Something needs to be done about drugs in UK

[RegretMisery]

Drugs are killing healthy young people. How is it that a drug dealer is not tried as a murderer?

It's not limited to class. It could be your own son or daughter.

You know how many people in Singapore die from overdoses? Almost none, because drugs are actually illegal there.

@RegretMisery

I’m not trying to be hostile I’m just bemused and not sure what you think you will achieve by starting a thread stating perhaps the most blindingly obvious fact ever and then refusing to engage in an adult discussion about what to do about it…

WHat is the point of the thread?

We all know the dangers of alcohol and smoking. It is up to an individual to choose if they want to partake. Yes, people become addicts but addiction is multifaceted and most people can drink responsibly and don’t develop addictions. Smoking obviously is not the same as alcohol but does bring in a lot of tax revenue. If drugs were legalised the taxation revenue would help pay towards rehabilitation.
Legalisation, regulation and control of drugs are preferable to me rather than worrying about the kids being sucked in the gangs who profit from the drug trade.

no way did you get put in prison for nicking food. what sort of spineless puny dick shitforbrains judge put you in the knick for that?

It's mumsnet, you won't have the full story just the edited version

what possible reason could there be to separate a mother and child by imprisoning her unless she was harming that child?

Being a mother isn’t a reason not to put someone in prison if the crime is bad enough.

I agree stealing food is probably not something that someone should be imprisoned for, but that’s regardless of their reproductive status.

Don't you think that drugs are really a symptom- not the root of the problem? So we need to be more nuanced and wonder why many people need to self medicate. That then comes back to- standards of living/growing up with abuse/DV/inadequate education/poor healthcare leading to addiction to painkillers/ on and on. I think large numbers of deaths tell us there are lots of unhappy people. Criminalising lots of people and putting them on prison absolutely continues the style of misery.

Not only do you know little about addiction, it seems as though you don't know much about the criminal justice system either.

There was likely part of the story you weren't told op....stealing food, alcohol etc ... to sell on? Could be the 20th shoplifting incident... accompanied by violence? Who knows

And 'seperate a mother and child' .... yes absolutely if it's deserved .

Im a very judgmental person but I don't judge people who steal food from supermarkets, that's kinda nuts

What's nuts? People stealing food are still vile thieves

So to be an expert on criminal justice or addiction you must be either an addict or a criminal? Good heavens.

They really aren't, surely you must know that. People stealing food/milk/nappies out of sheer desperation are not "vile".

Oh my goodness. Sometimes 'morality' goes so far it comes out the other side.

I'm not an addict or a criminal either.

I think I'll treat that unwarranted personal attack with the contempt it deserves.

If we started treating addiction like a health (and social), rather than criminal issue, that would be a great place to start.

Decriminalisation is also essential. We will never stop people buying drugs, and it is frequently (although not always) someone being mis-sold something believing it to be something its not, that are fatally killed by their addiction.

Exactly: You only need to look at the US to see the clear harm demonstrated by making 'Just Say No' your main drugs policy.

I fear I'm going to get blocked for spam if I respond anymore, but I needed to stress that this is not your fault; if you provided love, safety, kindness and warmth, that was all you could have done with the knowledge you had available to you at the time.
You can't punish past you for what she didn't do with the knowledge present you now has: she did not have that knowledge. And nor do most people until they are right up, nose against the grindstone, one way or another.
Please show yourself some kindness.

The war on drugs as most know has been going on for years,Americas fentanyl crisis is self made to a degree,over prescription of opioids then cease, mexican cartels step in to fill the breach.the UK drug problems are bit different,weed,coke heroin fuels most of the gang violence and crimes within society.if heroin was prescribed as harm reduction then women in particular maybe able to make that break from prostitution.as for shoplifting there's a difference between need and slipping items into a bag to violently telling staff you're taking whatever items.

I believe it does generally , but doesn't work so well on Nitazines. Even scarier than Fentanyl imo

Posters who think stealing steak/high value foods/alcohol to SELL ON. For drugs is 'food poverty'

And those stealing baby milk... usually to sell on. So naive.

Please send the peer-reviewed reseach
Thank you