People murdering, raping and commiting crime infringes upon other people's personal rights. That's why there's legislation against it. I've never encouraged cocaine use, if you have to make up shit for an argument i see why you're all "omg I'm done with you" because you're fucking stupid. I think it should be legal because it's less of a danger legal than it is underground because at least we get rid of the gangs and black markets that come along with underground drugs. Alcohol is legal, it makes people act belligerent if they don't know how to handle themselves. It's that person's personal responsibility to make sure they don't drink too much or mix drugs that will negatively effect them, and if they don't they'll have to suffer the legal consequences if they hurt someone.
You actually stated in your previous post that you would prefer people to do cocaine legally. You state the legality of a substance will decriminalise the market and encourage fair-trade, but as most drugs are either natural or easily recreated synthetically you'll find that the market will just get cheaper as where's the a will to make money, there's a way. Just because something is regulated and legal, like DVDs, music and games, you'll find people recreate these forms in a cheaper alternative way, just like drugs. Just because your local supermarket sells a gram of coke for £15 doesn't mean dealers won't start selling it for £5 a gram.
You keep ignoring my post about how substance use alters a persons perception, persona and behaviour. These have drastic affects on any community and will affect people within this. This is how drugs will affect other people and the major flaw in your ideal for legalising all controlled substances.
Please quote me where I pulled up that fraction, oh I didn't it's you making up statistics again. That's not my point at all. My point is that there are now less people smoking both over and under the age of 18 as more information about the dangers of smoking have been released on PSAs. Jeez the strawman arguments I constantly run into on this side is mind blowing.
Again, it was in your previous post, you posted that PSA article on how under 18's taking up smoking has decreased yet you've missed the original point of legalising something doesn't mean age restricted goods will be off-limits for those underage.
Yeah I trust actual research over someone online, the shock and horror. Soo BBC is wrong, and you're right. Wow. Are you serous right now?
You actually posted a link to crimestoppers website, an independent charity organisation. I suggest you do more detailed research.
http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/7776654.stm
http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/7421534.stm
Knives are used in about 8% of violent incidents, according to the BCS, a level that has largely remained the same during the past decade.
The figures show serious injuries and deaths down 17%. In the UK in 2008, 34 teenagers have died from stab wounds.
As your fan of the BBC I thought I'd show a few decent quotes on knife crime. It's been at a steady level for years now and still isn't a major factor in overall crime levels. Physical assaults are more a common trend then knife crime.
The links between drug use and crime are clearly established. In fact, around three-quarters of crack and heroin users claim they commit crime to feed their habit. It is our priority to break this damaging chain.
Acquisitive crime – such as shoplifting, burglary, vehicle crime and robbery – to which drug-related crime makes a significant contribution, fell by 55% between 1997 and 2007. (Source: recorded crime figures) http://webarchive.na...ated-crime.html
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducts an annual National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) that asks individuals living in households about their drug and alcohol use and their involvement in crimes (see table 1). Provisional data for 1997 show that respondents arrested in the past year for possession or sale of drugs and driving under the influence had the highest percentage of illicit drug use in the past year. Past year illicit drug users were also about 16 times more likely than nonusers to report being arrested and booked for larceny or theft; more than 14 times more likely to be arrested and booked for such offenses as driving under the influence, drunkenness, or liquor law violations; and more than 9 times more likely to be arrested and booked on an assault charge. http://www.whitehous...rime/index.html
http://www.drugscope...is-drug-related[/url]
This was just heroin alone. Take into account other drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine, crack, ketamine and GHB you'll find these drugs have an adverse affect on other people, directly and indirectly.http://www.timesonli...ticle648195.ece
The toll of hard drug abuse in England and Wales is now put at more than £15 billion a year in economic and social costs, according to Home Office figures.
The number of addicts has risen to 327,000 and Britain’s illicit drug market is now estimated to be generating £5.3 billion for traffickers and dealers. Heroin and crack, seen as the most dangerous of the illicit drugs, account for about half of the market’s total value.
A second report published yesterday by the European Union’s main drug monitoring agency provided further alarming evidence of Britain’s inability to tackle its drug problems. It places Britain among the worst European nations for drug misuse at a time when prices are falling and addiction could rise further.
Despite record levels of drug seizures, officials admit they are failing to hit the markets where users buy their drugs.
