Drugs, should they be lgalised in the UK

As i have mentioned in an earlier thread i work with offenders in the uk prison system. The majority of offenders and offences have a connection to drugs. I believe that legalising ALL drugs would drive dealers off the streets and make the UK drug epidemic easier for the authorities to deal with. I would be interested to hear arguments for and against

That's an interesting point of view, and I'd like to hear more about it. Why do you think legalizing would help with the epidemic? Perhaps because, if drugs were legal, they wouldn't have to deal with offenders? Or... please fill in the blank.

I think your position is an interesting one, because it relies on the power and temperence of individuals - everyone having the right to do what they want to their own body. The sticking point I see, however, is that in the case of drugs, people's bodies are significantly altered, so they don't have as much control or judgment, and could put other lives in danger. In these cases, the rights of one individual cannot override the safety of another. But do you maybe think that legalization would even help with this issue?

Against!! Most definitly AGAINST! I don't understand how legalizing drugs would make the epidimic easier to deal with.. What "dealing with" would authorities have if it was legalized?? If anything it would make the situation worse. I mean, sure there are a lot of people breaking the law by doing drugs now. But if it was legalized I believe more and more people would begin using. The last thing this world needs is more drug dependent people. If it was up to me..and I know many are going to disagree but thats ok..they should have harsher penalties for drug related crimes and driving under the influence (whether that be drugs or alcohol).

I am indeed in an interesting position. i work with offenders and my girlfriend is a recovering heroin/crack addict. if all drugs were regulated by the government or health service the dealers would be driven from our streets. street drugs are usually cut with other products, sometimes deadly products. this is what causes the many drug deaths we see. also if drugs were legalized addicts could be properly monitered and helped to get clean.

I'm just afriad that there would -always- be a black market. Yes, it would be safer if drugs were regulated, but won't there always be people who want something harder? One of the arguments I DO see with legalizing drugs, as you mentioned, is that the stigma would be decreased, and people could seek help for recovery without worrying about going to jail. But still, then, there's the whole issue of endangering the lives of others... I'd have to see an argument against that before I drew any real conclusions.

Most addicts commit crime because they need to get money to fund their habit. if there was proper government intervention there would be no need to for them to turn to crime. my girlfriend turned to prostitution to fund her £300 per day habit. thats not right and she deserves help. if you are a smoker in the uk you get free counselling and tratment off the health service, if you are a heroin addict you get treat like a criminal. most addicts are victims not criminals.

To me, this is like saying,
shall we legalise rape to get prostitutes of the street?

i know nothing is that black and white, but that is my opinion

Everyone that consumes alcohol does not abuse it. People that abuse alcohol are labeled as problem drinkers or alcoholics. Many people form a chemical dependency on prescription drugs and develop the disease of addiction thus are labeled as addicts.
Many of the recreational drugs that are controlled substances can be obtained legally
There are legal methadone clinics for opiate abusers. Many prisons offer rehabilitation programs.

A woman that I was very infatuated with obtained a scholarship while doing prison time latter received a parole, and a few months latter was found brutally murdered in a place that was known to sell illegal substances. I found it very ironical that she had spent the last months of her life voluntarily speaking to youth groups about the dangers of the criminal lifestyle she was trying to escape

It takes a network of people to make recreational drugs a reality
Still I agree the consumer is victimized because the dealers know their costumers are more likely to end up in prison or an early grave by experimenting. Yet it should be noted that consumers are participates in this billion dollar industry

I read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey , a very embellished account of the time he spent in rehab although, he disputed the value of the twelve steps. It seems that he did acknowledge that once you are clean, sometimes even the slightest dangerous drug will most likely lead you back to a full blown binge

I have not seen many addicts that are responsible users. Thus the solution seems more practical in prevention and treatment

Bottom line for me.

No one, not the government, or my family has the right to tell me what I can and can't do, or put into or onto my body. If it kills me, then shame on me but my choice and I make it freely.

I am all for information being regulated by the goverment on drugs, education and so forth, have at it...but how can anyone justify the goverment making some drugs illegal and some totally ok, like cigarettes and alcohol, which as Bob rightly said, is the worst drug, in terms of it's social and health implications out there.

I think we should legalize type C and B class drugs, which will help reduce, NOT erradicate but reduce criminal behaviour considerably.

