British Officials Finally Declare Defeat in War on Drugs

[surly1]

Lol. The US is definitely going to fight legalization anywhere in the western world tooth and nail. If it happens before I'm 40, I'll be beyond surprised. Not to be a downer, I just don't see the US doing anything like this and the US spends a lot of money to keep drugs illegal in other countries as well as our own.

In my opinion, there's no sensible argument against full legalization and regulation. Countries like Portugal have shown that legalization doesn't cause a surge in drug use or abuse and it clearly limits the collateral damage that stems from illicit drugs. Unfortunately it is very very difficult to shake up the status quo in the US and many places around the world.

Very true, USA is the most important piece. But there are people working on it in the USA.

According to Jack Cole:
"LEAP presents to civic, professional, educational, and religious organizations, as well as at public forums but we target civic groups; Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, Lions and Kiwanis Clubs, etc. The people in these organizations are conservative folks who mostly agree with the drug-warriors that we must continue the war on drugs at any cost. They are also very solid members of their communities; people who belong to civic organizations because they want the best for their locales. Every one of them will be voting in every election. Many are policy-makers and if they are not, they are the people who can pull the coat tails of policy-makers and say, “We have someone you must hear talk about drug policy.” We believe the vast majority of these audience members agree with the goals of LEAP by the end of our presentation.

Even more amazing is that we are now attending national and international law-enforcement conventions where we keep track of all those we speak with at our educational exhibit booth; After we talk with them on a one-on-one basis, we find that only 6% want to continue the war on drugs, 14% are undecided, and an astounding 80% agree with LEAP that we must end drug prohibition. The most interesting thing about those who agreed with us is that before LEAP came along only a small number of that 80% realized anyone else in law enforcement felt the same. Officers are so frightened of being labeled “soft on drugs” that are afraid to tell each other their real feelings about the war on drugs.

This also holds true for policymakers. LEAP speakers staffed an educational booth at the last four National Conferences for State Legislators in Seattle, Nashville, Boston, New Orleans and Philadelphia. We spoke with 2,273 of the attendees on a one-on-one basis and 81% of them agreed that we should legalize drugs—only 6% wanted to continue the war and the other 13% were undecided.

This means, if we can show these legislators that they won’t lose one more vote than they will gain by backing drug policy reform, they will end drug prohibition. The way show them is to create a grassroots organization of a MILLION private citizens who agree ending prohibition is the correct policy. If you think we are on the right track, please join LEAP and help us in this struggle. We don’t release names of members to anyone."

 

[highhooked]

You guys are all so damn optimistic and gullible sometimes it makes me LOL for real. The UK will NEVER make any amount of illegal substances 'legal' or 'decriminalized.' The US and UK make too much money from imprisoning and fining people caught with scheduled drugs..

Wouldnt the government make up for that and then some if there was no drug war?

Yea

 

[SDforever420]

^ Most likely. Possible even more. But the US goverment in my eyes are to old fashion and afraid of change. Plus it easier just don what there doing

 

[23536]

I wish to defend Herbal~Jah. Has nobody read Burroughs? Have i-phones and portable distraction devices made you forget the nature of the Beast?

the international police lobby--embedded in all bodies of government like salt in seawater--makes entirely too much money from prohibition to let science murder this cash cow. If you want change to take place rapidly, the fundamental nature of police must be altered.

How can we significantly restrict the authority of the cops? This should be the question you devote your anti-prohibitionist synapses to.

 

[Mora Fiend]

^ Distillation removes salt from seawater

 

[ATLL765]

It's definitely not that I don't agree that legalization isn't the best policy or that someday things may shift in society so that most people agree with me. I'm just not so optimistic that these changes will happen anytime soon, especially in the US.

 

[justsomeguy]

god i wish they would

 

[SDforever420]

not in our life time. Maybe in countries in Europe but not in the US like ATLL said. I think China might even take longer to be honest

 

[stevein7]

making small scale possession legal or decriminalised would not stop the big money from selling, could be politically viable.

 

[surly1]

This will probably be interesting: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/pages/policyfightclub.cgi
Although the end result is obvious, it's a cop and an MP vs some nutty christian.

 

[edgarshade]

Only problem I find live live debates is that they are constantly shouting each other down. I'd like to see a debate played out by allowing both sides to produce the best answer they can with, say, one answer being exchanged per day. The result would more likely be a debate based on the merit of the arguments rather than the buffoon with the biggest bark.

 

[Splinterguitar69]

I missed that part of the article.

I know the second half of my statement wasn't in the article, but you have to use a degree of logic to see my point. IF this happens any time soon, Britain will be the deal breaker for Europe. Europe will be the deal breaker for Canada (Even though they are years ahead in terms of simple talks of harm reduction and decriminalizing possession), and the combined changes of Europe and Canada with even more pressure from Mexico will be the deal breaker in the United States. You can say "Oh, the US government doesn't care what other countries do. That has nothing to do with it" when the opposite is true. When too many large countries to be blacked out by the media begin these changes, the American people will begin their curiosity on the topic. They are going to see the figures of how much money these countries are saving. They ALSO will be introduced to the idea that drug addicts/users aren't criminals until they commit a real crime pertaining to said drugs. Most Americans haven't been exposed to these ideas simply because mainstream US media doesn't want the public to think critically about anything. But as soon as that ONE guy gets on that ONE big political talk show and says "Hey, drug addicts are victims with a sickness, and drug users aren't criminals- dealers are. We need to properly educate people on drugs and do what we can to lower the demand for them. We also need to accept that drugs aren't going anywhere." Suddenly, with all this public support, new Congressmen supporting these ideas will be voted in by people who support these ideas. US Drug War = over at that point.

 

[surly1]

APPG's and The Beckley Foundation's letter to The Times: http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/2011/03/24/appg-and-the-beckley-foundation-in-the-media/

The objectives of the Parliamentary Group are to promote health-oriented policies based upon scientific evidence and the reform of United Nations Drug Conventions. With the Beckley Foundation, we have agreed a joint programme which includes: the drafting of a new UN Convention, to enable countries to introduce evidence-based policies; research into regulation and taxation of cannabis; and an international commission to promote the best drugs policies, implemented by countries including Portugal.

In case there was some lack of clarity about their intentions.