I remember an article from years ago, which said that any other policy, which has cost so many billions over so many years with such little return, would have been thrown out/laughed out decades ago.
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[News] Southend (not Southport) - machete fight
- Thread starter dazzer6666
- Start date
No things would be much worse as if you remove the drug gangs income source they would then turn to robbery with violence against the general public to maintain their lifestyle
Only way to beat to gangs is to take them out permanently but we can't do that so we just all have to grin and bear it .
Maybe not machetes but didn’t rival “ice cream” salesmen in 80s Glasgow regularly shoot at each other, ending in a mass murder arson attack
Why wouldn’t most turn their various drug businesses legal? I appreciate there’s a slight financial disadvantage to running a proper business, taxes and stuff, but if you wanted to keep similar profit margins then fiddling the tax man is surely a better life than giving up everything you’ve built up and switching to violent robberies?
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Seriously , you would expect them to register as a business and pay VAT and make sure that their "product" conform with safety regulations , packaging , pay minimum wage , NI , income tax etc
I quickly edited my post to cover this but maybe you missed this . See my updated reply.Seriously , you would expect them to register as a business and pay VAT and make sure that their "product" conform with safety regulations , packaging , pay minimum wage , NI , income tax etc
Lenny Rider
Well-known member
- Sep 15, 2010
- 6,009
Didn’t they promise us some kind of law that if you got caught with a knife you got two years?
The scenes in Southport are extremely worrying, it’s like we’re regressing to 1930’s Germany, how long before they set light to a Mosque?
People are rightly angry and disgusted at what happened at that kids holiday club but as with Adolf and co, people’s anger and indignation gets hijacked by something far more sinister.
Also, drug laws are changing around the world so there is plenty of real world evidence to now look at. The US is now at the forefront of the weed industry. German laws have just changed. If the puritanical US can change things then so can most western nations.Seriously , you would expect them to register as a business and pay VAT and make sure that their "product" conform with safety regulations , packaging , pay minimum wage , NI , income tax etc
For the record I am not a huge supporter of drug legalisation, more someone who simply sees the failure of decades of war-n-drugs and does not see the sense in keeping it illegal.
Weststander
Well-known member
What does the legalisation of Cocaine, Ecstasy and Crystal Meths look like in the countries that have legalised their use? The recreational drugs of choice right now. Health consequences, crime?
Cannabis is a totally different world.
To be honest, I do not know. I'm not overly passionate about it and do have some concerns with legalising some drugs. I also appreciate there is a difference between weed and the others. My point was more questioning the belief that if drugs were legalised the dealers would switch to other crimes. Weed has been leglised so this can be analysed. Maybe the weed importers and dealers switched up to illegal drugs like coke etc to keep their margins. Maybe they thought, great, no more looking over my shoulder. I dont know, but we can now find out and maybe extrapolate to other drugs?
Above all though, the war on drugs have failed abysmally, and the only obvious solution to me is a radical rethink which involves some sort of legalisation.
Weststander
Well-known member
Looking online, the use of those three illegal hard drugs has been growing steadily over the last 24 years in the Netherlands. Despite the legalisation of cannabis. Famously the Netherlands is still a European hub for hard drug manufacture and top level distribution.
Seems like criminals will be criminals.
I mention this here because this thread started on how to end dangerous thugs with weapons being cleared from our streets.
They’re selling ‘party drugs’.
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If producing and selling drugs is legalized then the same would have to apply to alcohol
Weststander
Well-known member
I’m still looking for the nation that’s legalised the selling and use of Cocaine, Ecstacy and Crystal Meths. With an end to related violent crime.
Not sure I’m clear here. So we are proposing to legalise something that harms the user, can make them act irrationally and violently, turns areas into ghettos, will put a greater strain on NHS, etc, etc with the hope that it will reduce knife and violent crime, robbery, etc.
Ok I get that relaxing the law on soft drugs might help those who sell, take or use them responsibly but isn’t that happening anyway… personal use, etc.