I believe that seeing as we have drugs such as Alcohol and Cigarettes legalised...Shouldn't the same be for other drugs.

But I believe that there are implications, maybe if the drugs were legalised, certain precautions should be met.

DRUGS ARE A WAIST OF TIME...

I don't know whether it should be legalized or not, so I won't even go into that, other than the fact that some people with cancer can't have drugs to help the pain, which isn't fair.
Really all drugs are excluding the ones who help medical things are life ruiners, you get hooked on them and then you're worse off than you were before, then if you make it through all of that crap and seek help, it can take ages of rehab and then throughout your life when it gets tough you'll probably wonder what it'd be like to be on drugs again.
xx

The reality is that there are people that have addictive tendencies Another reality is that most of the people in jail can trace a problem to substance abuse. Believe it or not, many of the people in rehab are there because they have a desire to return to their natural biochemistry. One could make the case that the people that are incarcerated have a problem. I entered a catfight with a member of this site that disputed my statement that I viewed drug abusers as losers because the price that many become willing to pay for the drug of their choice. I am sure that I will be reminded of the short term success of many famous addicts. To me it makes no sense to compare a moderate dose of a mild drug to a lethal dose of a harsh drug. I am not looking forward to the day that a sixteen year old can walk into a bar and order a hit of crank

After coming from a visit at a county jail and hearing many addicts on the outside saying I can't live like this, lock me up! I perceive addiction as a very unhealthy condition of the mind, heart, and soul of various degrees. A true addict is aware of the danger of cross addiction Also drugs have short term and long term effects

"I entered a catfight with a member of this site that disputed my statement that I viewed drug abusers as losers because the price that many become willing to pay for the drug of their choice."

Hmm? Never knew a catfight would start from an opinion based post!

I posted a response on this last night but it seems to have disappeared... odd.

Kevin Murray i find it interesting that you are completely for a ban on guns yet you say "No one... has the right to tell me what I can and can't do". (i'm not criticizing, just commenting on my observations).

i also found it interesting that you are for censorship. "I am all for information being regulated by the goverment"
if i had to guess poets would generally be opposed to censorship. shows how much i know.
(once again, this is just my observations, not criticism).

Icarus, not sweat, let me clear up your misunderstanding of my post.

I didn't say no one has the right to tell me what to do, i said no one has the right to tell me what I can and can't put in or on my body, and there is a massive difference.

Someone has the right to tell me not to hit them, but they don't have the right to tell me not to eat large quantities of coconut.

Ah. The way you phrased the sentence it definitely came off differently than intended. Mainly because you said "...or tell me what to put in my body". that part seemed separate. at least that misunderstanding was cleared up (and look, there wasn't even a massive argument or a string of insults... isn't everybody so depressed now?)

But you really shouldnt eat large quantities of coconut lol

So we should legalize gangs and rape and murder too? If you legalize one thing ... it leads you down the path to legalize everything ...

Although that may be an ideal solution, it's simply not realistic.

Unseen, I think there is a marked difference, as I have said before, between desiring to have freedom to do whatever you want to yourself [like take drugs] and the freedom to to whatever you want to someone else [like murder them].

I do not see a link between these two freedoms, or how being able to have the first one, would naturally lead to expecting the second.

Could you explain why you think this might happen?

I see that it's a stretch - but by legalizing the use of drugs, it sets a precedent, and by justifying it and assuming that the use of drugs will diminish and solve problems because of a gained freedom, whose to say that the same justification can't be made for murder? I'm not saying that it's doomed to happen, it just gives people the opportunity to question it, which I don't think is necessarily a good idea.

I was also mildly-sarcastic in my previous post.

I despise authority. I am pro-choice. I have a sort of faith that not ALL humans are bad, and without law or restriction, things would be fine...if not better than they are.

Your views are a breath of fresh air. i have never taken drugs but i sit and watch my girlfriend take crack and heroin every day. its all she does from the moment she gets up until she goes to bed again. it breaks my heart but she isnt ready to stop yet. she has been made a criminal by her addiction, where in reallity she is ill. it is very difficult to get help in the uk, the nhs dont want to know so you have to go private which is very expensive. one day she will be ready to stop and i will be here to help her. she is a beautiful person when not on the gear but as soon as that first pipe of the day crackles i wave her goodbye for another day. she turns into a zombie, not the girl i love. i have posted some poems on here that sort of explain where i am at the moment.

