Bravo Scotland - Sydney Herald "Ministers declare 'war on drugs' is over"

[Plague Bearer]

Finally some sense on drug reform
Full article at:
http://www.sundayherald.com/22727

THIS weekend Scotland's drugs minister has officially declared that the 30-year war on drugs is over...The only time you will hear me use terms such as 'War On Drugs' and 'Just Say No' is to denigrate them.'

...what I would say is that we need to provide them [children] with information. We need to say 'we'd rather you didn't take ecstasy, but if you make that decision, here are the risks'. We have to give them all the information they need to take responsibility for themselves.
...We've got to be very realistic and not say 'you're going to die if you take ecstasy', what we will say is 'some people do die when they take ecstasy but we don't truly know why'.'

...edged close to support for a Royal Commission on drugs saying that the debate was 'stifled', and issues such as legalisation and decriminalisation 'have to be addressed', adding: 'We can't have a genuine debate about these issues because some of the press turn around and say that's wrong.

... 'Drug addicts going into prison and coming back out again is a waste of public money. It neither addresses their offending behaviour nor does it cut crime. It's purposeless ... We have our priorities wrong.'

...He favours exploring the concept of ecstasy testing kits in clubs to reduce risk...was less concerned with people possessing illegal drugs than with them resorting to crime to feed their habit.

.. plan to downgrade the criminal classification of cannabis...It says to young people that we recognise that all drugs aren't the same.
And my absolute favorite:

'If we give messages that they are all bad then we will not be believed. Young people say alcohol causes five times the deaths that drugs do. Last year there were 1500 deaths due to alcohol and 292 from drugs. From a criminal point of view young men drinking and becoming aggressive is a significant problem ... cannabis is not associated with aggression.'

 

[Curmudgeon]

i seriously hope this mentality is contagious to all forms of government, but knowing how reasonable our current shysters are (ie anyone remeber the Pennington Report?) i can't see us following their lead. They've got too much to gain from wedging their heads securely up the arses of the US to contemplate any of this wack logical stuff
Does give a glimmer of hope though...

 

[Tronica]

Pennington report recommendations 1996
6 yrs later???? sigh!
wot Curmudgeon said....

 

[Kit Kat]

Anytime someone says u can die from this or that, is simply to extreme, and therefore going to be dismissed by kids.
Be more realistic. Tell them it might mess their heads up, give them moods swings and land them in bed with ugly strangers !!!
But why stop the war on drugs. Then the CIA would have no funds with which to spy on the rest of the world

 

[anfalicious]

Kit Kat: also, then the CIA wouldn't have a reason to pour millions of dolars in to "aquiring" all the best stuff, then using it to destabalise 3rd world nations. (The CIA is the biggest drug cartel in the world).
Anyho, I'd just like to applaud the scots. This is exactly what we're trying to say here. This shit CAN hurt you, there's no way you can 100% prevent yourself from being hurt, but here's all the info you need to get it as close to 100% as possible.

 

[Psy-Dancer]

*claps* good work scotland

 

[BigTrancer]

(The CIA is the biggest drug cartel in the world).
Dare you to try and prove it *lol*
BigTrancer

 

[anfalicious]

Don't get me started on conspiracy theories BT, my bro is the conspiracy king (especially when it comes to US/Latin American relations).
Sad thing is, that most of the conspiracies are based on some fact :/