Most serious violent crime these days seems to be connected to illegal drugs.
Can someone please give a bit more detail other than just saying “we should legalise drugs”
Ok I get that relaxing the law on soft drugs might help those who sell, take or use them responsibly but isn’t that happening anyway… personal use, etc.
Most serious violent crime these days seems to be connected to illegal drugs.
Can someone please give a bit more detail other than just saying “we should legalise drugs”
Isn't the serious violent crime you mention associated with the illegal drugs trade?
As for legalisation, drugs would still be regulated. The more dangerous the drug, the stricter the regulations. I imagine heroin, for example, would only be available on prescription for registered addicts. You won't be able to pick up some ketamine along with your cone flakes in Tesco.
This would have to go hand in hand with increased treatment centres and education programmes etc.
It wouldn't be a silver bullet but would reduce harm in users (Scotland is currently the drugs death capital of Europe) and free up the justice system to focus on real criminals (as opposed to drug users).
Thanks. The devil’s in the detail and I worry that an overly liberal attitude sees the world as a happy place where everyone is floating around on a happy cloud stoned out of their minds.
When we talk about “dangerous” drugs we have to consider who it is dangerous to, - the user, the public, the neighbours, other road users, the police and other public servants, NHS, etc.
I know it’s not working at the moment but I fear legalising drugs would make things a whole lot worse.
I recon it was more machete related. But my eyesight isn't what it used to be.
BBassic
I changed this.
- Jul 28, 2011
- 13,043
Portugal is often cited as a good example with regards to their drug policy. I don't know too much of the detail but, as far as I understand it, they've decriminalised rather than legalised.
So it's still illegal to use cocaine but if you're caught with a gram of it at the football it'll be confiscated and you'll be fined.
Back in the day when me and my flatmates smoked weed every day (every day), we did so only after eating the evening meal, and doing our college work. We all got upper second class degrees. None of us gatewayed to smack. We gatewayed to a PhD or postgrad medicine.
But we knew wankers (there are wankers in this world) who would get off their tits then go out, cause trouble, leading increasingly dysfunctional lives....
It's not the drugs. Its the arseholes who mis-use them. Exactly the same as booze.
No, mate, you didn't slap your missus around because you were pissed. You slapped your missus around because you are a ****. A f***ing, f***ing, ****.
I would add that the odd people we came across who decided to inject were not long for this world (by this world, I mean the world where you have mates, an nice income, a social life, and live somewhere clean and pleasant).
As for legalization, a nation where both main parties want to end, completely, tobacco smoking is hardly likely to start pondering legalization of weed, let alone chemicals you snort, is it? What's the driver? To take the machete wielding teenager off the street?
Those who can 'handle' their drugs (who want to lead a quiet life) are not likely to be buying from machete wielding spotty teenagers. I leave coke out of that discussion because I don't know how the land lies these days. Perhaps people do buy from a 15 year old on a Raliegh Chopper (there are others who use NSC who are able to describe the criminal hinterland surrounding their indulgence properly; take it away, chaps). In my hinterland it was very easy to buy coke from adults 20 years ago (not that I did). Its a nasty drug (in my limited experience) that makes every dullard imagine they are the most interesting person in the room, with exactly the same amount of 'added sparkle' taken away the next day.
And as fond as my memories are for weed, I have seen enough unwashed teenage 'dads' on the train from Sittingbourne, absolutely stinking of skunk at ten in the morning, to have my doubts about the merit of decriminalization. And you have to smoke the fucker (to smell like that). Smoking is bad, isn't it?
Anyway this has nothing to do with teenagers chasing each other around with machetes. I would target that shit. The police know who these kids are. Why not just harass the f*** out of them? After all the police were able to do that to random black youth on the street, no questions asked, for decades.
Legalizing weed won't make a spotty teenager give up his machete. The very idea that we should even consider this is preposterous.
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