Against this backdrop, the call for changes to the cannabis legislation came from 400 delegates at the annual conference of the Magistrates’ Association in Coventry. Roger Davy, a West Yorkshire magistrate and a national spokesman on youth courts, said: “Children — and that’s what they are — as young as 12, 13 and 14 are coming before us for offences of theft and robbery, which they admit are to raise money to feed their cannabis habit.”
He said that cannabis use did not automatically plunge children into a life of crime, but many children believed cannabis was now legal and that nothing would happen if they were caught with it.
Mr Davy said that the downgrading of cannabis to a Class C category had sent out the wrong message to vulnerable young people and he cited the case of a 15-year-old boy who had come before Bradford Crown Court accused of murdering one of his brothers in a frenzied knife attack after drinking up to seven cans of lager and smoking several joints.
Mr Davy said: “The message has been sent out that having cannabis is not a serious offence, so more people have started to use it — who knows how many. But I am convinced that for many of the vulnerable youngsters I see in court it is a gateway to harder substances.”
The magistrates voted for change as the Home Office report provided a fresh estimate on the total costs of Class A drugs, detailing the price of drug use linked to crime, healthcare and deaths. The report put the cost at £15.4 billion in 2003-04, or £44,231 for each problem drug user. It is an increase of £3 billion on the 2000 figure, but officials said the rise was due to changes in calculations of the costs linked to crime and victims.
Drug-related crime accounts for 90 per cent of the overall cost of Class A drug use. The overall illicit drug market in 2003-04 was £5.2 billion, a fall from the £6.6 billion estimated for 1998.
The £5.2 billion drug market in cannabis, amphetamines, Ecstasy, powder cocaine, crack and heroin is one third the value of the tobacco market and 41 per cent the size of the alcohol market. The size of the drug trade is comparable to British Airways’ stock market value of £5.5 billion and the brick and cement giant Hanson’s stock value of £5.3 billion.
The Home Office report said that the decline in the size of the illicit market was a result of the sharp fall in the cost of drugs on the streets.
According to last year’s report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, published in Brussels yesterday, prices of cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, Ecstasy and cannabis across Europe have been steadily falling for the past five years.
The report says that, although drug use may have stabilised in Britain and other countries, danger lies ahead, especially over cocaine use. The drug is now the second most popular after cannabis. It said: “In Europe, cocaine is at historically high levels and studies suggest it is a common pattern for increases in problems relating to a drug to lag some years behind increases.”
The report shows that Britain is top of the league for cocaine use among 15 to 34-year-olds, with 10.5 per cent of the population of that age group trying the drug at least once. Britain also came top of the 15-24 age group, with nearly 6 per cent having used the drug in the past year.
In 2003, the latest figures available, Britain was also top for heroin seizures, second for cocaine and cannabis seizures after Spain and top again for Ecstasy seizures.
Vernon Coaker, the Minister responsible for drugs, said: “Record sums invested in tackling drugs have helped to cut acquisitive crime, which is largely drug-related, by 16 per cent in the last two years.”
But David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, questioned government policy. “This is the cost of Labour’s failure on drugs, and it is being met by the public. Labour must end its chaotic and confused approach and get an urgent grip on this problem,” he said.
Martin Barnes, chief executive of the charity DrugScope, said: “Despite encouraging signs that drug use overall is stable and for some drugs is falling, there is clearly no room for complacency.”
There are criminal laws put in place to deter adults from giving kids alcohol, obviously still happens but those laws would still be in place if drugs were legal.And yes the education on the dangers of smoking have been a deterrent for some people smoking. Also the health care hike for people who smoke, taxes on cigarettes, and smoking ban. It's not one exclusive thing they all work cohesively. People smoke the most when they didn't know how harmful cigarettes were, but now that doctors are advising against smoking and people know that it causes cancer via the surgeon general warning these are factors that reduce people being willing to smoke.
Portugal decriminalized drugs
and drug use amongst minors droppedActually, the most effective reason for the cutdown in smoking is due to the cultural affect of the smoking ban, in the UK at least, as people are unwilling to smoke due to the stigma attached as well as not being able to smoke inside their favour establishments. The vast majority of people know smoking is bad for them and continue to smoke and more people start it up everyday, the fact that we are told it is bad for us not the main factor in giving up. Yet you still preach for legalising cocaine, heroin and crack which are worse for your physical, mental and emotional stability...
Edited by Frizzle, 09 October 2010 - 03:40 AM.
