Hi Chris, Whilst I really do sympathise with your position, I'm afraid to say that you are utterly wrong.
Maggie talks bollox about experience but he's right about the price coming down and he's right about the effect on crime. Any commodity that doesn't exist in a free market has an automatic premium added into its price. In the case of "illegal" commodities that premium is proportional to the extent of repression. I'm sure that there are listers who can guess at the price of a bottle of Scotch in Saudi, in the Gulf States and I can tell you here in France it's from 11€ a litre. Take away the restrictions and the premium evaporates. After all, the street price of a drug (legal or illegal) bears almost no relationship to the cost of production (a beer anyone?). Secondly on crime. Yes there's a risk of more addicts and yes, today, most addicts that come to the attention of the legal establishment come from certain socio-economic classes (shall we say the "underclasses"?). However. "middle-class" and rich drug users rarely (compared to the number of those who indulge) come up before the beak. I suspect that this tells us it's more a crime to be poor than it is to take drugs. Furthermore - it is a huge step for a law-abiding person, a member of the mainstream, to go out and rob somebody just because he needs the money. Someone who already feels criminalised doesn't have such a big step to take. Addiction might increase the motivation but criminality lowers the bar to cross by a long long way. Others have made the point about hypocrisy (alcohol, tobacco etc) without asking why, as a society against drugs(!) We allow major multi-national firms to trademark terms that refer exclusively to drugs and drug taking. What's that all about? Cheers, Damian On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 2:03 PM, Chris Briggs <[email protected]> wrote: > Nigel, > > There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that legalising dugs would > decimate the criminal justice system. Legalising the drugs would just open > it up to more folk. More people would then become addicted. > The cost of drugs are likely to be more once licensing / production / > taxation are added and lets be realistic UK.Gov are really, really unlikely > to sell this stuff off cheaply and if you think otherwise you must be mad. > Assuming that this scenario happens, the average addict then needs to find > more cash to pay for his wrap. > By and large the vast majority of addicts exist on the benefit system, > experience has shown me most fines handed out are met with a deduction from > benefits order, which then means to the humble taxpayer that Mr (or Mrs) > Criminal Drug Addict now has to pay a fine (deducted at source by DWP) at a > measly 5 quid a week (including a compensation order, does that seem fair to > a pensioner that has been punched to the ground for her pension so that an > addict can get high?). These are normally added onto existing fines. Most > addicts that pass through the CJS go on to some sort of rehab. However, this > only works if someone wants to kick the habit and invariably they don't. > There is a wealth of information on the net that shows that long term use > of an addictive drug (illegal or prescription) fucks up your life, people > lose jobs, houses families, etc and end up in the gutter on job seekers > allowance. > And now the really key bit. If addicts can't legimately get hold of the > cash for the next fix then they turn to criminal activity to generate the > cash REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE DRUGS ARE LEGAL OR ILLEGAL . Which is back to > the point I made yesterday or sunday. > > Now back up your argument with your personal experiences of the system in > order to show the world why you think that the CJS system would be > decimated. > > As you pointed out yourself experience is key. > > BTW - Just for the record I think that the lengthening of the sentence does > sound harsh and I have sympathy for the family concerned. I do not know how > their justice system works and therefore can't comment on it. > > > = _______________________________________________ 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
