What do you think about illegal drugs being normalised in society?
Posted by AlucardVTep3s@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 323 comments
[removed]
Posted by AlucardVTep3s@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 323 comments
[removed]
MauriceDynasty@reddit
When I used to smoke weed I'd always order takeaways, they go really well together the whole be lazy and eat lots of food thing so weed usage will always be overrepresented to delivery drivers.
Mindless-Nothing-543@reddit
Idk… I mean, entirely within UK context, yeah, their body their choice.
But, as a Mexican immigrant to the UK who has been asked many many many times “but isn’t Mexico a super dangerous hellhole?” by the same people I then see doing lines and lines every Saturday is kinda disheartening. Like, yeah, if you people didn’t spent £££s every week in coke maybe cartels wouldn’t have so many resources.
But, I also get that you, as in UK society, are greatly removed from drug violence. But it still makes me uncomfortable some times.
So, yeah, it’s a weird topic for me. Not that I want to stop people, I just would like for them to be more informed of where their pounds are going to.
I’m all for legal weed, tho…
Kudosnotkang@reddit
But isn’t this the point ? If it were legal to Consume and import in the uk there wouldn’t be elicit trade and gangs fuelling it .
Britain is the a big exporter of cannabis to countries where it is legal, it’s professionally grown and exported crime free. however on our doorstep where it’s illegal to consume (without licence) it can’t be sold by the government so gangs do it and cause havoc. I’d imagine the same would be true of cocaine or any drug. Alcohol production attracted criminal activity when it was prohibited …
HerbieMoonrock@reddit
UK exports Sativex spray for MS patients, Canada exports actual weed
Kudosnotkang@reddit
Sorry are you referring to the typo or you wouldn’t class them as a big exporter of cannabis?
I guess the point remains the same whether you think they are a big or little exporter; they grow and supply it legally and without resorting to uzi shootouts or having slaves tending their crops .
HerbieMoonrock@reddit
I'm referring to the fact we don't export 'recreational' products or skunk to the legal countries.
AdAffectionate2418@reddit
I'm always amazed at the otherwise socially conscious/"woke" people don't seem to consider the impact of where their coke comes from.
Having someone tell me about how "free range" needs to have stricter welfare obligations before offering me a line of Charlie is always a weird one.
Alexandhisgoose@reddit
Which is we want these drugs legalised and controlled. People are going to take them no matter what you do so why not make them properly to controlled standards, sold in limited amounts in pharmacies and use the tax generated to help fund programs to support addicts.
James20985@reddit
I hear this argument a lot, I disagree. There is a well established existing market for drugs suddenly making them available in pharmacies with a considerable markup (you don't think companies will absolutely rinse the addicted?) Will not eradicate the drug dealers or the back alley deals. It will also expose those people who currently do not do drugs to them will catastrophic effect. If an addictive substance is suddenly available on mass the NHS admissions will become unbearable and the system will collapse (yes, i know alcohol exists but please spare me the whataboutisms and let's focus shall we?) I do not want everywhere to stink of sweaty arse and nor do I want my children to be exposed to zombies in the street like San Francisco. These are genuine concerns that many people will have and not just pearl clutching, I have worked with and seen the effects of long term drug use first hand. The argument for legalisation is "i like drugs and might be addicted to them despite what they will do to my health, the NHS and the country" its not really a long term win.
Pinappleenthus1ast@reddit
Good point. That’s why there should also be other polices made for harm reduction and addiction services along with legalisation. Also it should be heavily controlled still, just like alcohol should only be sold in specialised shops like in Norway. Just legalisation without any control is obviously not the way to go, You can see how that went in Germany after they decriminalised weed. No special shops, no addiction services, no harm reduction or prevention/education about the drug…
James20985@reddit
Portugal tried and had initial success but has recently lying seen a doubling in overdoses and a massive spike in acquisition crime meaning they are now looking at reversing the policy
Dan_Quixote_@reddit
This is s lie. Stop lying. Show us the evidence.
James20985@reddit
It's not, im not, you have a device in your hand that has the sum total of all the world's knowledge it is not difficult to read many newspaper articles on this or any other topic. Your only argument is that you want to take drugs and not get told off.
Selpmis@reddit
I searched to try and find out more information about Portugal having:
But came up short. Would you mind sharing where you read/saw this?
reallynotbatman@reddit
The latest statistical bulletin is at https://www.euda.europa.eu/data/stats2025_en
Even if his statements about it double is true (I couldnt find it either) it's still waaaaay down on the pre legalisation numbers ( in another comment he mentioned a 12 year high -legalisation happened in 2001, so 25 years ago)
reallynotbatman@reddit
You should look at what has happened in Portugal since they legalised in 2001
There is more visible use, and so more people exposed to it, but it has resulted in less addicts so I don't know what to make of that
So everything you've said is counter to what real world examples show, which kinda is pearl clutching despite you saying it's not
James20985@reddit
Erm...sorry but your wrong:
Public Visibility of Usage: Economic pressures and the closure of some specialized outreach centers have led to a return of visible drug use and encampments in city centers like Lisbon and Porto. Recent Spikes in Overdoses: While still performing better than many nations, Portugal has seen a rise in overdoses—hitting 12-year highs and doubling in cities like Lisbon since 2019. General Crime Increase: General public space crime and robbery statistics saw a 14% year-over-year spike in the early 2020s, which police attribute partly to untreated, high-risk drug dependency.
Source: European drug agency
reallynotbatman@reddit
2001 was 25 years ago...so a 12 year high is still lower then pre-law changes
Drug usage still mirrors EU trends, yet deaths are still amongst the lowest in Europe despite recent cuts to the funding, and according to the source of this (same as yours, the European drug agency) the reason for this is due to the visibility and availability of treatment
James20985@reddit
A worrying trend, shall be just be honest and say that drug use will increase and this will cause massive health issues for an already broken health system? It's not popping out for an ice cream? It's taking a substance that will get you addicted and then cost you (likely your family) all they own. How about we advocate for less drug users instead?
reallynotbatman@reddit
Being honest the drug use stays the same but treatment for problem use is massively increased
I understand how it's been misinterpreted, but it has the opposite effect of what you're saying, the access to treatment for problem use is before it puts strain on the health system so actually reduces impact on it
(I disagree that it's a broken health system too - it's not, a bit bloated, sure, bit inefficient sure, but not broken)
James20985@reddit
Your robbing Peter to pay Paul... Increase drug treatment will reduce costs for problem use but its still costing you money and the more people the more money.
reallynotbatman@reddit
As the European Drug Agency reports, the number of drug users is the same - so its not costing more money, but early intervention is cheaper then dealing with it later - which legalisation has shown in Portugal to happen.
The money is already being spent on this, legalisation would allow for the money to be better focused and provide more health. Its not a robbing Peter to pay Paul - its talking to Peter and having him spend his money in a more efficient manner.
This is clearly something that we disagree on, and its clear that there is nothing I can highlight that would ahve any chance of changing your mind (even when the source you brought up shows that legalisation has reduced the impact in Portugal), so while I've enjoyed our back and forth, I think thats it for me.
Selpmis@reddit
Would you mind going back into the chat and copying the link for the EUDA source?
I'm looking on the EUDA website and it's not particularly easy to navigate so I'm struggling to find these statistics.
Alexandhisgoose@reddit
Which is why you control it properly. Set a maximum price to prevent price gouging. When you go to buy it your ID is run through a database that tracks how much you have purchased and have a sensible limit that only allows recreational use.
You won't get mass addiction and those who are addicted will have access to better help and most importantly possession is decriminalised so only dealing is a criminal offense.
It doesn't benefit the public at all to waste money sending drug users through the justice system that only makes it harder for them to get clean.
James20985@reddit
Setting a maximum price will disincline companies from selling it (it's a free market afterall). You think people won't buy from more than one place? Addicts will sell their own grandmother for a hit. How will the addicted get better help? Who is paying for all of this? The tax doesn't even cover the increased NHS admissions. Drug users should be mandated to get clean, cold turkey is fine for everything other than alcohol (where it can actually kill you) so lock them up until they have come out the other side, the experience will act as a deterrant.
Dan_Quixote_@reddit
You talk like someone who hasn't the slightest clue about drugs. If you had you would understand that addiction is a disease of social, economic and emotional instability. People with a career, a stable home life and something lose do not become addicted to drugs. As a doctor I've spent many an ED night shift in the Obs department watching patients sober up after a bad trip, never to repeat the mistake they've made. The problem addicts are the poor homeless guys who have absolutely nothing to lose
James20985@reddit
Slightest clue? Me? No not at all i just spent over a decade clearing up the mess drugs leave behind with your colleagues in the ED. Treated the infant who got accidentally injected with god knows that because mummy and daddy got so baked they fell over with a loaded syringe in their nice 3 bed? No? How about the guy who peeled his own face off with his fingernails in his own flat? Not that one either eh? How about the property guy with multiple premises who drove over his own daughter because the weed was so strong he got psychosis? Did you fix that one? Course not....they werent all homeless and suffering social, economic and emotional stability were they. Would you class these examples as "problem addicts"? Well doctor, what constitutes problem drug use? GMC have plenty of resources on this. It's just the homeless that have problem drug use is it - you speak like an FY1 that's just started an ED placement after listening to too many social studies lectures whilst at med school.
Perhaps people have real world experience beyond your wonderful powers of deduction. People from good homes absolutely become addicted some of them really quickly. Get your head out of the textbook and listen to people in the ED.
Alexandhisgoose@reddit
Of course it will, for a start you will save a fortune in policing when you aren't having to arrest people for having a personal supply of drugs on them.
That is 62000 arrests that don't have to take place annually and arresting someone and sending them through the custody system alone costs approximately 1000 pounds per person. So that is 62 million saved in custody alone, that is before you account for investigation, public defenders, courts, imprisonment etc.
