The Times calls for decriminalisation of all illegal drugs

[trav 6834]

The Times calls for decriminalisation of all illegal drugs
Newspaper breaks new ground by declaring itself in favour of treating drug use and possession as a health issue rather than a crime

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/jun/16/the-times-decriminalisation-drugs

 

 

Original Times article (need to pay for subscription to view):

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/breaking-good-svkvggj2k

 

 

 

Finally a major news organization is coming out and saying it... It's most definitely the right stance on the "War on Drugs".

 

[MisterTurkes 544]

but then it wont be as cool...

[Triv 79]

It just makes sense.

 

Locking these people up for posession just makes them fall further into the hole and makes it harder for them to return to being a productive member of society. 

 

Also the amount of money spent enforcing these current drug laws is absolutely retarded. Im suprised they haven't federally legalized marijuana already. 

 

Not sure how heroin, meth and all the other real drugs would be "regulated" though.

 

[Shaymin 129]

Whats the point of locking someone up, to do things to their own body? Sure their should be some limits, such as driving or if assault takes place, then yes obviously these people should be punished as they are risking another person's life. I am actually glad that this is being taken into view by the public.

[trav 6834]

11 hours ago, Triv said:

Not sure how heroin, meth and all the other real drugs would be "regulated" though.

 

They wouldn't be sold in stores like recreational marijuana or alcohol would be. It would be something similar to getting a speeding ticket for carrying a certain amount of a substance. You wouldn't get a criminal record and would have to pay a fine.

 

It should be noted that decriminalization is not legalization.

 

Portugal has decriminalized all drugs for the past 15 years. This is what it looks like:

https://news.vice.com/article/ungass-portugal-what-happened-after-decriminalization-drugs-weed-to-heroin

 

The Economist actually did a great short documentary film on it as well:

 

 

The problem right now, at least in the United States, is that privatized prison lobbyists fund politicians and there's really good money to be made by locking people up. Prisons need to keep a quota of prisoners and Politicians need to keep their jobs by being "tough on crime". Until the status quo changes (similar to what's happening with recreational marijuana) then politicians will likely stay on the same path. So it's really great to hear it come from a quality major news outlet.

 

 

Dr. Carl Hart debating Neil McKegany on Channel 4

 

[Triv 79]

2 hours ago, Travesty said:

The problem right now, at least in the United States, is that privatized prison lobbyists fund politicians and there's really good money to be made by locking people up. Prisons need to keep a quota of prisoners and Politicians need to keep their jobs by being "tough on crime". Until the status quo changes (similar to what's happening with recreational marijuana) then politicians will likely stay on the same path. So it's really great to hear it come from a quality major news outlet.

 

 

I was about to say in my first reply, that for any sort of major change in drug laws to come to fruition that the private prison industry would either need to be shut down or they would need to accept the fact that non-violent druggies will no longer be prisoners.

 

Prisons should not be fucking private in the first place, its really sneaky and slimy how the whole private prison industry came to be, but that's the business world in a nutshell.

[lemonade 1582]

I recall a film I watched in my CWP class this year, which was talking about the war on drugs and genreal drug use.

 

One of the stories from said film was a man who was making and (I believe) selling and using Meth. He received a sentence of Life without parole, which in my mind, is a little too extreme.

[trav 6834]

4 minutes ago, RistoPOWER said:

I recall a film I watched in my CWP class this year, which was talking about the war on drugs and genreal drug use.

 

One of the stories from said film was a man who was making and (I believe) selling and using Meth. He received a sentence of Life without parole, which in my mind, is a little too extreme.

 

Could it have been this one? I really enjoyed this documentary. Even watched it with my conservative parents and they even found it eye opening:

 

 

[lemonade 1582]

Just now, Travesty said:

 

Could it have been this one? I really enjoyed this documentary. Even watched it with my conservative parents and they even found it eye opening:

 

 

Yes, that's the documentary, thank you. 

I as well enjoyed it a lot, it really does open up the problem of the "war".

[trav 6834]

1 minute ago, RistoPOWER said:

Yes, that's the documentary, thank you. 

I as well enjoyed it a lot, it really does open up the problem of the "war".

 

Check out the show The Wire -- I think you might like it.

[lemonade 1582]

1 minute ago, Travesty said:

 

Check out the show The Wire -- I think you might like it.

I may have seen a little bit of it in my class previously mentioned, but I will do that, thanks again.

 

I've noticed there are quite a few of films and what not about the topic, but a lot of people seem to still be oblivious to it.