Brighton & Hove City the next Amsterdam?

[fataddick]

Love the quote from a Tory councillor in this story re Ben Duncan: "He is a complete lunatic."

Green Councillor Ben Duncan Under Fire For Rape Joke Amid Call For Cannabis Cafes

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

... and a senior ranking police officer.

Still don't like this particular idea, though.

me neither....in my opinion amsterdam would be a lot nicer if it wasn't for the large groups of stoned americans and english (looks like it's heading away from that anyway)

i generally like the idea of seeing drug addiction as a medical rather than criminal problem (like you said, a senior police officer agrees with me, along with people high up in the medical trade), but to be honest, if you want drugs in brighton you can get them ridiculously easily....not sure i can see the point in copying the coffee shop model of amsterdam to be honest

i don't even know how it would work, considering it would be illegal....would it be a case of the police simply turning a blind eye?

 

[Colossal Squid]

i don't even know how it would work, considering it would be illegal....would it be a case of the police simply turning a blind eye?

It works that way with prostitution in Brighton & Hove

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

It works that way with prostitution in Brighton & Hove

really? can't say i've witnessed any that........although to be honest i've never fully understood prostitution law

i will say that walking around brighton, particularly in summer, you get more wafts of weed smoke than in any other city in the uk that i've experienced....

 

[fataddick]

Brian Paddick has said he'll legalise cannabis if he's elected London Mayor (no chance of that happening obviously) so it seems towns and cities CAN ignore UK law on this issue if they like, which seems odd. Presumably a case of the local police ignoring the offence. Legalisation of dope is inevitable, it's just a matter of when. Even in America, the most prurient nation in the Western World, the majority of the population now favour legalising it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

me neither....in my opinion amsterdam would be a lot nicer if it wasn't for the large groups of stoned americans and english (looks like it's heading away from that anyway)

You don't have to go to the areas where all the stoned drug tourists are. I have been to Amsterdam a few times and have generally stayed clear of the spliff tourists. Your post is akin to going to West St in Brighton and complaining Brighton is full of binge-drinking louts.

 

[KZNSeagull]

As a slight aside, I wandered into our local Post Office yesterday and found 3 policeman using the Post Office scales to weigh 4 enormous bags of Dagga - 110kgs worth!

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

You don't have to go to the areas where all the stoned drug tourists are. I have been to Amsterdam a few times and have generally stayed clear of the spliff tourists. Your post is akin to going to West St in Brighton and complaining Brighton is full of binge-drinking louts.

that's my point....amsterdam is nice and would be a lovely city without the drug culture (in my opinion)

and the red light district is a lot bigger than west street....it's quite a big area in the centre of the city

i said it would be a lot nicer without the stoned tourists....are you disagreeing with this?

 

[Colossal Squid]

really? can't say i've witnessed any that........although to be honest i've never fully understood prostitution law

As I understand it prostitution is tolerated in Brighton & Hove on the condition that you have no more than three girls working one property. Because it keeps it off the streets the local authorities encourage it. It's inevitably going to be happening regardless, so may as well have it controlled in a safer environment.

But of course on a national level prostitution is strictly illegal in the UK.

And no I'm not some local whoring expert, I just recall something in the press about it when that lunatic was going around murdering hookers on the streets of Ipswich a few years back. Authorities there take a far firmer stance on it, forcing it onto the streets where these girls were becoming murder victims. The suggestion was that we'd not suffer from a similar spate of hooker hacking-ups because our Brighton working girls are semi safe behind closed doors.

It's a very similar argument to the legalisation or tolerance of soft drugs like cannabis. Inevitably we can't stop use of weed, so why waste time and money on trying to stop as many people as we can from using it when we could instead attempt to regulate it and keep the money out of the hands of the dangerous pushers encouraging use of harder drugs?

For what it's worth I'm not a regular pot smoker or aficionado of prostitutes but I can see the sense behind tolerance for the sake of safety and control.

 

[daveinprague]

Ive lived in Brighton, Prague and Amsterdam.. Ive always thought if anywhere in the UK could handle it, Brighton was the place.. when living in Amsterdam, it struck me that life goes on beyond coffeeshops, its called tolerance. Theres normal non=smoking life carrying on side by side, and whilst it bugs some, it doesnt appear to bother others. My boss at work didnt smoke but always said he would fight for the right of people to smoke. Prague laws changed drastically last year. You can hold 15grams rather than the 5grams you can hold in Holland, having said that, tourists get ripped off, as they dont know where to go as its not advertised, and pay top dollar to street merchants....and the places, other than a couple, are not in the center tourist areas, but more in Zizkov, Vinohrady and Smichov. its obvious which places sell, but only after entering... The place i buy, is the same place ive used for 5 years...i went in there to buy it 5 nights running before they sold to me. People rolled me joints, people shared their joints with me, but they would fecking sell it to me... they gave up after 5 nights, and a happy union ever since...we did wonder at work the other day on hearing about the Dutch case, whether some far sighted Czech politicians would embrace the idea, but the governments in chaos here as far as i can tell at the moment.

 

[Peever]

Local politician in my home town tried to do the same about 2 years ago. He actually got a fair amount of votes all things considered but not enough to come close to winning the vote. Pots a nothing drug....wont be long till alot of cities have it legalized.....

 

[Silent Bob]

that's my point....amsterdam is nice and would be a lovely city without the drug culture (in my opinion)

and the red light district is a lot bigger than west street....it's quite a big area in the centre of the city

i said it would be a lot nicer without the stoned tourists....are you disagreeing with this?

I disagree with that, they're far less trouble than groups of pissed up lads, be that in Amsterdam, Brighton, or anywhere.