The total cost we spend on it is over a billion pounds annually so there is your money for rehab before you take any tax money into account.
James20985@reddit
That is arrests for "drug offences" it does not seperate out possession from intent to supply, supply, driving, manufacture or conspiracy offences. Not all of those will disappear and you dont normally go to court for simple possession. So most of that cost will continue.
Many sentences include the costs for the prosecution thus recouping some of that cost.
The total cost doesn't include other offences prosecuted alongside drug offences so your numbers are off unfortunately.
Specific costs for health care for drug users is over 400million a year already, wider societal costs are expected to be in excess of £20 billion, these will increase with more addicts.
Alexandhisgoose@reddit
Nope that is just drug possession. All drug crimes are over 100000 people per year.
James20985@reddit
It's not. There are only 750,000 arrests every year most of which are people arrested more than once.
In England and Wales there are only 62,000 drug offences each year. Source: UK Government!
Selpmis@reddit
And when I've hit my limit, I'll just ask a someone else to let me use their limit and buy it instead. Maybe we'll even share it but I cover the cost as a gratuity. I could even pay non-using friends to max out their limits for me too.
Alexandhisgoose@reddit
And when you get caught you and all your friends up in prison cause that is the bit you criminlise.
Selpmis@reddit
So, effectively still criminalised then... just with extra steps!
Alexandhisgoose@reddit
Yes cause it is illegally supplying drugs which is want needs to be criminlised.
Dan_Quixote_@reddit
100%. The War on Drugs has been a catastrophic failure. Prisons can't even keep drugs out yet Western governments insist on maintaining the black market, wasting billions on failing enforcement and the penal system
James20985@reddit
The problem though is that it was really a war on drugs, 90% of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan, USA and its allies had the opportunity to torch the poppy fields but chose not to because they were concerned it would drive people to the taliban. Satalites exist that can identify crops from space, you dont think we can identify the coca plants in south America and firebomb them from the sky? The cartels are highly adaptive and well armed but if you think that most modern militaries would absolutely win any conflict i have a bridge to sell you.
There has been too much political hand wringing to solve the issue. We can make the plants go extinct, or actually get people off drugs whilst in prison, make sentences determinate on how quickly you get clean. Drug addiction is a terrible affliction for people to have legalisation will make that worse and for more people.
Dan_Quixote_@reddit
The most lucrative black market drug is cocaine which, whilst not very good for you, is not as disorientating as alcohol nor as addictive as nicotine. Cocaine is used as an anesthetic. SWIM might have tried all these subtances and found that cocaine isn't a daily, weekly or even monthly indulgence. SWIM might argue that cocaine is actually a really nicr and fun thing to do with friends very occasionally. Alcohol and nicotine however are more difficult to avoid. Alcohol contributes significantly to disorder and violent crime.
The cartels exist because the are criminalised. Decriminalise and tax - that is the only way to stop the bloodshed. I don't mind people using chemicals if they can function and are happy. I do care that people are dying because Reagan's wife went on a crusade to conquer something she didn't understand
James20985@reddit
I do mind people using chemicals, I do mind that they then drive and crash into people, I do mind that they become violent or erratic and hurt people, I do mind that they injure themselves or overdose and end up costing the NHS more money, time and effort which could all be avoided if they just didnt want their fix. Cartels exist because they have a product that people want...who do you think will be making the drugs if you legalise them? People are dying because they take drugs.
Dan_Quixote_@reddit
People die driving cars sober. People die being hit by drunk drivers. People die eating too much sugar and fat. People die not exercising. Why is drugs the thing you want to outlaw, knowing that keeping it illegal maintains organised crime?
James20985@reddit
Whataboutisms are pointless. We are discussing drug use in the UK. I wish to keep many things outlawed. Organised crime was here long before drugs were outlawed and it'll be here long after humanity realises what a stupid thing they are. You truly believe that the cartels in south America , the taliban in Afghanistan and crime syndicates in Indonesia, China and the middle east will just say "well that's it lads, England and Wales has made it legal to stink out your flat smoking weed, time to get rid of the girls, stop the property fraud and the money laundering and go be an accountant"
Dan_Quixote_@reddit
Cartels exist because the market is illegal. If the drugs were legal, something like cocaine would continue to be manufactured by Martindale Pharma for example, who produces medical cocaine for ENT surgery in the UK. It would be produced in higher quantities. MDMA would probably be produced by most major drug manufacturers, particularly Merck who originally patented it over 100 years ago
James20985@reddit
The cartels do a lot more that just drugs.
You think that when the suits from the board of Johnson and Johnson turn up in Colombia the cartels are just going to retreat into the jungle do you? Medical drugs are (mostly) synthesised in a lab, are sterile and come (again mostly) in liquid form so concentrated it would kill you. They already produce more than enough for medical use around the world. Pharmaceutical companies are not hankering to produce free range drugs where they would likely be sued for every moron that overdoses.
We aren't talking about medical drugs, we're talking about street drugs where they are mostly made of brick dust.
Dan_Quixote_@reddit
People aren't all toddlers and you can't be everybody's mother
James20985@reddit
No but there are quite a few who are and have no self control or ability to think long term or about anyone but themselves.
I have no desire to play mother, I would just like the debate to be a bit more honest when it comes to drugs.
Too often its framed as "the mean government won't let me take perfectly innocent substances so I'll frame it as a tax benefit to legalise it rather than just admit that that its just i dont want to be told off for being a drug user".
Society, unfortunately, has to move at the pace of the slowest runner.
tuftofcare@reddit
they also didn't want to torch the poppy fields, because its products are used medicinally around the world
James20985@reddit
You can make those synthetically - western medicine doesn't buy tainted heroin from afganistan
jasmith2706@reddit
Can’t call it a war, wars end
WestleyMc@reddit
I know a dude who refused to have the Covid vaccine because ’he didn’t know what was in it’ .. who has done 3g’s (minimum) per week for ~20yrs+
kipperfish@reddit
Oh, you know my friend too?
Although not much of a friend now, I've distanced myself after I found out he had about £2k worth of weed in his bag when I picked him up once.
A) I've got a damn family I can't be caught with that in my car you utter twollop. And B) where's my cut you cheapskate.
Guilty_Public5356@reddit
Twollop! What a fantastic word. You have a good day and thank you for expanding my vocabulary!
Anathemare@reddit
We all pick our battles. Half of people in this thread discussing the dissociation of cocaine and its unethical origin are likely using iPhones created in factories with highly questionable worker conditions. They might then go out and eat some chicken which was farmed in a low-standards factory farm.
It’s easy to question why people don’t consider the impact of their drugs but when you stop and think about all the places we’re told to think about and be morally righteous about, there’s just an endless and exhausting list. And that person just wants to get high on their weekend after a long week at work.
Selpmis@reddit
I get what you're saying but you're kinda missing the point. The people ITT aren't preaching about ethics, they're specifically talking about those who do preach yet can't reconcile within themselves their own hypocrisy by consuming cocaine.
Cunthbert@reddit
Because a lot of “woke” people don’t actually care about the things they claim to, they are actually just virtue signalling.
sg209@reddit
That's why legalisation is the way to go.
Drugs being illegal hasn't made them go away.
MountainMuffin1980@reddit
Weed sure. But legalising and normalising Coke? Nah
master_of_entropy@reddit
Legalize ALL drugs. Create a legal, safe, controlled and taxed market, that's the only possible way out of 6 decades of barbaric and ineffective global drug war. Legalizing drugs doesn't mean normalising or encouraging their use, it means controlling the supply, getting money out of it, and removing all power from the hands of the cartels.
EdiT342@reddit
Lol, some drugs are highly addictive, do you think it’s really such a good idea to legalise them and facilitate access to an average Joe that wouldn’t have tried them otherwise?
Smoking tobacco is legal and heavily taxed in the UK. We are moving towards a smoking ban because they do more harm than good. Should be the same with gambling. Sure, you get some money through duties, but lose much more because of early deaths, addiction and rehabs
Disrobingbean@reddit
Would you try drugs if they were legal? You seem pretty opposed to drugs themselves, is it really just the law that's stopping you? I know plenty of people that stay straight edge while everyone around them burns a hole in their septum.
Cigarettes do more harm than good, I agree, I dread to think what would get taxed in their place, what would be smoked in their place. I don't think banning them will work, better funding for the NHS from cigarette sales tax (and all the other drugs that are currently untaxed) would be the best way to mitigate the damage.
Weed doesn't give you a lobotomy, it's not as harmless as some people would have you believe, but it's actually a great example of how legalisation can make a drug safer. Medical cannabis patients can see what strain they're ordering, how strong it is, how balanced it is, whether it's irradiated or not, and a bunch more besides. The worst part of MC is the weed can be a bit too dry, and the clinical side adds a little extra cost. Black market weed can be a bit cheaper, but you're taking your dealers word, they're taking their dealers word, so on and so forth. And in BM weed spaces "taxing" means stealing someones weed.
Also, my MC script means I don't have to rely so heavily on the pain meds my GP gave me, I'm eligible for the highest amount of codeine that you can reasonably be expected to function on, if my tolerance gets too high then my options will be nothing or a waking opiate coma. My adhd meds are essentially extended release speed, mixing amphetamines and opiates isn't the smartest idea, but without weed it'd be my only option. Thankfully my adhd meds can be skipped when needed, so if I know in the morning that I'll need codeine, I can skip it, but I take it at 8.30ish am, after that I can't take it back out.
