I chose this email to reply to all with as its got some good points, and one point is kinda absolutely wrong IMO.
> 1) Money would go into the govt coffers and more than pay for the treatment > of misusers/management of licensing or whatever. yes, true. hopefully the money made out of drugs would be used for useful purposes. IE not treatment for people who shoot themselves in the foot by taking drugs in the first place. Or is someone going to tell me that some of the hard drugs are healthy? Im partially for legalizing it but I dont want those that abuse it use my tax money for rehab. In fact I suggest: more drugs, more potent drugs at your own risk and peril. also financially. > 2) Money would stop going into the pockets of criminal gangs. yes. and these gangs would stop abusing local population as labour etc. a massive win there. I also suggest that by legalizing you could enable peasants in 3rd world countries to grow the same crops but with better working conditions. > 3) A big risk in buying recreational drugs like cocaine is not knowing what > else they are cut with which causes more health issues than the drug itself, > legalising them would negate these dangers and save lives. I see you use the term "recreational drug". nice marketing touch there. maybe thats what it is for some that want their "innocent weekend fun". but all the deaths and abuses that have taken place BEFORE the drug got to the end user should be taken into consideration. ie child labour. > 4) Once it is "over the counter" the government can see the extent of any > issues and misuse and be able to properly deal with any. again, I agree. > 5) They will be cheaper and petty crime to fund buying drugs would probably > be reduced as a result. not sure how much cheaper they would get.. petrol aint cheap as it should be and prices are in some countries 70% govt. tax. > What are the downsides of legalising drugs (aside from the practicalities of > unilaterally legalising them)? not sure, I agree. > For me, the money going to the government and not to criminals outweighs the > potential extra problems - that money can be spent on drug education and > treatment programs. agree on education not on treatment programs. People that believe they can handle a drug better than what science dictates should have to take the consequences on their own: there is personal responsibility in doing drugs. Just like there is personal responsibility in going to a very strict country to smuggle drugs, no matter how little and how innocent the drug is. If a govt. want to have treatment programs for drugs addicts then fine, let there be a tax big enough to allow for this when sold over the counter. but dont tax me for it. in fact I d like to get a new form of income tax regime where lifestyle was taken into account. I dont smoke, dont drink, I do sports: I want to pay less tax than a drug addict. fair? > Cocaine in itself is less harmful as a drug than either nicotine or alcohol, This is absolutely bollocks. Well unless the leaves are chewed, as it was originally consumed. It was never meant to be taking through the vagina either, but every year there woman that die of vaginal cocaine overdoses. Dont believe me? Look it up. Cocaine is the one and only drug that super seeds the urge to eat. also every time you take a unit, say you ll reach a "pleasure level" of a 100. At the same time 5% of the receptors in the brain are killed. so next time if you want to reach a 100 you ll have to increase dosage to do so. So thats not very good for your brain nor your wallet. cocaine can be very addictive, ask crack smokers. It also carries a "down cycle" which can be vicious and lead to other drug abuse. > to either the individual taking it, or others around them (passive smoking, > fighting etc), there is no logical reason it should be criminalised and > legalising it would save thousands of lives up and down the supply chain, > and most importantly (for me) allow grown ups to choose whether they want to > indulge or not and not be told what we can or cannot do by a nanny state. There might not be a logical reason for it. In fact the catholic church used to traffic in cocaine leaves many years back, and so did the spanish house of royalties for a while. However they stopped, I cant remember why. There was a very popular french wine "spiked" cocaine with it in the late 1800s, Sigmund Freud was a big fan of it and more or less killed his best mate by prescribing way too much to him for a tooth ache. So its been part of our "heritage" for quite a while, but its been deemed to dangerous. For reasons hard to fathom for some of you. But the fact remains every that through the years every civilisation has had its form of socially accepted drugs. As it happens ours are alcohol and fags. Well theres a new debate there, as smokers are being which hunted these days. As it happens cocaine, cannabis, heroin etc are not. thats life. Eric PS: someone mentioned there should be a 1930s US style ban, like the one they had on whiskey suggesting that would work. Thats how the mob and the JFKs got rich in the first place. Banning any product will only create black markets, I thought that was common knowledge. > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Briggs > Sent: 31 May 2010 19:12 > To: Nigel Barber > Cc: list leedslist; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [LU] Leeds fan in Phillipine Jail - Billy Burton - > helpandsupport the campaign > > What a waste of time and effort that response was and to be honest it marks > you down as a bit of a unintelligent wanker. > > Legalising the drugs would not stop the issues, it would not make them any > more affordable, it would not make them less addictive. Anyone that can't > really see this is obviously blinded by the light emitting from their own > arsehole. > > > > _______________________________________________ > the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators > accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. > Leedslist mailing list > [email protected] > http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > and the hardest time in a sailor's day is to watch the sun as it sails away > _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist and the hardest time in a sailor's day is to watch the sun as it sails away