Amsterdam is great city even without the coffee shops though.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

i said it would be a lot nicer without the stoned tourists....are you disagreeing with this?

I think stoned tourists and regular tourists can co-exist in the city. So in this sense I am disagreeing with you. I personally don't see them as an issue, I go elsewhere.

 

[DTES]

As I understand it prostitution is tolerated in Brighton & Hove on the condition that you have no more than three girls working one property. Because it keeps it off the streets the local authorities encourage it. It's inevitably going to be happening regardless, so may as well have it controlled in a safer environment.

But of course on a national level prostitution is strictly illegal in the UK.

And no I'm not some local whoring expert, I just recall something in the press about it when that lunatic was going around murdering hookers on the streets of Ipswich a few years back. Authorities there take a far firmer stance on it, forcing it onto the streets where these girls were becoming murder victims. The suggestion was that we'd not suffer from a similar spate of hooker hacking-ups because our Brighton working girls are semi safe behind closed doors.

It's a very similar argument to the legalisation or tolerance of soft drugs like cannabis. Inevitably we can't stop use of weed, so why waste time and money on trying to stop as many people as we can from using it when we could instead attempt to regulate it and keep the money out of the hands of the dangerous pushers encouraging use of harder drugs?

For what it's worth I'm not a regular pot smoker or aficionado of prostitutes but I can see the sense behind tolerance for the sake of safety and control.

Not that I'm an expert either, but... prostitution is not illegal in the UK. Brothels (>1 girl per building) are illegal, and soliciting (e.g. kerb crawling) is illegal, but prostitution itself is not.

Should it (or cannabis) be illegal? No, I don't think so. Regulate both and you can increase tax revenue, also brothels are safer for the girls involved (safety in numbers) rather than forcing them all to work alone.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

As I understand it prostitution is tolerated in Brighton & Hove on the condition that you have no more than three girls working one property. Because it keeps it off the streets the local authorities encourage it. It's inevitably going to be happening regardless, so may as well have it controlled in a safer environment.

Pretty much it. Brighton & Hove is one of the few cities in the UK that has no red light district as such.

I was mildly amused the other day when a "massage parlour" in the city got robbed at gunpoint (two men have since been arrested and charged). Not at the robbery itself, which is obviously an extremely unpleasant experience for all the victims, but at the senior investigating officer, who urged anyone who was in the massage parlour at the time to come forward with any information.

Because those blokes are going to be DESPERATE to share with the police the fact they were in a brothel, aren't they?

 

[Pinkie Brown]

Local politician in my home town tried to do the same about 2 years ago. He actually got a fair amount of votes all things considered but not enough to come close to winning the vote. Pots a nothing drug....wont be long till alot of cities have it legalized.....

I found quite a different attitude to pot smoking In Canada . In the UK, it more often though obviously not completely, stays within the bounds of 'subculture.' In Canada though, there seems to be more potheads in the wider community as a whole - particularly in British Columbia where grow ops seem to be a booming industry. Everyone & their brother seemed to be smoking the stuff. How they ever passed pee tests at their employment, I'll never know?

 

[happypig]

I don't think legalising it, locally or nationally is a good idea; I've seen a lot of people in the last few years who are to a greater of lesser degree f***ed up by long term cannabis use. It causes paranoia and other mental health problems and can lead to harder drug use.
Just because lots of people use it, doesn't mean that it should be legalised and to compare it to prostitution isn't a fair comparison.

 

[Peever]

I found quite a different attitude to pot smoking In Canada . In the UK, it more often though obviously not completely, stays within the bounds of 'subculture.' In Canada though, there seems to be more potheads in the wider community as a whole - particularly in British Columbia where grow ops seem to be a booming industry. Everyone & their brother seemed to be smoking the stuff. How they ever passed pee tests at their employment, I'll never know?

Yeah we are pretty casual about it here. Which is why most here dub it a "nothing" drug. As for piss tests there is not a job I can think of (besides law enforcement) where that is required.... Is that part of the highering process in England?

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

I think stoned tourists and regular tourists can co-exist in the city. So in this sense I am disagreeing with you. I personally don't see them as an issue, I go elsewhere.

I disagree with that, they're far less trouble than groups of pissed up lads, be that in Amsterdam, Brighton, or anywhere.

Amsterdam is great city even without the coffee shops though.

just my personal opinion really, i'm no travel guide........just not overly keen on the whole stag weekend culture, which i think the drug culture certainly encourages in amsterdam

i quite enjoyed amsterdam in general, it's a nice city, APART from the large part in the centre which is populated primarily by twats......

like i said, personally for me it spoils it a bit, and maybe i should have spent more time in another area

anyway, it seems like it's going to change quite a lot in the next few years

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

I don't think legalising it, locally or nationally is a good idea; I've seen a lot of people in the last few years who are to a greater of lesser degree f***ed up by long term cannabis use. It causes paranoia and other mental health problems and can lead to harder drug use.
Just because lots of people use it, doesn't mean that it should be legalised and to compare it to prostitution isn't a fair comparison.

like any drug known to man, heavy use can cause serious problems to your body...i certainly don't disagree with that

personally, for me, legalising in some shape or form would lead to a greater control of the 'problem', and eradicate some of the crime involved with the drug industry (personally i see the dealers, not the users as criminals)

it's not something that people are ever going to stop doing, regardless of its legality, so in my view, admitting that it is a problem and trying to control that is the way forward....plus it'd pump SHIT LOADS of money into the economy, rather than lining the pockets of dealers

and i say this as someone with limited experience of drugs, so i'm not really someone who would benefit from its legality