Obviously doctor prescribed medication is different to self medication and recreational use. My point is that I'm highly motivated to keep all three substances under strict control, I used to use variations of all three recreationally, now I'm limiting my caffeine intake. I could abuse codeine really easily, I get a month's worth in one lump, and I'd enjoy it, same as i did with the H use i took too far. It's really not worth it though. My adhd meds aren't recreational for my brain, but they'd fetch a damn good price on the black market. Again, not worth it. If I, a self confessed user of many substances, and former herion addict, can manage a therapeutic use regimen for opiates, amphetamines, and cannabis, isn't it a bit cynical to believe that legalisation will lead to widespread addiction?
I realise this comment is already too long, but I feel like I should say it's not personal. I can see the logic on your side of the debate. Legalisation would absolutely remove some of the stigma around drug use, but neither that stigma, nor the law, have stopped said drug use. I don't even think legalisation is an ideal situation, just the most pragmatic one.
Sorry for the essay. Have a good'un!
EdiT342@reddit
I am not against all drugs, I’ve tried weed and mushrooms myself. I recognise there are clinical benefits when used correctly and prescribed by doctors, but I don’t think giving a 19yo access to a stable and legal supply of cocaine is a good thing, as the person I replied to was implying by legalising ALL drugs.
I am okay with the current laws and I wouldn’t be opposed to it being more lax against weed, but I don’t believe weed is a panacea and I’ve seen people turn smoking from a treat to an everyday activity which made their life worse. I am glad that it works for you and it seems like you are responsible with it
Disrobingbean@reddit
I wrote all that but I forgot to mention I was arguing in favour of a kind of controlled legalisation of all drugs, except weed because it's illegal use is already so widespread that I'd argue it should be legally treated like alcohol, legal to buy from regulated suppliers, legal to produce at home, but illegal to sell your privately produced weed. Forgetting to clarify my position doesn't help my pro-weed stance, but I have only used about 0.4g in the past 72 hours, I'm blaming my adhd, but since I am a virtually anonymous commenter that requires readers to take it on faith. Poor debate on my part.
Shrooms are awkward, Ideally hallucinogens would be more controlled than alcohol, but a walk in the countryside can potentially net you a substantial supply of mushrooms... hopefully all magic, or at least edible, but they're entirely reliant on the pickers eye.
Panacea is an excellent word, thank you for adding it to my vocabulary. I agree, there's a lot of almost mythical qualities ascribed to cannabis that have no scientific basis. Even the uses we can back up with research, such as pain management, is different for different people, as are the side effects. Some people are energised on one strain, lethargic on another. Personally all strains make me tired, all strains make my sister wired. But the same is true for alcohol, which people also use to self medicate pain. The reason I argue for complete legalisation of cannabis is the abject failure of alcohol prohibition, without massive cultural shift cannabis and alcohol are here to stay.
For other drugs, you mentioned cocaine so we'll go with that, I think a service similar to the current medical cannabis industry would be the most utilitarian solution. It'd create jobs, It'd require strict quality control for the producers to reduce the risk of cocaine use, a registration service would enable quantity control for users so they don't buy a gram for every day of the week and end up having a messy 48 hours, and cocaine is stigmatised enough that registration would deter most non users, but dangerous enough (innately and legally) that a controlled, legal option would be attractive enough to make a substantial dent in black market trade.
doihavetousethis@reddit
Portugal decriminalised drugs a while back and offered rehabilitation to people, apparently crime plummeted like 90% or something
DoKtor2quid@reddit
I’m a drugs worker (work with addicts) and this would be my preferred route. Decriminalisation rather than legalisation. Portugal does not criminalise users and treats via the health systems rather than criminal justice systems. There’s a subtle difference as itself not ‘promoting’ drug use by taking this route.
My exception to this (if I was making the rules) would be to legalise cannabis. This would open the market to different strains and connoisseur consumption, thus ending the dominance of skunk and high THC varieties. I would like the option to buy (or grow) CBD varieties so I can eat a bit of fudge on a Friday night and get nicely mellow.
It’s already grown in the UK so crime in countries such as Mexico for example, would not be funded.
Currently UK cannabis is mainly shipped abroad…and the growers with those licenses happen to be politicians (many of them). Funny that. If weed was legalised, they would lose their monopoly on a hugely lucrative business.
Disrobingbean@reddit
Decriminalisation helps individual users, but wouldn't legalisation of other substances lead to the same kind of benefits as cannabis legalisation? Cocaine, for example, if we imported the leaves we could create jobs here in production, there'd be legally enforced quality control, and cartels would have their profits slashed (but would probably end up controlling the export of the leaves) it's not something I'd say should be legal to make at home, but a similar system to medical cannabis as it stands in the UK atm without the medical veneer could result in a controllable, legal, taxable, recreational drug market. Or is that naive?
I use coke as an example because there's no valid medicinal use, it's easy to get hold of illegally already, but baggies behind a supermarket kiosk feels too lax even for me. Medical cannabis is still pretty stigmatised by the same people who stigmatise BM weed, anecdotally the only anti weed people I know who have changed their tune in regard to MC are people with chronic pain issues. Personally, being able to use MC in public has reduced my (legal and prescribed) codeine use because I can treat pain earlier and I don't feel like I have to hide a vape in the same way I tend to hide codeine in public, I'm not required to hide it, it just marks me as having valuable controlled substances, a vape is a vape and even if people recognise the smell, you're probably not the first person they've noticed it from, and you're not likely to be mugged for a bit of weed.
Also, I agree that cannabis should be something you can grow at home, the only thing that gives me pause is the inefficient use of energy for personal growers vs bulk growers.
smb3something@reddit
As someone who went to rehab, lack of access is a problem in the UK. And alcohol was by and large a common problem amongst people I met there no matter what other drugs the person was addicted to. Weed not so much, just usually part of it, not that it can't be problematic on its own. Though I feel a lot of street weed here is cut with stuff and having a legit source keeps actual users safer. My brother died when he relapsed and his heroine was cut with too much fentanyl. Decriminalisation and actually facing the problem of addiction itself as a society through better treatment options is the only answer that seems to curb the problem.
PrincessPK475@reddit
I suspect your downvotes are mainly because you said weed could fuck your life up and there are staunch believers that that isn't possible....
I've known at least 3 people go into a weed induced psychosis and one who developed a dependency and it was going that way....
I've known other people who smoke like they are drinking water and are fully functional and content with their lives (though I think it's holding them back personally but each to their own and as long as they are happy)
The people who spiralled had a couple things in common:
smoking heavily while taking other drugs routinely or at the same time in the same sesh even
had underlying MH issues
-had undiagnosed neurodivergence (far far far more sensitive, especially to the THC)
Personally I'm both for and against legalisation. I agree with decriminalising personal use, sale and distribution should ofc stay illegal.... But only if the investment into rehabilitation and med treatment and support is there and access to safe legal attainment in place first.....
Legalising without support would be a fucking disaster and calling a spade a spade, the gov would decriminilise to placate the people without putting any of said needed supportive infrastructure in place and that's where it would become an utter shitshow. Which is why my current line of thinking is keep it illegal, probably needs some relaxation for personal use.
Weed being the exception because plenty of legal private sellers already to import from and people here to set up shop for it, but people need to stop kidding themselves that it's never harmful.
Likewise people who tell themselves it's for chronic pain.... Yeah for a couple of hours, your pain signals are shutdown and when they come back online they fire like fricking crazy and your system is more sensitive so you end up creating a self-fulfilling problem. There's an argument for it in palliative or short term care, much like medical morphine, but I don't have the same sympathy for it as an excuse for chronic back pain..... I digress....
Similar with alcohol, keep an eye on your buddies and on yourself for any smokers reading and don't be afraid to step in and have a stern word.
(Clinical scientist and (mostly) ex-smoker so Its not that I'm totally anti, but people do really need to stop kidding themselves and pushing a fake narrative that weed isn't ever harmful)
EdiT342@reddit
I knew what I’m getting into lol. I think some of the most ardent defenders might be in the denial phase themselves. And I understand people coming back with studies that fit their view of the world or compare it with other drugs - which I agree with, alcohol is much more dangerous.
However that doesn’t mean weed only has benefits and no downsides and as I said, I’ve seen people develop that addiction. Kurzgesagt on Youtube did a good video about it: https://youtu.be/qBRaI0ZeAf8?si=2SwFwEvMlvpGbUNf
Just a couple of weeks ago a newstarter at work got fired because of his absences. He told me a few days prior that he can’t go to sleep without smoking, he smokes at least 1 gram a day.
I tried weed in high school, but I’m not a fan of smoking so only tried it a handful of times and didn’t find it interesting.
master_of_entropy@reddit
It's funny you mention nicotine, which is the most addictive of all psychoactive drugs (more than heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2050324520904540) and it's already legal almost everywhere. The tobacco ban is a huge mistake and will lead to a vast black market. The average Joe already has access to any of the commonly used illegal drugs. If an homeless person can get them you can too. Prohibition just doesn't work, has never worked and never will. Nobody chooses to use or not to use drugs on the basis of legal status.
GraceForImpact@reddit
Really? Drugs can be addictive?? Someone should be warning us about this!
markedasred@reddit
It's a massive waste of tax income letting it all go to dealers.
Selpmis@reddit
It's not completely lost income though. Eventually it does loop it's way back through the economy whenever anything is purchased legitimately and VAT is paid. Even drug dealers gotta eat and pay bills.
amboandy@reddit
The war on drugs. Belligerants "the government" vs "cartels" AND "motivated drug users". Result - Loss for the government.
Cut supply to drugs causes the price of drugs to increase. Therefore, more money for cartels to invest in production. Therefore, supply increases.
Repeat for 40 years.
unaubisque@reddit
It's a lot more nuanced than that in Mexico for example. The government in a lot regions are in the pay of cartels, and institutions at all levels (police, judiciary, local and national politicians) are compensated and bought off by them.
