If you buy cannabis you are an accessory to the modern-day slave trade that caused the death of the 39 in the shipping container

[Parsimon]

I hate the fact that so many people in this country blissfully ignore the human misery behind the drugs they consume, whether it’s working class kids being stabbed because of their involvement with the gangs that supply cocaine to middle-class dinner parties or the “just a spliff” crowd who are fuelling modern slavery from predominantly Vietnamese trafficked immigrants, often children.

If you grow your own and trace to source everything else then you’re only harming yourself, but I expect that the vast majority of drugs users don’t actually do that.

Excellent article in the Guardian today about the children having to work to support UK cannabis consumption.

amp.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/25/trafficked-enslaved-teenagers-tending-uk-cannabis-farms-vietnamese/

Decriminalisation really does help. Calling on consumers to boycott weed (and calling them supporters of slavery) doesn't really help much at all.

Vulnerable children and adults are trapped by organised criminal gangs into county lines operations throughout the UK - including white British children and adults. Modern day slavery is not just an issue affecting immigrants.

DaveMyHat how would legalising/decriminalising weed have harmed your brother? (Genuine question).

I don’t think decriminalisation on its own is the answer - we need proper treatment for addicts, and more to deter people from being drawn into it. In the UK it didn’t take that many years for drink driving to become socially unacceptable, and although it took longer, use of car seatbelts is now second nature. I can’t understand how people aren’t utterly disgusted by the supply chain for their drugs . I think some may not be aware, but if you’re an adult with a reasonable awareness of the wider world then how can you not know?

Anything which has a high turnover of actual cash can be used as a vehicle to launder drug money. Car washes, nail bars, mobile, fast food outlets and corner shops. This is what I am told by the people I work with (in jail). They are generally very vulnerable young men who have been picked up as kids. The aim for the smarter ones is to make enough money to become legit. The others are just happy to make some money. Many of them left school in early teens, there is a high incidence of SEN (particularly adhd) and they have been told they're bad for the whole of their lives. They have no hope of ever making decent money legally because they have never had access to tools which would facilitate that yet their role models in society are all about flaunting excessive wealth. They are absolutely exploited by adults. Many of whom probably started off like them.

@Parsimon

Agree

There is proper treatment for users, if you want treatment then you can get it fairly quickly. People have to want to change though thats the issue. Lots of people don't even see it as a problem and dont want to do anything about it.

@Hoolajerry

So, a starting point would be to undo some of that damage to their self-esteem? Like a legitimate job that gave them a sense of achievement and contribution and paid them.

I think helping people to 'hold on' when times are hard is key. Stops them sliding backwards/downwards. Those children ideally would be getting key employment and self sufficiency skills but isn't teh problem that they have become a source of income for adults who also need to make money. Perhaps we should look at them, too.

A lot of market stalls are also used to launder drug money.

DaveMyHat how would legalising/decriminalising weed have harmed your brother? (Genuine question).

I don't want to speak for Dave but I suspect the answer would be, 'it made it easier to access'. But I don't think that's a strong argument. Cannabis is readily available anyway; were it legalised, there would be more consistency of supply; and there would be less stigma attached to seeking treatment if someone's use became a problem.

Agree with OP.
The men are brought across as Farmers for the cannabis farms.
The women for sex trade, house slaves, and nail bars.
If you have nail bars in town you can guarantee there are farms nearby. Used to launder money and send back home.

I used to agree with legalising cannabis when people used to smoke resin, but the strains of plant now are so strong and have been linked to psychosis in young men in particular

drug users perpetuate the drug trade at all levels.

People i know who take drugs often like to think they are very 'woke'. These are people who are vegans, out spoken feminists etc. But actually you tell them smoking weed supports human trafficking and they won't stop smoking weed. Or snorting cocaine.

And that's what makes me question legalizing it. Because even people who are strict vegans, heavily controlled diet because of animal cruelty are so obsessed by illegal drugs that they won't stop to prevent human cruelty.

I'm not sure it would prevent the illegal trade because legally it would be more expensive, and I think people would want to get it cheaper. In the same way that legalizing prostitution hasn't stopped sex trafficking in Amsterdam. Legalizing it might just create more addicts who will then look at ways of accessing the drugs cheaper.

