At 42 years old she applies for a job and it crawls out of the woodwork and prevents her getting it. A job that she has been working towards for a few years and is amply qualified to do to a high standard.
Is that justice?

I think it's appalling and TBF said record would indicate the charge in England.

In Scotland it would just be listed as a drugs charge.

 

[trev]

I think it's appalling and TBF said record would indicate the charge in England.

In Scotland it would just be listed as a drugs charge.

And in both places a stupid mistake made at 17 could preclude her from working at a job at 42 when she's a totally different person.

 

[dingledong]

She/he would be under 18 so any conviction would not be shown in any record that any one can see
But I went to court once and a man was a bus conductor who had let his ma t e travel free and got caught . If you looked at his criminal record it would show employed embezzlement with no amount. The actual amount was 20p

 

[ferg]

If I had been caught doing what I did at that age and for a while afterwards I would not have had the opportunity to change lives in the social care sector.

I'm not suggesting I was some kind of super carer, but I did make a small difference to some peoples lives.

Some of the best social carers I know are great at their jobs and had their pasts been a matter of record they would be stacking shelves in the supermarket.

Which actually begs the question......

Given that use of recreational drugs is so widespread and has been since their discovery why do we continue to punish the few that are caught??