Green Party wanting to legalise drugs.

[YorkieTheRabbit]

Maybe I’m not thinking this through correctly, so could anyone explain to me how legalising heroin would work.

It’s highly addictive, causes physical dependency and can damage to the body.

Then, who is supposed to be paying for the supply? Would it be taxpayers basically paying for people to become addicted then paying to treat the addiction?
I know that people will take drugs regardless but I just can’t get my head around this.
Surely the Greens don’t think that drug dealers will just shrug their shoulders and go and get a proper job 🤷‍♀️

Will they be delivered by deliveroo, along with a KFC?
Or will people be able to buy drugs from dodgy Dom down the road, who’ll pop round in five minutes with whatever you fancy,. Plus Dom will need to fill in a tax return. Or will people need to catch a bus to the nearest dispensary? The mind boggles

Are they planning on charging VAT the same as alcohol or will it be free on prescription?
Please excuse my rambling as I’m sleeping deprived but this really has me pondering.

Yes sorry - I didn't mean to imply that.

Just another horrible man trying to put the fear of god into a young, vulnerable, lone female by threatening sexual violence fur the fun of it.

Just when someone mentioning how Lisbon could be seedy it triggered memory. It was a wrong time, wrong place situation....

Actually a lot of port cities have their dark sides.

But it means that drug addicts and others come into the light and are visibly taking drugs anywhere they fancy. It makes the streets and other public places less pleasant and possibly unsafe for others. Again, I fear it would be like San Francisco. Completely ruined.

A friend who moved away from a formerly very nice part of SF said they had to go as they were fed up navigating round needles and other detritus in streets - they were worried about their young children.

shit, well I’m sure last nights result was just a crazy blip, but communist rule shouldn’t ever be allowed a sniff in civilised politics.

I really hope people start taking a very serious look at the Greens and what they actually stand for now. Worrying indeed.

Zack Polanski is a not very bright not very grown up useless male, the Greens are a cult who worship such men. Their brains are addled by all the weed and porn. Typical of Manchester to think they are a good idea for 5 minutes, they will soon find out how badly things will go.

Looks like they are, and like what they see.

@SerendipityJane and isn’t it scary.

Prostitution and porn already are legal.

It was the families who have had loved ones die of overdoses that wanted drugs legalised.
The goverment would sell it and basically keep the drugs safe from being mixed with things like phet etc. it wouldn’t be free drugs for all.
Its also so drug addicts can get help getting clean without fear of being put in prison or having social services take their children.

Maybe look it up.

What does, "typical of Manchester" mean?

I am too old to be scared. Trying things my generations way failed miserably - we are in no position to lecture the younger generations. Who should rightfully detest us.

I have looked it up. That’s not what they want. Drugs apparently promote creativity. Their policy is not about saving people from addiction, but about safe recreational use of hard drugs - the government would buy safe supplies directly from cartels and sell it at set prices.

It is completely mind boggling. A policy that could only be thought up by someone as high as a kite.

At the moment drug possession, sale etc is illegal so happens underground. This means no control of standards of production, leading to bad batches. Worse it means that the business is run by criminals so we have all the misery that brings with county lines, drug mules etc. It also means that it isn’t taxed so the government does not make a financial gain. It does however have to police it so huge costs in terms of police, customs, prison ….
We have had 60 years of illegal drugs with the situation getting steadily worse. Maybe it is time to take a different approach.

We have had 60 years of illegal drugs with the situation getting steadily worse. Maybe it is time to take a different approach.

Quitter. No wonder the UK is the laughing stock of the world.

Singapore just executes drug smugglers

Sick of hearing on here about 'druggies' on here as if they are not people. That 'druggie' soaking wet in some shop doorway is somebody's child. Have some empathy if not for that person then.the families ripped apart by the scourge of drugs. The current drug laws are not working. We need to do better.

Just don't take drugs. Like if someone is addicted to them isn't it their fault for taking it in the first place? (Unless it's a fetus being addicted due to the mother's use)

If regulated correctly, it's a fantastic idea. Cleaner drugs available for those that use them, less stigma and shame, additional tax revenue, not to mention a reduction in crime (so police resources can be better spent elsewhere).

How is making it legal going to get rid of dealers? If the government sell at a set rate, which will need to include vat, dealers will sell it cheaper. Not a chance in hell will criminals walk away from something so lucrative

It's not legalisation, it's decriminalisation.

It has been extremely successful in Portugal.

There are few different interpretations of this policy floatting around. But cleaner drugs plus more tax revenue implies that your understanding of this policy is that drugs will be legal and available to buy for all, similar to alcohol.

But I dont think that works because a better quality, more tightly regulated and taxed product will be far more expensive than what is there currently. People already commit crime to fund addictions, so that would only increase as access to drugs widens, and greater numbers of people would be blowing their income on some the most addictive substances ever created. And the illegal trade will go on as now for people unwilling to pay for the legal version.

The lack of a black market in milk runs counter to your logic. And more people want milk than drugs (except alcohol).

A lot of very rich criminals have invested an awful lot of money over decades to ensure their businesses remain lucrative by drugs being illegal. And even then they have had to force successive governments to abandon the 1971 MDA aas it was working too well.

From personal experience, the biggest draw around drugs is the illegality. It's why the cool kids tried it at school.

And it's interesting that one of the arguments for extending drinking hours making alcohol more available was that it would reduce consumption - which it has done.

What statistics (that can be trusted) are available from the US to compare state where cannabis (which let us remember is just one of the substances in discussion) is legal compared to states where it isn't ?

@SerendipityJane milk no, however there is a huge black market for alcohol and cigarettes
Milk is pretty cheap so not financially viable but meat etc is.