Plenty of people who would not officially be seen as cartel members are benefitting from cartel drug money, and are then paying taxes and spending the money in the economy. Likewise, a huge percentage of the tourist infrastructure in the country is built and run by the cartels, bringing in vast amount of money from the US.
It's why it is so hard to tackle the cartels, because they infilitrate every layer of society and provide benefits to a lot of people, from the top of government down.
Clothes_Chair_Ghost@reddit
Parts of Mexico are a super dangerous hellhole cause of the war on drugs. Making it illegal gave cartels a lot of money by moving stuff over the border into USA. If Coke wasn’t illegal then places in the USA would be able to produce their own, since conditions for any plant can be replicated in an indoor grow facility.
This would have obliterated any power the cartels would have gotten by eliminating a major source of their funding.
bronsonrider@reddit
I stopped doing cocaine after reading a fictional book called “The Power of the dog”, it really woke me up to the reality that every line I did was tainted by blood and horror. Walked away from that whole scene and don’t miss it at all. I’m all for legalising all drugs and ring fencing the tax take for education and healthcare.
Wide-Advertising-279@reddit
Cura leaf prescribe medical cannabis in the UK.
AdamBake13@reddit
Wouldn't legalizing drugs take the power away from the cartels?
SmugglersParadise@reddit
These are my feelings towards the issue too
Yes, consumers die, or have life impacting behavioral changes as a result of drugs.
But these are nothing in comparison to the death and suffering at the the production and transportation of these drugs.
I'd legalise it all. Today. Regulate it. Have them grown here in the UK, by businesses paying taxes. There is so much death in the drug trade that isn't seen by the users.
HiphopMeNow@reddit
cartels are US gov sponsored.
Alarm-Different@reddit
Might be controversial but it's not really my problem if the government and general voting public have decided to ignore expert advice e.g. David Nutt and make drugs criminalised. I have one life and I'd like to consume drugs (although I only really consume weed these days). If government wants to bury their head in the sand while being corrupt on drugs (e.g. biggest supplier of medical weed) and make zero effort to reduce harm in drug users by providing access to regulated and taxed drugs etc. then the govt and general public who agree with their stance can go fuck themselves. It's not great that drug money inevitably helps cartels but again that's more a symptom of poor political decisions rather than my individual purchasing decisions.
doihavetousethis@reddit
I hear you.
My best mate and I did coke a bit, now a few years down the line she has a Colombian partner. She doesn't do it anymore as her partner has told her how it's fucked up their communities. I get that. Its also why I stopped doing it too.
Hits harder when the fallout hurts the people you love.
Successful-Tap-50@reddit
Can I dm you?
Mindless-Nothing-543@reddit
Yeah, I might take a while to answer, but yes.
AlabamaShrimp@reddit
This is the wrong place to ask this and get any kind of balanced answer. There seems to be a high acceptance of drug use, especially cannabis on reddit with the most common reply being it should be legal as alcohol is and the govemt would make money from it.
There have been studies both for and against all kinds of drug use with their long term side effects, many posted on reddit but like the political threads no one can ever agree.
CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit
I fully agree.
I have personal experiences of close family and friends who actually were harmed by weed use (had doctors tell us that was what it was) and of course any time I explain it, I suddenly have redditors downvoting and becoming reddit doctors to inform me weed is some medical marvel.
I don't deny that it can be used reasonably safely. I don't claim that alcohol or cigarettes are better. I know many people that use it recreational that are not affected by the use of it.
I can be persuaded that legalisation is the way forward. I see lots of positives. I'm not anti-weed.
What I have a massive issue with is this "there is no downside to weed use". Because I can tell you it fucked up my friend and close family member good and proper.
ShutUpBaby-IKnowIt69@reddit
Reasonable take, it definitely can do harm but thats no reason to make it illegal. People get it anyway, it should be taxed and regulated. Its a win-win all around, easily accessible for those that want it and absolutely huge revenue stream for the government instead of a cost.
CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit
Again, I've not spoken about legalisation (or not), but if we do want an honest discussion, we also have to discuss what legalisation also does to uptake too.
I do think in general, legalisation has a place in this discussion. But obviously, it comes with increased usage too.
There will always be people who will use a banned substance, but the second the government says it's "ok" then those who don't break the law (I use this in the factual sense, not as an opinion towards weed), some will consider it a safe substance and therefore start using too.
Now is that a ig enough issue or not is not something I have to data to know, but it's never a clear cut easy answer.
But yes, legalisation has a lot of positives too. In fact legalisation/decriminalisation of all drugs could massively benefit the UK by sorting the underlying issue without villainising the addicts.
Biceratops1@reddit
Cannabis can be legally prescribed in the UK
Ok-Ship812@reddit
Normalised, no.
Legalised yes. Remove the criminal element (well, reduce it) and get addicts help to quit.
katie-kaboom@reddit
I think it's a little weird to be pressed over people using cannabis and not alcohol. Simply being legal/illegal doesn't make using something right/wrong.
CelDidNothingWrong@reddit
Especially for a food delivery driver, he’ll be out of a job if they crack down on weed
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Years ago when I worked at Ryanair, we had a random drug test and one girl was a heavy weed smoker. She turned up to the place in tears and downing cranberry juice. She never turned up to work intoxicated but because she would smoke before bed almost every other day, there was too much in her system.
At the time cannabis was treated the same as alcohol so you had to be over a limit in order for you to be deemed not airworthy. She was sacked and I never heard from her again but I think about her sometimes.
M1ghty_boy@reddit
The legal driving limit for cannabis is too low... And I only say that from a place of comparing with everything else, alcohol and even class A drugs.
The alcohol limit will allow you to have two pints and still drive (just about, weight/gender dependent), or drive the morning after having quite a few. the cannabis limit will criminalise you if tested up to a week after, potentially weeks/months if you smoke regularly and stopped.
Depending on how you consumed it, the impairment will have stopped completely after a few hours, but the law in place doesn't make it easy to enjoy (perhaps intentionally)
ot1smile@reddit
This is my understanding too (that the threshold means that you could fail a thc test long after any impairment has passed) but I passed a swab test a couple of years ago and although I hadn’t smoked that day I’ve been a daily smoker for over 30 years. Perhaps the saliva test isn’t as sensitive to metabolites released by fat/organs so the fact that I hadn’t smoked that day caused the negative, and if I’d tested positive and subsequently been blood tested to obtain an actual concentration I’d have been in trouble. Whatever the reason I was very surprised to pass.
Disrobingbean@reddit
Accurate roadside testing for thc levels is, as far as I know, virtually impossible at the moment. The saliva swab isn't nearly sensitive enough to enforce the letter of the law and other testing methods are so sensitive that without better police training (hah!) and understanding of how cannabis metabolises, it's practically useless for enforcing the spirit of the law. With the increased number of medical cannabis user who drive I expect we'll see a lot more officer discretion, not because they're not bastards, but because they don't want to deal with the headache of potentially arresting someone for a legally prescribed medication.
M1ghty_boy@reddit
That's the gist of what Ive heard and seen, only accurate test is a blood test at the station. In the case of someone using it medically, officer discretion to check for actual impairment is the current law rather than a drugs wipe.. Seen many medical users win court cases to get their license back after officers deemed them impaired too.
M1ghty_boy@reddit
May be hit or miss, I always see people who haven't smoked in days get done and people who smoked the day before get away with it.. Maybe I should use mouthwash more
zagblorg@reddit
Definitely intentional. Stoners are clearly the worst scourge of our society!
M1ghty_boy@reddit
Can't wait for the mirror/sun headlines as the inevitable blood cannabis limit is raised to go along with the decriminalisation/legalisation..
HIGH WAY TO HELL: X PARTY LETS DRUGGIES DRIVE
STONED COLD KILLERS: HOW X PARTY HANDED THE KEYS TO CANNABIS ADDICTS
SPLIFFED OFF? IS YOUR BUS DRIVER BLAZED? WE FOUND OUT (SPOILER: PROBABLY YES)
piernut@reddit
They are already publishing ridiculous articles about medical cannabis use. 😡
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
As a kid that was sent to the shops to buy a copy of The Sun for his aunty, I wouldn’t be surprised at these ridiculous headlines😂😂
catsaregreat78@reddit
Watch yourself if you’re ever in Scotland - our BAC limit is way lower.
M1ghty_boy@reddit
Good point, duly noted thanks! (doing the NC500 this year)
BedGirl5444@reddit
she was an addict
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Not impossible but on the other hand, we were worked like dogs and had to put up with a lot of shit on Maga and Biza flights. We’d also have to have a minimum rest in order for us to be airworthy the next day.
Difficult_Bad1064@reddit
People that use loads of weed never seem to be fat though.
AdRealistic4984@reddit
If you smoke way way too much everyday it CAN give you the chronic plops
CoffeeIgnoramus@reddit
Oh shit (pun intended), that actually explains my old flat mate you was ACTUALLY addicted to weed (or the feeling of it at least). Used to spend hundreds a month on the stuff. But his use of our bathroom was quite impressive.
Visual_Addendum_577@reddit
I smoke every day, it's the first thing I do when I get up if I don't have to drive. I suffer from pretty insufferable ADHD and anxiety, the weed seems to be the only thing that helps me live a normal life. I'm definitely addicted though, I started using it to manage my symptoms, but now my regulation is way off, I use way more than I should, and even though during the times in my life I've tried completely cutting it out I feel better without than I do day to day on the amount of it I usually smoke. It's still hard to quit, which is the very definition of addiction, I know it's detrimental to me yet continue to crave it.