@Parsimon you speak as if all people get their drugs from farms laboured on by Vietnamese workers. This is not the case, I think the vast majority are completely aware of where their drugs come from. I think you're a little niave. Many many people grow it and so know someone personally and are indeed of where their supply is from. In fact I think many people probably grow it for themselves.

Should say are indeed aware of where their supply comes from!

@Parsimon

Do you know that the cobalt used in the lithium battery of your computer or phone is predominantly mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Are you aware that the cobalt is mined by children who can be as young as 6 years old. These children inhale lethal mineral dust every time they take a breath. The local water table is contaminated with industrial run-off. Many international agencies cite significant human rights abuses associated with this cobalt mining.

Are you willing to give up technology which utilises lithium batteries?

Unfortunately the war on drugs is just costing lives and spreading misery. Ending prohibition and decriminalisation of drugs for small quantities for personal use like in Portugal would be a common sense approach. Unfortunately no politician is brave enough to.

YANBU. While all choices have consequences (and the post above is one reason why solar panels are not harmlessly green), drug taking is illegal in the UK. ALL drug takers fuel not just the horrors in the news this weekend, but knife crime, county lines and cuckooing. If you smoke, sniff or inject, you pay criminals.

I raised this on the teenagers board but the bar is pretty low and it seems a kid who 'only' uses drugs isn't that bad there. Generally most on MN don't care about the poor kids who get knifed, the mentally ill who get cuckooed (=robbed, beaten up) or the crime in bits of London they don't go to. They are a bit bothered when some blonde model-type picks the wrong dealer at a festival and dies, but only briefly.

own your choices. Perhaps the stuff should be legalised - users would still be pointless stoned saddos but at least they would only hurt themselves and it could be taxed.

users would still be pointless stoned saddos

Ever been drunk, mencken?

There is proper treatment for users, if you want treatment then you can get it fairly quickly.

Where is this then? because I work with drug and alcohol dependent people and I can assure you that it is not quick or easy to get help where we are - and that's in a large affluent city.

There are loads of Asian nail bars where I live. I used to go to one before I learned how to do my own nails.
What are we saying then? Are the staff criminals or victims? Or both? I think the money laundering thing was an urban myth. How does it tie in with drugs then?

Where we are there are probably 6 barbers shops within a relatively small area and I suspect at least 2 of them to be a front for something else. There are a few nail bars and lots of fancy and expensive (I’m convinced those are legit) hairdresser and beauty salons. It is a very affluent area, not many shops to speak of other than independent expensive clothes or homeware boutiques, deli shops, restaurants.
Two of the nail bars I am sure are also a front for some dodgy dealings. There’s also a ‘posh’ and rather pricey bar/restaurant/club establishment where you can find prostitutes. Nobody believes me and people ignore such going ons they don’t even notice. It goes on everywhere.

Anything which has a high turnover of actual cash can be used as a vehicle to launder drug money. Car washes, nail bars, mobile, fast food outlets and corner shops. This is what I am told by the people I work with (in jail).

And this has always been the case, even before drugs were "popular" and can be used for any amounts of cash with somewhat dubious origins. In the past it was often Barber Shops or Hair-dressers, or Florists. It's quite easy to set someone up in a little hair-dressing shop, and then a bit of creative accountancy, and instead of the actual amount of haircuts each week you can put any amount down, put it through the books and it's now legitimate. Launderettes were actually popular at one time for this (ironic), and I remember once in the 1990's counting the number of machines in the launderette, and working out that even if they had been used at 100 percent efficiency they would still not make that much money, but the man who owned it drove a Rolls Royce.

Buster Edwards (one of the Great Train Robbers) owned a Nightclub and a Florists.

@mencken

Homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967.

It was only those far-sighted individuals who pushed up against that law and even broke that law that eventually saw the law change.

If everyone just does what the current law says with no actual critical thought as to whether it is a just law then no progress is ever made.

Parsimon some users DO care where their supply comes from.
Amongst the five or six regular users I know (and know their habits) four of them are competing to grow, almost artisan, strains to combat specific medical needs.
The arthritis one is in constant demand.

Look at cigarettes.
No one is howling about nicotine replacement because it is infinitely better than fags.
Stop the reefer madness stuff, legalise and legislate it's use so we can make a dent in the traffickers pockets.