If you're not hooked, what is the point in taking them? like do you really NEED to take drugs? no.
x

David hollas I think what you are describing, if I am not mistaken, is known as speed-balling where I am from. I have observed the zombie states of low functioning addicts on a mass scale in projects where crack is widely used with other drugs. If your girlfriend lived here she could enter a rehab through a state funded program, or good insurance. I admit there is a very high relapse rate in even the best of treatments. If there are large groups of responsible productive opiate abusers they hide it very well. I guess I cannot disprove Vix's claim that pure heroin is a relatively safe drug, but I can advise against experimenting with any opiate without a doctors supervision. I am not against amending drug laws if it can be shown that the amendments help the worldwide drug problems

Sod the world wide drug problem i want to help the person i love and no one in the uk seems to give a sh1t. unless i pay 15g that is, which i just dont have.

I don't know much money your love spends on drugs, but it is sure that accepting help is ultimately going to be her decision. I am also doubtful that she could quit without help. If anyone understands your frustration I think it would be me.

Frustation yes good word. in the last yeay she has spent over £40,000 on heroin and crack cocaine. when i met her she was working the streets (you know what i mean) i took her off the street and funded her habit myself. i gradually tried to wean her off it but as you rightly say she wasnt ready. i am prepared to wait, i ask her every day if she wants to get clean, and every day she says yes. until the first pipe crackles. all i can do is be there for her and pray she decides to get clean before she kills herself on some sh1t cut with rat poison.

Again you are quite right in what you say. my girlfriend smokes crack through a pipe then toots heroin from foil. (chasing the dragon) she can not do one without the other as one is an upper the other a downer. she now exists in a world almost paralell to ours and she is only 25. she has been an addict for 6 years and i am starting to fear i am fighting a losing battle. i love her completely but my mental health is starting to suffer because of her addiction and i have to make a decision......should i stay or should i go...new thread eh?

Everything that I have seen seems to support what the experts say and that is that addiction is a progressive disease that on the average rarely improves without treatment or behavioral modification. The strongest opponents to methadone seem to be the unfortunate people that are thrown in jail without the luxuries of clinical detoxification. It is helpful to understand how an addicts mind thinks. Weaning is seemingly very merciful, but sadly I have never weaned an addict with any success. The detoxification process requires the full cooperation of the patient. It is natural for the mind to avoid pain. It seems that the earliest treatment of addiction acknowledges that a sick mind most times has difficulty healing itself. I am a believer in chemical balance through spirituality

Very clever that. promoting your own book. i am struggling to pay for rehab for the one person i love in this world and you are trying to sell a book!! forgive me but keep your book and i will continue to strive for professional help.

I agree that your girlfriend needs professional help. I will just have to be content with reading and listening to people whine that no one cares. I would send you a free copy but I spent most of my money trying to wean an addict and trying to care

You see you never even asked the question. i am very interested in your book but it wouldnt help kelly. i never said it wouldnt help me. i have a large collection of such books. i have spent a lot of years searching for something but i dont know what.

Lmao Bob anybody that has ever been in prison knows there are more drugs on the inside than there is on the out.

"^so can I get high by praying?....or low by reciting, "Yea though I walk through the valley of drug infested streets, I shall fear no evil, because the lord has supplied me this day"

Basically I do believe that the Lord does supply all of the wholesome chemicals that we need on any given day. There is a stigma on giving a shit in most countries, and that is why most of us prefer to take a shit. I have been taking shit all of my life. I can't even get my own shit together. Some pothead once told me I wasn't shit, but I had to think about why I should give a shit what a dope thought about me. God loves the sinner, but not the sin

"You see you never even asked the question. i am very interested in your book but it wouldnt help kelly. i never said it wouldnt help me. i have a large collection of such books. i have spent a lot of years searching for something but i dont know what."

I never meant to pass the book off as a solution. I married an addict that I thought was serious about recovery and I know a little bit about what you are going through. I will go to court tomorrow to pay a lawyer to represent her on another crime she has committed, though I realize once again that the help she needs is beyond her and beyond man. I will remember you and Kelly in my prayers. I am not ungrateful for any progress she has made by the grace of God. I know what it feels like to be a tool