Unfortunately on the times I've tried to quit the depression sets in and the ADHD brain goes into overdrive and life becomes difficult to navigate. There's a balance I need to find, and I'm seeking medical help via the legalised medical cannabis route.
markedasred@reddit
You are avoiding dealing with your addiction, which would lead to a much much better life, the advice of a father of a lad like you, who is finally at nearly 29 getting over what started when he was 17. Don't waste 12 years of your life pretending it's all ok.
Visual_Addendum_577@reddit
I've unfortunately tried everything available to me to treat the ADHD and anxiety, including all the drugs and all the therapy. I'm 44 it's been my entire life. This is the only thing that helps, the last two times I tried Rae dogging it have resulted in me coming very close to taking my own life. Some people are dealt shit hands, it's just life.
GopnikOIi@reddit
Try getting a prescription, you are likely eligible based on this comment.
GopnikOIi@reddit
You don't actually know that. They could require a prescription and legitimately be reaping medical benefits from it. You're making a baseless assumption.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I can tell you firsthand, I’ve seen weed addiction. It took the life of a cousin of a close friend of mine due to the paranoia he developed. I’m not gonna argue with people on what was the cause but something like this hits close to home and is why I try to be open about it.
M1ghty_boy@reddit
You mean the shits?
porcelain_toenail@reddit
The fattest people I know are all stoners. The skinniest people I know are also all stoners.
Visual_Addendum_577@reddit
Do you only know stoners
Unhappy_Performer538@reddit
I’m here to prove you wrong personally
James20985@reddit
It is now socially unacceptable to drink and drive. It is becoming socially unacceptable to smoke cigarettes. Hopefully it will become unacceptable to stink out somewhere or be totally off your face in public.
TheNoGnome@reddit
Pretty good clue though!
Sure_Evidence4919@reddit
This is a very interesting perspective that i have blindly never considered and i bet a lot of others dont consider. Please continue to share this and shed light to those as naive as me. I never considered what taking drugs here so freefully means for another country
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
The war on drugs is an expensive, unwinnable disaster worldwide. Drug use shouldn't be seen as a criminal activity, it's a public health issue and should be addressed as such. The only way to properly manage it is to control it.
made_me_a_moron@reddit
How do you propose to control the cartels? I've no issue with people wanting to charge their brain chemistry, but I've a massive problem with the criminality around drug supply.
klausness@reddit
The cartels exist because the drugs are illegal. That’s why there aren’t alcohol cartels.
Alexandhisgoose@reddit
Make the drugs legally ourselves to a controlled standard and sell them in controlled quantities.
It won't stop the cartels completely but it will limit their power.
markedasred@reddit
yes you can ruin their market
Rastapopolos-III@reddit
Same thing we do in the UK with weed. Grow it ourselves. The UK is one of the biggest growers of medicinal cannabis in the world.
Cartels get their money from selling cocaine. If the UK government undercuts them they have less money, and less power.
crazyv93@reddit
Coca plants do not grow well outdoors in the UK, they need more sun, elevation, and the year-round mild/warm temperatures of a (sub) tropical climate.
The scale of plants required for indoor production make it economically unfeasible. It's not like weed where a single plant can produces ounces of product, you need a ton of plants to make a much smaller amount.
I still think legalization and regulation is the better way, but realistically Columbia, Peru and Boliva will have a lock on cocaine production for the foreseeable future and therefore consumption will always be morally questionable.
made_me_a_moron@reddit
Medicinal weed costs more than Street weed though, can't see it being different for coke really.
Rastapopolos-III@reddit
Since when? My mate has a prescription and it's loads cheaper.
franky8512@reddit
Correct, it is a lot cheaper. To be eligible you have to have a condition that is resistant to at least two types of treatment
master_of_entropy@reddit
There already is a legal cocaine supply and doesn't involve any illegal cartel at all. Stepan Company, Illinois, imports the coca leaves from Peru, and then sells the decocainized leaf extract to The Coca-Cola Company. You just need farmers, and chemical engineers, not gangsters.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I’ve always said, the Government stand more to gain by legalising certain drugs. I was surprised when cannabis got moved from to C to B.
AdRealistic4984@reddit
It’s really hard for anyone who has travelled to Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, or the US to CARE about weed being illegal now. It’s like the cat is out of the bag
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Having been to Dam and Barca, it makes so much sense. You wouldn’t even know it was (kind of) legal in Barca if you didn’t research beforehand. The shops are very inconspicuous and don’t have advertising.
I think they should trial something like this in a place like Bristol and see how it goes.
blewawei@reddit
It's more of a grey area in Spain than anything else. You can grow for personal use but selling it is prohibited.
Weed clubs are really difficult to join (I lived above one for 2 years and couldn't join because I didn't know anyone who was a member). The ones that used to be easier in touristy places such as Barcelona all got shut down.
Icy_Reply_7830@reddit
You can get day passes to the weed clubs in Spain now
DeepFatFryer@reddit
I was in Barcalona last summer, literally googled it, walked into one and had no issues at all!
blewawei@reddit
That's still a long way off from what it was. It used to be impossible to walk down la Rambla and not be offered it if you looked like a tourist.
In any case, it's definitely not that simple in most of Spain
DeepFatFryer@reddit
Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to do that anywhere else in Spain I’ve been to, I’m sure and that was my first time in Barca so can’t comment on the past, but didn’t think it was too difficult!
I think it’s a decent enough middle ground between having it open and everywhere, but still legal!
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I went a couple years ago, albeit with a big group so the club stood to make a good sum from us over a couple days. We had no issues signing up, everyone was friendly and I think they’re used to British tourists because when we were buying, they’d offer amounts that divided into 28😂
NorthbankN5@reddit
Nothing is shut down… and I’ve seen new clubs start opening in Teneriffe recently….
blewawei@reddit
I'm saying the ones that used to flout the laws and openly offer it to tourists got shut down
AdRealistic4984@reddit
They’re back in Barcelona afaik and stoners have noses like bloodhounds and can get into the ones in the Canaries and Madrid pretty easy too
Think the rest of the country it’s a no go though
markedasred@reddit
The cannabis in common use in the Uk for quite a while now is stronger than it used to be and far more harmful to mental health. I write as a father of a deeply damaged son and a lightly damaged son.
sg209@reddit
Look up who is the biggest producer of legal/medical cannabis in the UK and that will tell you why it was reclassified
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I came up with Jazz Pharma which is majority owned by BlackRock and then a bunch of other Illuminati companies. Imagine my shock.
Exact-Put-6961@reddit
It had previously been B of course.. Was not C for long.
West_Yorkshire@reddit
Is it unwinnable?
Look at Portugal.
BroodingSonata@reddit
Portugal proves their point. Instead of "warring" with drugs, they took a different, more humane, rational and effective route, and it's paid dividends.
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
Yes, which is exactly my point. This is like talking to someone in a different language
BroodingSonata@reddit
Why are you responding to me? I was backing up your assertion in response to the person citing Portugal.
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
I'm sorry. This has all got really confusing. I think we all agree with each other! 😂
BroodingSonata@reddit
I'm not confused at all, thank you very much Susan.
Grimdotdotdot@reddit
Downvoters need to watch more Red Dwarf.
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
Susan is my Mum's name. Now I'm unsettled.
BroodingSonata@reddit
Send her my love, won't you.
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
This took an unexpected turn.
ActionBirbie@reddit
No it hasn't:
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-portugals-drug-decriminalization-a-failure-or-success-the-answer-isnt-so-simple/
West_Yorkshire@reddit
Yes, exactly.
BroodingSonata@reddit
No, not exactly. Portugal is an example of where someone acknowledged the war was not winnable and went a different route.
West_Yorkshire@reddit
And won the war by legalising and tackling the social issues.
BroodingSonata@reddit
No, that's the point. Decriminalising drugs and treating them as a health issue is no longer warring with drugs - it's a fundamentally different approach that is no longer warlike. I understand what you mean, in that they dealt with the issue, but the "war on drugs" refers to (and is generally understood to refer to) the combative approach to drugs, involving criminalisation and heavy penalties, which Portugal ultimately eschewed.
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
Yes, because they decriminalised all drugs 25 years ago. What's your point caller?
West_Yorkshire@reddit
T... That was the point...
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
Yes. That was my original point, which you questioned. I'm not sure what's going on in this conversation.
West_Yorkshire@reddit
Portugal have won the war and rugs. What's so hard to get?
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
Portugal have won the rugs? They don't have a war on drugs because they decriminalised all drugs 25 years ago. I'm sure I just said all this.
West_Yorkshire@reddit
Right, so the war on drugs is winnable.
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
No, because there isn't a war on drugs in Portugal. They decriminalised all drugs 25 years ago (I'm not saying it again). You can talk to Susan.
West_Yorkshire@reddit
So they have won it lol.
ActionBirbie@reddit
Not even slightly:
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-portugals-drug-decriminalization-a-failure-or-success-the-answer-isnt-so-simple/
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
Which bit of decriminalised are you struggling with?
West_Yorkshire@reddit
Do you know what a war is?
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
Yes I do. It's a conflict between two governments or organised groups. Decriminalisation is a form of de-escalation and thus is not a war.
West_Yorkshire@reddit
Oh, you think it's a literal war. That's funny.
Internal-Scarcity672@reddit
Mate it’s not worth it fighting with bots, autistic people, or bad faith actors. All three in their own way are operating under wholly different rules than the sensible
Greedy-Ad-3779@reddit
You literally asked me what a war is. I gave you the correct response.
Kiaiu@reddit
I’m not sure they won so much as just gave up fighting
Repulsive-Bit-5107@reddit
They don't have a war on drugs
ActionBirbie@reddit
They certainly do:
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-portugals-drug-decriminalization-a-failure-or-success-the-answer-isnt-so-simple/
West_Yorkshire@reddit
Exactly.
Repulsive-Bit-5107@reddit
No, not exactly.
West_Yorkshire@reddit
So why did you say they didn't have one then?
