Plague Bearer
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2000
- Messages
- 1,274
Finally some sense on drug reform
Full article at:
http://www.sundayherald.com/22727
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.'