Been out of the office for a few days, as I had to go to a funeral.
My 2 pence worth!!
The strongest argument in favour of a more liberal approach to this whole
issue is the fact that criminalisation and illegalisation hasn't worked!!
The international black market in drug trafficking is worth a MASSIVE amount
of money. There is so much money at stake that governments are completely
unable to match the investment that drug traffickers can put into their
smuggling operations.
It's not that the governments of the world are losing this battle, the
battle has already been lost.
Now, take a leap for a second a say, Ok, criminalizing this hasn't worked.
People are still going to buy and sell drugs. There is a demand, and supply.
So regulate it. Control it by legalisation, take back some of that black
market economy that is disappearing at the moment. The tax collected could
be put back into the problem, for treatment and education. The crime
associated with drugs, petty theft and burglary largely (property crimes),
could be cut down. The police could target their resources on preventing
more serious crime.
I know this is an unpopular position, and I know that the chances of this
ever happening are so slim as to be inconceivable, but I do feel that in the
UK certainly, there may be a slight change in the way of thinking around
this issue. Police in certain parts of central London are no longer
arresting for possession of cannabis. This is an unofficial stance that many
police in metropolitan areas have adopted.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Smyth [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 03 August 2001 08:53
To: CF-Community
Subject: RE: Leeegalisssee ittt!
Really I think governments should take a more liberal approach with this.
Alchohol is one of the most toxic drugs on the planet, and nicotine is more
pysically addictive than heroin.
People should have the choice to do what they want, if it dosn't harm anyone
else.
-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Putterill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 02 August 2001 18:25
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re: Leeegalisssee ittt!
Did you know a major part of Jimmy Carters presidential campaign concerned
legalising grass? Strange but true...
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Allred" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Community" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 1:38 PM
Subject: Re: Leeegalisssee ittt!
> My experience with friends was that those who really "got into" it
> tended to do less well and had more problems along the way those who
> avoided it.
>
> However, I'm appalled that we can't see the parallels with America's
> attempt to outlaw alcohol, which produced a firmly entrenched criminal
> element that our nation had never seen before and that has not
> disappeared, even since legalization of alcohol.
>
> However one might feel about marijuana use, you would have to be blind
> not to see the myriad problems associated with our so-called war on
> drugs. I'll avoid a tirade by simply characterizing it as a farce.
>
> Sadly, we've been discussing this issue for more than 30 years. It's
> understandable that the WWII generation might have been willing to
> criminalize marijuana (believe it or not, it didn't used to be illegal),
> but their children's generation is now in power, and still it remains
> illegal.
>
> --John
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at
http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm
Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/
Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