CelDidNothingWrong@reddit
You interpret legalisation as they’ve “won the war on drugs” the other commenters are saying “they’ve abandoned the war on drugs”. You all agree with each other
HistoryDisastrous493@reddit
Portugal didn't win, they withdrew and rethought things. It's not like they kept fighting until drug issues were eradicated, they reclassified it as a public health issue (quite rightly).
ActionBirbie@reddit
Lol wat?
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-portugals-drug-decriminalization-a-failure-or-success-the-answer-isnt-so-simple/
Silent_Ad4870@reddit
We have never fought a real war on drugs in this country. It’s a myth. If the government took their gloves off, like they do in many countries, they’d win in under a year.
KingKie129@reddit
Your statement is contradictory. “The war on drugs…drug use shouldn’t be seen as criminal activity…only way to properly manager it is to control it.” That’s what’s causing the mess ya fucking muppet. And all your little like friends
Solsbeary@reddit
Should be legalised and shifted to a health problem rather than a criminal one. Prohibition of drugs has failed, has cultivated a criminal underworld that influenced and beholdens poorer communities to them.
Bring regulation of drugs into govt control.
bonjajr@reddit
Fine. If people want to take them and understand the consequences then so be it. It’s only on them.
Grimdotdotdot@reddit
Not if something goes wrong, then it affects friends or family, and the NHS.
Mogidogi@reddit
You could apply this logic to literally anything
nabsickle@reddit
Theres nothing wrong with people using cannabis ive had a private presciption for cannabis for over 2 years for me it helps some for others its a life changer.
Eyfura@reddit
I know a lot of people on prescription both with the NHS and private (chronic illness things). Unless someone is actually smoking it in front of me I make no assumptions about whether they are legally allowed it. (Prescriptions require vaping or ingestion only).
Asuperniceguy2@reddit
I don't partake in any illegal drugs and don't think it's for me at all in any way shape or form. I think if I had a bit of a Marijuana cigarette it would make me panic and immediately kill myself.
That being said, legalise all drugs and work exclusively on harm reduction. Get people who need help help and get then safe.
MrTubek@reddit
Talked about it on Friday to my college at work. Tories have hired some PhD drugs professional some years ago who said that it is stupid to have alcohol legal but other drugs not with how much more harmful alcohol is. He was promptly sacked.
They should legalise/decriminalise it, at least weed. That would open up job market (now quite needed with growing unemployment!). That would allow higher control over who is getting access to it (less teenagers), and it would fuel governments budget. High percentage of the society is using it anyway... including myself.
Znipsel@reddit
As a German living in the UK not having legal weed here just sucks
perksofbeingcrafty@reddit
Why is weed even illegal is the real question
sneddsdead@reddit
It's everywhere now and is just funding illegal activities so it should be legalized. Then the government makes money from this, there would be less overdoses due to bad batches and can be more controlled rather than just a free for all.
iffyClyro@reddit
Wouldn’t mind so much but people are utterly irresponsible. Our their tits on coke getting behind the wheel of a car.
Stoned out their box driving about in their work van.
Getting into debt over coke, committing suicide leaving a young family to fend for themselves.
I could go on and on about so many examples.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Overdoing anything is bad though really. What about people who can buy JD off from a cornershop and then hop in their van and drive to work? Alcoholism is something we need to tackle too.
iffyClyro@reddit
I think you’ve posted a question whilst being more interested in making your own point.
You’re not breaking new ground here. I never said I’m against a regulated market.
In Scotland approximately 4% of road accidents have alcohol as a factor whilst that figure rises to 7.5% for drugs.
We’d need significant public information campaigns and massive advancement in enforcement technology if we legalise substances.
Not against the idea but there are many caveats.
Opposite-Ad-288@reddit
Well considering alcohol is 1 drug,
And drug driving could be literally any other illicit substance, alcohol technically has a higher %…
iffyClyro@reddit
That’s just cope.
OldManChino@reddit
No that's statistics
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I think it’s more sad that we brush away drink driving and demonise drug use even worse
louwyatt@reddit
Theres far more drunk driving accidents compared to stoned driving accidents. Bare in mind the bare for being stoned is way too low.
If you smoke regulary for years, it can last in your system for months. i could quit smoking weed. Crash 2 months later and be done for being stoned.
The legalisation of weed would decrease overall accidents just by pulling people away from alcohol. There will always be idiots but better a stoned idiot than a drunk one.
iffyClyro@reddit
That’s crab barrel mentality.
louwyatt@reddit
The entire of your statment us also based purely on your "vibes". I hardly saw you dropping any sources.
It's not crab barrell mentality. I didn't say legalise weed because alcohol is legal. I said legalise it because it would pull people away from alcohol.
Cocaine is a whole diffrent ball game. I am strictly speaking about weed.
iffyClyro@reddit
Sources for the statistics I have provided are widely available online.
If you’re in any doubt.
louwyatt@reddit
I'm comparing weed and alcohol. The statistics show alcohol causes far more fatalities that weed.
You just want to cope by compairing alcohol accidents to all drug accidents. So you can group up people coked up and a casual weed smoker.
It would be like if i grouped up alcohol with all the other drugs (minus weed) accidents and compaired that with weed accidents. Its a comical level twisting of the facts.
If you're in any doubt, look it. Try find any statistic that shows alcohol accidents are fewer than stoner accidents.
iffyClyro@reddit
You need to learn to read:
Wouldn’t mind so much but people are utterly irresponsible.
Out their tits on coke getting behind the wheel of a car.
Stoned out their box driving about in their work van.
Getting into debt over coke, committing suicide leaving a young family to fend for themselves.
Lots of people are capable of using drugs “recreationally” without significant consequences however there are far too many people that aren’t.
I could go on and on about so many examples but I won’t.
Finding that boy hanging will never leave me.
History tells us prohibition doesn’t really work.
Edit:
In Scotland approximately 4% of road accidents have alcohol as a factor whilst that figure rises to 7.5% for drugs.
So you can stop replying about how alcohol is worse.
louwyatt@reddit
You need to learn how to read. Weed is in no way compareable to other drugs or alcohol. You're grouping up apples and oranges.
I'm comparing weed and alcohol. The statistics show alcohol causes far more fatalities that weed.
You just want to cope by compairing alcohol accidents to all drug accidents. So you can group up people coked up and a casual weed smoker.
It would be like if i grouped up alcohol with all the other drugs (minus weed) accidents and compaired that with weed accidents. Its a comical level twisting of the facts.
If you're in any doubt, look it. Try find any statistic that shows alcohol accidents are fewer than stoner accidents.
iffyClyro@reddit
Are you stoned right now?
If you’re talking about weed in isolation, you’re having your own conversation and your replies are entirely irrelevant to my very original comment.
louwyatt@reddit
I made it very clear at the start that my issue was you grouping up weed with all other. Which is very relevant to your original comment. Yes its also very clear you're stoned as hell and only just got that.
OddPerspective9833@reddit
So people are the problem, not the drugs... we can't get rid of people and we can't realistically get rid of drugs either. That's been tried, it doesn't work. So what's the solution? Social services to make life better for people, healthcare to prevent and treat addiction, and education
bluejeansseltzer@reddit
Hard agree. In principle, I don’t have anything really against weed legalisation and even shrooms. But I don’t trust wider society. I’ve known too many to DUI (more with drugs than alcohol) and go into crippling debt and ruin their families.
Successful-Tap-50@reddit
Great comment. You’ve lifed for sure and you know
iffyClyro@reddit
In Scotland approximately 4% of road accidents have alcohol as a factor whilst that figure rises to 7.5% for drugs.
So you’d be wrong to say it’s more applicable to alcohol.
Successful-Tap-50@reddit
I didn’t suggest that
iffyClyro@reddit
Absolutely. No idea how I managed to reply to the wrong comment. Must be old age setting in.
splendidvinyl@reddit
All of which are hugely more applicable to alcohol
Buffetwarrenn@reddit
I donrt care what other people do….
Inside their home Thats their business
Haunted_Entity@reddit
I dont do any form of drugs myself, i hate it. And while i cant stand the smell of weed, i think it shoukd be legalised in the uk.
crozuk@reddit
We talking smack or weed? As the two conversations are entirely different.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I think the conversation turned more toward “what do you think about weed being accepted in society” mainly. It would be most relatable to me as I’ve only ever done that (in a couple forms) and LSD. Never sniffed or taking anything I’d consider “hard”.
I also think there’s a stark difference between your average grade smoker and crack smoker though. They’re different types of drugs and when I see statements like “make all of them legal”, I hope they take a look at reclassifying things like opioids and they’re held to a different standard than weed due to its effects.
crozuk@reddit
I’ve had most drugs over the years - sober off the hard stuff now but still smoke a lot of weed. My Dad was round mine the other day and poured himself a big tumbler of scotch but attempted to lecture me when I light up a spliff. I don’t really drink anymore.
Personally I’d just like to see the same considerations paid to my choice of relaxation as we do to booze.
Hard drugs are bad though… I can testify to that having done rehab multiple times.
SkeletorOnLSD@reddit
I think they should be decriminalised. I don't think full legalisation is the answer, but I think instead of fines or prison, the first option should be treating the addiction.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
They need a way of encouraging people who feel like they’re using drugs as an escape to come forward. Once they see that there’s help available and you won’t be shunned for what you’ve indulged in, it would make a positive and safe route for those who want to be responsible.
What concerns me is the amount of addicts that are on the streets that are essentially left to rot without much help in terms of rehab. I know they made their bed but I still believe people can turn it around, with enough support.
govnyuuk@reddit
Oh no, not illegal drugs!
