The "war" on drugs

[Agent]

So it's finally started to kick off in the government. About time.

David Nutt, sacked for this comments on drugs: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8334774.stm

An advisor resigns: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8336635.stm

Second advisor: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8336884.stm

And Johnson is still adamant: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8336509.stm

The "war on drugs" farce is starting to fall down. I just pray this doesn't get blown over with other news in a few days time, I hope this kicks off big time.

This "war" can't be won. You can't stop people growing a plant in their house or garden with any effectiveness. You can't stop the production of drugs that any A-level student can make in his kitchen.
But you can provide a safe source for those that want to try drugs. It's about time we started to seriously consider this route as a nation, and stop listening to the same old drone from the people at the top.

Where has this "war" got us? Billions wasted in tax money...and I can still go out on a weekend and buy Ecstasy in a club for considerably less than it would cost me to get drunk on alcohol (and we are constantly being told this is too cheap for us!).

This farce has to end.

[0iD]

I've seen just as many people screwed up on the effects of so-called soft drugs as I have alcohol whilst working for charity MIND. Why aren't there more people with these problems? Maybe because the drugs aren't more widely available? Having said that, I'm interested to see what is going to happen in a few years in Portugal with the new liberalised outlook on drugs.

[badass]

The problem with liberalising drug laws is that you can't convince the average potential voter that's the thing to do. So it won't happen. It's one unforrtunate facet of democracy. Thick people have more of an influence on how the country's run than intelligent people that know what they are doing. Still, if anyone has any better ideas of how to deal with who runs a country, I'm sure they'll get ignored by the majority anyway.

[nichomach]

I'm with Agent on this. Unfortunately, we are in the era of "Policy-based evidence-making".

[Knoxville]

Originally Posted by 0iD

Why aren't there more people with these problems? Maybe because the drugs aren't more widely available?

It depends on where you live obviously but when I was 15/16 it was easier for me to get my hands on cannabis and cheap pills than alchohol and drugs are even more widely available today, especially cocaine and steroids recently. The only drugs that aren't widely available are methamphetamines, opiates and crack cocaine in my experience and that's a very very good thing.