Anyone else absolutely shocked of three innocent people in Liverpool all drug related!!

[Toosadtocomprehend]

If anyone reading this that takes recreational drugs should be absolutely ashamed of the carnage that their habit is causing…an innocent 9 year old ,20 year old and 22 year old have lost their lives because of other people shitty pastimes …think think think before you snort or smoke that poison!!

I'm with you on this, @User135644 . But then I'm an old fart who remembers the days when most dealers were hippies just dealing to their mates, and organised gangs were nowhere near any of it.

It's a universal human trait to want to get "chemically altered"

No it's not. Where did you get that from? Probably just an excuse you're telling yourself to justify your addictions.

Well the have and very effectively. Drink
driving being the best example, but also as we saw during Covid, most people do comply when the greater good message is strong enough, even if only because of peer pressure.

Obviously there will be exceptions, but it can make huge overall reductions

Drunk driving went down when they started prosecuting it. They didn't do it in answer to everything else not working

Thinking the long words and 'theory' talk would make us go ooooooo, I think.

Rather than understanding that many women on MN know what of they speak.

And whoever asked me about prostitution, no, I don't support legalisation. I support decriminalisation of the sex workers and criminalisation of the punters and pimps. Actual pimps, not women sharing a house.

There's a really solid difference. And that is that the harm is not inherent at the point of the act with drugs. You can remove most of the harm to everyone else (and a great deal of the harm to the user) if you legalise all drugs. That is NOT the case with prostitution.

Is there any human culture that hasn't? I think it's an argument at least for believing prohibition cannot work.

It was the overall campaign. The fear of prosecution was certainly a part of it, but now, it's largely controlled by peer pressure. People will hold their friends to account now in a way that didn't happen before.

That is a thoroughly nasty thing to imply, that Olivia's family are involved in the drugs war. Shame on you.

Of course they do, don't be so naive.
They just don't care.

If it's not happening to them and they can't see they don't give a shit.

Legalisation and taxation of cannabis wouldn’t mean the problem of gangs and the violence that goes with them disappears overnight.

But it would raise a ton of revenue, in the US it’s in the billions already and that’s only partial legalisation. Those billions could then be reinvested into the deprived areas where drug crime is worst, into youth services and education, and into policing and customs enforcement too.

It would certainly take a lot of money away from criminal gangs.

@Ponoka7

What are matrix controls ,and what is Norris green

Instead of the mad notions of "decriminalisation" on this thread, I think punishments should be increased! Drug USE (not just sale or possession) should be punished. I grew up in a country where drug users faced lengthy prison sentences and hardly anyone used drugs. Higher punishments are the only way!

@EmeraldShamrock1

Those high Street are few and far between now! When I come across one it feels like Harry potter magical world,rather than just a good normal high street!

When would that have been. You must be very old, because criminal gangs have been involved in the supply of illegal drugs for centuries!!!

I do not take illegal drugs. I have never done so. But I do "take" legal drugs. The line between legal and illegal is not based on the degree of harm that the drugs do or the social or economic cost of my "habit". It is purely an arbitrary decision as to what is legal and what is not. Wherever a drug has been banned criminal gangs have followed to provide a supply - be that alcohol or cocaine. So I would legalise drugs, I would then be able to ascertain that the supplies are "clean", that taxes are gathered on their sale, and undercut the market for criminals that they currently exploit. Even the police and the Mothers Union have long argued that our current puritanical stance on certain drugs is neither working nor fit for purpose. It's about time we faced the reality that it is hypocritical to allow certain drugs and not others; and entirely unrealistic to think that banning any form of drug will prevent people from using it.

I am not arguing for legalisation because I take drugs or because I want others to. I am doing so based purely on logic and the greater good. Legalising drugs doesn't mean that we have to have easily accessible supplies or stop warning people about the risk of harm. But it does, in one fell swoop, take away the profitability for criminals.

What country is that?

Because Portugal found the opposite. Switzerland is managing heroin. And the very punitive American model results in prisons bursting with offenders.

@XelaM
Which country?

It is purely an arbitrary decision as to what is legal and what is not.

Well, mostly a purely racist decision.

Works well in China and Philippines.

In the same way amuptating your leg will cure your sprained ankle.

Well exactly @Miffee throw everyone's rights away you can make them do almost anything.

According to one of your previous posts, you grew up in Russia. I really don't think that a country notorious for jailing people for just thinking, never mind actually doing anything illegal, is a role model anyone would aspire to. I suspect most of the Ukraine would agree with me.

It also doesn't work - millions of people in Russia are addicted to drugs
www.dw.com/en/drug-addiction-in-russia-draconian-laws-instead-of-help/a-51193559
nida.nih.gov/international/abstracts/alcohol-illicit-drug-in-russia-current-situation-possible-solution
www.narconon.org/drug-information/russia-drug-addiction.html

That's made my day.

Try having dealers in your immediate family who never seem to get caught. It’s soul destroying when they swan about like they’re normal people with feelings and a conscience. Sickens me.

American have been trying that for decades. Their jails are full of people prisoned for taking drugs. Made fuck all difference.

Of you know this, aren't you part of "the community" that protects them by not speaking up?

I don't agree with legalising psychoactive drugs, there's a slew of evidence that in many people (especially teenagers) they can exacerbate mental health problems. Also, alcohol, cigarettes & fuel are all legal but all have black market availability through organised crime.

I agree with a pp that a percentage of people would steer clear with better support/education of the effect and consequence of drugs. I am stunned how open drug use is now and aware that weed was turned a blind eye to in prisons because it made most of it's users more manageable. (I think if a few young lads took a good look at what was left of that Range Rover on the Piccadilly line a couple of days ago they might not drive at stupid speeds - a few, not all. Young lads brains are wired for risk taking till their twenties). Peer pressure and social acceptability drove the tobacco and alcohol industry and both those are going through major adjustments thanks to better education and less acceptance of their health effects.

I agree that there needs to be more effective policing, greater numbers, and more community involvement. Many more people have lost trust in the police than when I was young.

I despise the 'I blame the government' line, I used it when I was five but not since. Get involved in government if you don't like what's happening, find out who your MP's & councillors are, join a political party or a community group or a church/mosque/gudwara (gudwaras offer a meal to people in need, many churches & mosques do great work in their communities), use your vote. Get a job in the civil service, become a journalist, join the police, bring up your children to respect others and to care and to contribute not destroy.

That poor mum cracked her door open to see what was going on, I've done it myself if I hear something outside, I've offered help to people in trouble (more fool me). Sometimes we've had half the neighbours out looking out for each other because fortunately we have a good community, though if the town planners have their way that could all change very quickly. My heart goes out to her.