Lets discriminalise all drugs now.

[Hermann]

I'd say there's more likely a sudden drop in use.

That said, we'd have to do it properly. I know there's a market for illegal cannabis use in the USA because the medical stuff isn't very good.

Evidence from Colorado ten years after legalising it suggests that whilst use went up, behavioural and legal problems associated with it did not. Interestingly there are studies that show in areas of the US where cannabis is legal, opioid usage and deaths have dropped.

 

[Hermann]

It 100 percent is, I work in the drug and alcohol field and I do not know any user who did not start on cannabis. There are many, many people who only use cannabis but there are still plenty more people who go onto doing higher class drugs.

It starts by our mind being conditioned from schooling/education that drugs are bad, and as soon as we smoke cannabis and realize it's actually not that bad it then opens the fresh hold for the mind to want to explore other drugs.

No, that's not how facts works. The vast majority of cannabis users do not go on to harder drugs. Yes, many hard drug users previously used cannabis; in general they also smoked and drank, and generally there are socio-economic factors at play as well. At best you can say that for a certain specific subset it is a gateway, but correlation is not causation, and you can never prove that without the existence of cannabis they wouldn't have moved on to harder drugs regardless.

 

[Radio Free Skaro]

The worry is, it it might be just a gateway policy... one minute, you're dabbling in a little harmless decriminalisation... but before you know it, all your policymaking is evidence-based and geared towards the public good (shudder).

What is beyond argument is that pretending that a modern state, however authoritarian, can stamp out any or all forms of narcotic consumption is futile. It has failed. It is a dead policy. Law enforcers and public health professionals are shouting from the rooftops.

 

[Mr Jinx]

The worry is, it it might be just a gateway policy... one minute, you're dabbling in a little harmless decriminalisation... but before you know it, all your policymaking is evidence-based and geared towards the public good (shudder).

What is beyond argument is that pretending that a modern state, however authoritarian, can stamp out any or all forms of narcotic consumption is futile. It has failed. It is a dead policy. Law enforcers and public health professionals are shouting from the rooftops.

Indeed. I used to be all for de-criminalisation. But after I've seen how it has been happening in Canada recently, I'm now dead against it - even for cannabis.

 

[Radio Free Skaro]

Indeed. I used to be all for de-criminalisation. But after I've seen how it has been happening in Canada recently, I'm now dead against it - even for cannabis.

On a personal level, I agree Jinx I also don’t like the idea of legalising drugs as I have witnessed the misery it can bring to whole families.

But using my head instead of my heart, I appreciate the futility of criminalisation and how it takes thousands of usually young, and often people of colour, down the warren of a lifelong stigmatisation through unfair discrimination. So I agree with decriminalised drug use.

Take the criminals out of the equation and once those huge profits go, there will be no ‘county lines’. But the government MUST Use the vast taxes that it will inevitably bring it to support recidivism and better health outcomes for those users who suffer addiction.

Drugs harm people no question. But the war on drugs harms them more.

 

[Mr Jinx]

On a personal level, I agree Jinx I also don’t like the idea of legalising drugs as I have witnessed the misery it can bring to whole families.

But using my head instead of my heart, I appreciate the futility of criminalisation and how it takes thousands of usually young, and often people of colour, down the warren of a lifelong stigmatisation through unfair discrimination. So I agree with decriminalised drug use.

Take the criminals out of the equation and once those huge profits go, there will be no ‘county lines’. But the government MUST Use the vast taxes that it will inevitably bring it to support recidivism and better health outcomes for those users who suffer addiction.

Drugs harm people no question. But the war on drugs harms them more.

Seeing 15 year old nieces and nephews stumbling around the house bonged out of their tiny minds on super strength skunk is one thing. Seeing brother and sister in-law parents not batting an eyelid was completely another.

At that point, I was out. And this is a country where you'll still get arrested drinking wine at a picnic out in the open! Bonkers.

 

[Swanaldo]

At that point, I was out. And this is a country where you'll still get arrested drinking wine at a picnic out in the open! Bonkers.

Not sure I get where you're coming from here. Alcohol is much more harmful than marijuana, as many studies have shown.

 

[ramone]

Here ya go
Enough fentanyl to kill every single American seized in 2022 - BBC News

The second clip is similar to a longer one from iirc Alberta ?

 

[Mr Jinx]

Not sure I get where you're coming from here. Alcohol is much more harmful than marijuana, as many studies have shown.

And that is a well worn argument out there. They see alcohol as more of an evil than weed. I think the older generations think weed is of the variety they used to smoke back into the day i.e. a bit of red leb with mostly tobacco that used to make you dizzy and your lungs bleed. The skunk most ppl smoke out there today is a whole different kettle of fish.

I would counter that argument by asking which of alcohol or super strength skunk was more of a gateway to heroin/fentanyl?

 

[angelic upstart]

I would counter that argument by asking which of alcohol or super strength skunk was more of a gateway to heroin/fentanyl?

Alcohol and tabs are the acceptable gateway to cannabis.

We Brits love a binge. But with that, it makes it acceptable for children. So like all children they'll try some. Then they move on to the more funky stuff.