Astro___ortsA@reddit
You are a bit late with this to be fair, about 30 or so years
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I would’ve been -5yrs old then mate😂a bit harder to pose the question
Bigoli91@reddit
Normalised and stigma removed so that we can treat people for the addiction properly remove criminals and criminalisation and you have a social issue to fix rather then an expensive inefficient war on the drugs trade
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
The stigma removal is important I think, I know someone that was ostracised from his community for smoking weed occasionally, he’s a good lad too.
Turgzie@reddit
It's not that drugs themselves are bad, it's the abuse of a substance that is bad. People's attitude towards it makes all the difference.
They do need to be controlled though, in that who can take them and where you can and can't take them. Some hard/dangerous drugs specifically should never become normalised because they don't just affect the people taking it they also affect those around them in a negative way. Remember that your rights end where others' begin.
For an example, kids taking crack in a high street or public park is not ok. But a responsible adult smoking a joint in their own house is not hurting anyone and should not be cause for criminalisation.
LethalGrey@reddit
Ridiculous. Especially weed, and maybe even coke. And I wouldn’t be throwing people in prison for possession regardless
jacks2224@reddit
Fine with weed, but as soon as the bag comes out it just ruins the night for me. Everyone’s personality changes, you spend money you didn’t want to spend and constantly waiting for the next bump
counter345@reddit
The UK is among the highest exporter of cannabis in the world and more and more people are being prescribed it from the NHS, my partner is one of those people for chronic ADHD.
Biceratops1@reddit
Weed isn't always illegal, my partner is prescribed it for her arthritis and fibromyalgia and me for ptsd and adhd
seven_green_toes@reddit
100 % legalise all drugs in the UK. I dont do drugs and am definitely not a fan but each to their own and im not here to judge. Benefits 1. Quality control. 2. The revenue would be great for the economy. 3. A new sector will create jobs. 4. Hardcore drugs heroin, crack etc can be phased out or minimalised. 5. Gangs dismantled 6. Albanians get to go back home.
soulsteela@reddit
It’s even more normal amongst the establishment, I’ve worked for multiple Etonians all of them loved the cocaine or heroin but not the weed so much.
One of the reasons you’re going to find weed so common is we currently have over 200,000 who receive it on prescription and growing by about 1,500 a month. If anything drugs were far more prevalent and obvious in the 90’s than now, especially here in my bit of Suffolk.
AUTOMATA88@reddit
I smoke weed but not in busy public areas out of respect for people who don't. Not everyone wants to smell it so people should be more considerate.
IDFGMC@reddit
The fact that I can walk into a shop and buy a bottle of vodka without question but there's a chance I could go to prison for picking some mushrooms growing over the park is absolutely ridiculous.
PMc1666@reddit
‘I believe it’s extremely normalised amongst society but not the establishment’
Bro. It’s ’the establishment’ who consumed any sort of illegal substances, well before us plebs even thought about taking them.
Brutal_De1uxe@reddit
No.
Although part of me says why not, we can weed out the weak and stupid.
ActionBirbie@reddit
Disgusting that we allow people to support murders and criminals like this.
And yes, t's a failure of society but a failure of parenting even moreso.
5ubredhit@reddit
For starters I don’t think cannabis should be illegal. We’re one of the biggest exporters of it, yet a prime example of how backwards our governments are when it comes to legalising it.
shanloulie@reddit
medical cannabis has been legal in the u.k. since 2018…
please think before you judge, alcohol is so much more dangerous and the government have 0 qualms about the amount of drunk driving deaths every year but heaven forbid some of us would like to regularly and safely use a medicine
i really hope that the rest of the uk follow scotland’s lead in harm reduction, more education, free drug testing and safe use facilities are very much overdue
Standard_Response_43@reddit
Weed should be legal and taxed like cigarettes.
Never had a problem with ravers, stoners, space cadets.
Have a real problem with piss heads in the pub though......can turn nasty quickly.
Smoking weed in public places should be policed much better.
Proper smokers have an awareness of their surroundings and try not to disturb the public
Coke.....U can't stop it...same as all drugs really.
UK laws....check out the 19th century Opium wars.
Jimbobthon@reddit
Neighbour of mine smokes cannabis regularly. Doesn't bother me or my partner, however if my parents visit we do ask if they can smoke it out in their front garden as my Mum doesn't like it. They don't have to, but they do Honor our request.
Bigalz777@reddit
Cannabis is legal medicinally from a variety of private clinics and whoever doesn’t have a prescription id assume is self medicating over half the time. So i think let them crack on
RareBrit@reddit
I think it's a very nuanced situation.
On one hand illegal drugs are harmful. I think that's reasonably undeniable. And it's appropriate for legislation to protect people from harm. There is a bit of a double standard here in that alcohol is freely available but is also a substance of abuse. I have personally known several people who have died through either alcohol poisoning, or alcoholism. I haven't personally known anyone who has died from drug use.
On the other people will take drugs regardless. Whether this is to momentarily escape 'shit life syndrome', or because it's acceptable within their social circle. And despite over a century of attempted prohibition basically nothing has been achieved.
I don't think most of the societal harm of drugs comes from the drugs themselves. Rather, it's the vast quantities of profit the illicit trade generates.
So first of all decrimilize the possession of all drugs for personal use. Enable those that want help to get it; de-stigmatise addiction. Addiction should be treated as a clinical illness with social and physical components.
Provide safe, pleasant, non-clinical places where people are able use drugs without judgement. You can't stop people from using, so you might as well provide a safe place for them to do it.
The last part of the puzzle is for me the most difficult. Which is to beat the cartels at their own game. Use agricultural technology and pharmaceutical science to provide a better product, more cheaply, and formalise its use. Then provide this for use at the 'safe use centres'.
cornishwildman76@reddit
Legalising will shut down a lot of the black market operations that are often involved in other nefarious activities like human traffiking. Drug money funds other criminal activities. This will make it harder for teeenagers to get their hands on drugs, Huge tax benefits. Reduction in accidental overdoses withh the harder drugs. Reduces stigma so more people seek help. At the very least make marijuna legal, its less harmfull than alcohol, but set an age limit as it does harm the developing brain. Plus it has proven huge medicinal benefits.
HiphopMeNow@reddit
Weed isn't illegal, it's easily available on prescription. and it shouldn't even be classed as a drug or be illegal. If you knew history for thousands of years it was legal. And only recently became illegal, due to shitty political agenda with a blanket policy that has nothing to do with it.
You can argue how good or bad it is, but reality is it's quite harmless compared to most things we have access to. Alcohol and nicotine are the real devil. He'll even the processed chemicals in our shampoos, washing liquids, food, are much much much worse than the weed.
Whoever who is using weed a coping mechanism for whatever they are dealing with, would be using anything else available otherwise, alcohol nicotine gambling and whatnot.
Anything natural should be legal.
Our royal family is one of the biggest exporters of it in the WHOLE WORLD.
It's such hypocrisy it's illegal. Only reason it is, because companies having wars over who will control the industry.
What I don't like is this assholes breading unnatural strains making it 30-40% extracts, oils with additives, so people can get mental health problems and psychotic, cus that's not how plant was during hippy times, 8-14% thc and smoke it 24/7 you will be fine.
What I don't like is the coke, ket, and all other crap hard drugs like it being promoted by gov and private industries sponsoring and not censoring rapper wannabes and promoting gang culture copying america with drill nonsense, singing about stabbing ppl selling drugs to make money and snorting it etc. Completely disgusting your own government does it to you. Believe it or not there are normal countries outside of Europe where this kind of shit is banned and you can clearly see youth are much better than here.
mazrimtaim_@reddit
Go to any music festival or rave in the UK and you are surrounded by drugs. Weed, coke, mdma, ketamine, acid and shrooms. No one bats an eyelid yet there’s this whole charade of drug security and searches which is an absolute joke. If we really cared about keeping people safe we would have legal channels to buy and on site drug testing.
I’ll admit, we do need to consider wider consequences and legal access to coke (plus harder drugs) would have a lot of negative impacts for sure. I don’t know what the answer is to this but every pub up and down the country has people sniffing baggies on a Friday night so could it really get much worse? I Don’t know, probably.
Education and testing facilities are the basics at least. Fully legalise weed, reducing the strength and produce safe MDMA and other psychedelics. Create a second class of drugs for those that are harder and more addictive and use the extra revenue to provide better education and rehab services for users.
BedGirl5444@reddit
gross
k1tey98@reddit
UK should look to decriminalise small possession for weed. I live in the channel islands, we can buy 5-20mg THC edibles over the counter and have proper medical perscriptions. Illegal = a market to exploit by criminals
Certain_Pineapple_73@reddit
It depends on the drug.
Weed? Completely normal and let’s be honest most people have tried it. Find a nice field or student accommodation and crack on.
Coke and ket? I’ve never understood the appeal of these but they’re also rife so I’m unfazed by them. Ultimately if you wanna do it they’re not that dangerous so I don’t mind.
Psychedelics? To be honest I’m curious.
Opioids? Don’t ever fucking touch them, terrible idea.
Development-Regular@reddit
In 2009, id have said that mcat should be normalized because i was a drug addict. It ruined my life for years. You cant see how bad it was til you're out of it.
LeSaltyMantis@reddit
The time of legal mcat was such a dark time in my life. Best drug ive ever taken in terms of high, but the worst in every other aspect, it ruled my life every day and was so cheap and available. Once it became illegal it seemed to just dissappear, id probably be dead if it hadn't. This is the only thing that puts me on the fence of the legalisation debate. Weed-yes, what are we even doing. Most other things im very torn because of this
Low_Stress_9180@reddit
Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
We did have a long period when hard drugs were legal in the Uk (and many countries) eg heroin and cocaine. It destroyed millions of lives.
da-happy-cyclops@reddit
As a drug user, I often cite the argument that the money that could be made from legalising weed would offset the issues it creates with billions left over.
Realistically, if they legalise tomorrow im never paying for weed again. Il grow my own.
Now on one hand, yes, that violates my opinion. But when you think about it, whats better? The government getting taxes off my ashtray - or me, the end user, the little man, having more money in MY pocket?
LeSaltyMantis@reddit
Once you see your electric bill you'd probably switch to buying it elsewhere
abramzdreamt@reddit
Have you been to Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco lately?
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I’ve never been to that half of the planet at all!
Leaf-Stars@reddit
Make everything legal, but don’t expect the taxpayers to fund rehab.
DutchOfBurdock@reddit
Cannabis is a legal medication that can be prescribed for a variety of conditions under the correct medical company.
Curaleaf, Sapphire/Mamedica, Alternaleaf just 3.
SocieteRoyale@reddit
sometimes with other people's drug use you have to mind your owm business
External-Piccolo-626@reddit
Personally I think if people are smoking weed at 6am walking to work, which I smell quite regularly we have a massive problem.
External-Piccolo-626@reddit
It depends which sub you ask? Here? Most people will say it should be legalised, other subs will have the opposite view that it should be treated as what it is, a class B drug.
No-Oil7246@reddit
Oh people enjoying a double! The horror. Grow up.
awesumlewy@reddit
Seems like they're trying to catch Mrs Miggins up the road for not paying for a TV licence then stopping drugs. Quick, send a van round, she's watching Emmerdale!
M1ghty_boy@reddit
In full support for weed to become normalised worldwide so alcohol isn't the only option, this would also make the more harmful/addictive substances (coke, ket, pills, crack etc) much more of a leap, as if you're regularly smoking weed you're technicslly breaking the law, and probably already in contact with a dealer who can get you much more than just weed.
Weed in many places isn't legalised, but is socially/morally legalised.. I.e. Police ignore it/don't care and most people either partake or don't care. This is the case where I live in England.
Something to note is weed doesn't turn someone into a dangerous or hostile individual the way alcohol does to many, and it doesn't do much real harm to your organs.. I also love a good drink, but I know many people don't do well with alcohol, some become violent, some can't self-moderate, some become destructive, some become sad.
You don't see stoned people tearing up the streets and getting in fights with strangers, they're either having a walk or chillaxing in a sofa.
Harmful drugs shouldn't be normalised or encouraged at all, but should be decriminalised everywhere so these people can come out of the shadows and receive help. This has been done in different countries already to great success.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Controversial of me to say but, I think as humans, we’re always looking for an escape. Whether it be metaphorically or literally.
I enjoy society believe it or not, I like my community a lot, all my friends and family are local, it’s great. But sometimes it’s nice to have a break from that and escape reality.
M1ghty_boy@reddit
Absolutely, I do agree I love the world and most of the people in it. Maybe this is just me, but I personally wouldn't quite call it an escape from the world, but more a way to enjoy it through another lens.
Socialising with friends and strangers is great sober or drunk, just a different kind of enjoyment.. Playing games/listening to music stoned is amazing too, but I also enjoy doing it sober and I'd hate to be forced to do any of those things while impaired all the time.
Interested to see how use of medical weed is increasing in this country, as it's starting to be dispensed affordably through private pharmacies for issues such as anxiety and insomnia (can personally attest to that second use, lol). But what interests me most is how this may shift the public/governments opinion on full legalisation or decriminalisation.
Effective_Chest_3154@reddit
Hamsterdam
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Mate I’m tell you, we can make Bristol the new Dam
infinitedadness@reddit
Marijuana has always been normalised among people who quietly smoke it. It's legality is more an inconvenience, rather than a moral indicator.
People don't think they're doing anything "wrong" when they light up, and nor should they.
Ok-Refrigerator4092@reddit
Not the establishment?! They do it as much as anyone else, it’s just not as frowned upon for whatever reason. But drugs have always been normal in society. They’re normal amongst animals. Horses like to get pissed on fermenting apples, cows love magic mushrooms etc etc
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Oh I’m fully aware of the establishment taking a part in it as well as getting their cut. I was referring more to your average police out and about that stop and search.
Even then, I’ve heard the horror stories from 2nd hand accounts of police being served cocaine during night shifts, and to be honest, I’m inclined to believe it. The stress of having to remain 100% on point all night probably wears you down quick.
Pentax25@reddit
Everyone does it and has done it for thousands of years, from those at street level up to those in government. The most harmful thing we could have done as a society is make it illegal because it just forces it underground, removes all course for any of it to be regulated and encourages suppliers to make it stronger in smaller doses which is more dangerous and more addictive.
The best thing we can do is legalise it, regulate it, talk openly about it and provide appropriate support to those who need it.
Livid-Needleworker65@reddit
You do know that medical cannabis is available legally to people, right? It's a bit of an assumption to think everybody is an illegal consumer of weed.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I’m aware of medical cannabis yes, I’ve looked at the eligibility requirements too. I find it hard to believe that every single person I’ve come across, even outside of work, has a medical prescription though.
Livid-Needleworker65@reddit
That's fair, but it's not possible to know who is and isn't a legal user.
AdRealistic4984@reddit
As a student at a university 10 years ago socially acceptable substances in order were
Rolled cigarettes … Alcohol … Ketamine Amphetamines Cocaine MDMA … Weed … Psychedelics Benzos
The class As were way more normalised and smoking weed was more of a social offence. I feel like that’s very backwards to a lot of countries
2014R1@reddit
See my question is - how would they make cocaine in a pharmaceutical environment that’s “safe” for consumption. I’m guessing the removal of petrol, cement and other harmful chemicals in the process?
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Don’t forget the battery acid😂I watch that Ramsay video couple times a year
FornyHucker22@reddit
I think it would help massively. crime would lose its main revenue, much more taxation. no deaths from dodgy cut products, open clinics for addicts.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
The rehabilitation aspect of it is what I care about the most when discussing legalising. If they’re able to help people who are currently undergoing drug abuse without repercussions, then I think it would encourage people to go a more legal route, knowing there would be help if things got out of hand.
Forbidden_Cheese1@reddit
I’m located in the south east and it’s extremely commonly used. I’d also say it’s fairly openly used as well.
My opinion on this really struggles. I’d like to say that I think everyone should be entirely able to do whatever, whenever with who ever they want (providing all are consenting adults). However, I also don’t believe that the vast majority are capable to look after themselves either, especially when drugs are involved. The vast majority of the public can’t be trusted to be sensible. How much wasted potential do you see and hear of as young adults have become hooked on something, it’s taken over their life and impacted themselves and those around them. There are always horror stories rammed down everyone’s throat because it’s a real threat. As much as I would like to say that people should be allowed to, as soon as a health service is nationalised and arguably “free”, public health becomes a concern of the government and not just the individual. Allowing free use of drugs would majorly go against this as recreational drugs are not necessary for health in any way. You could argue that alcohol and unhealthy food is also something that should be treated less recreational as well and I would agree with that. Even though most are fine to take them recreationally occasionally and would be fine there are also those that can’t. Unfortunately the weakest denominator is always the reason for rules. Most parents are able to discipline their children with a smack on the bum, a few were unable to stop and killed their children. Therefore it’s completely unacceptable to discipline children physically. Most people are able to go through airports and not want to cause harm, there are a few who want to cause harm and therefore we all have to be checked through various security means. My point is the weakest link is always the one that results in everybody else being treated overly cautiously.
With all that said, the war on drugs is a loosing battle and a huge waste of money. The entire scenario is tragic and unlikely to be ever stoppable. People want escape and people are willing to provide that illegally for enough money.
MissionFig5582@reddit
Most recreational are way less harmful than booze.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I partly agree with your second statement. It’s hard for me to explain in writing but I’ve found it’s helped me relax socially, it’s even been an ice breaker in some cases. But needing it to achieve these things and then creating dependency is where I’ll draw the line.
made_me_a_moron@reddit
Mate has spondylitis told me.
Thin_Formal_3727@reddit
The establishment can't control the flow and therefore it can't be taxed. Big alcohol and big tobacco pay very high sums to keep policies in place to protect their business from potential dilution. Most of America has legalised cannabis at this point. Have a google at alcohol sales in each state before and after the change of legislation. The welfare of the masses is not of concern, its money money money.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I think illegal fags slip under the radar because of drugs. Far more prevalent than people think.
Thin_Formal_3727@reddit
Illegal how? Imported by tax dodging or counterfeit? Never seen fake cigs here but did in Malaysia...tasted like dry rabbit food (i ate it as a kid, dont judge me)
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
Not exactly fake but haven’t arrived here by the proper means that is, especially popular in the foreign communities.
Thin_Formal_3727@reddit
I have no issue with that. I think it was around 1994 that cigs went over £1 a pack. Over time the cost of manufacture inevitably drops, so i estimate a pack of 20 probably costs less than 30p to produce, including packaging. There isnt another product that I know of that was marketed to us so heavily to the point "8 out of 10 doctors smoke Benson and Hedges" etc, that was known to be highly addictive and is now taxed to the tune of £15+ a pack. If people here are able to bring them from elsewhere and make a few quid for themselves while supplying their friends or whoever with the same product for less, fairly play to them.
Neither_Process_7847@reddit
Depends on the drug. Cannabis I've no idea why the government didn't just legalise it on the same terms as tobacco years ago, getting the tax money and taking the profits away from the criminals. Probably loads of other recreationals that are not worth anyone's bother banning these days. Different matter with things like heroin where its probably best it stays heavy duty prescription only, for the sake of people not dying...
TheNoGnome@reddit
Criminals hate their favourite crime being illegal, quelle surprise.
How are you sypposed to know which houses ordering pizza are druggies and which aren't, by the way?
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
The smell hits you in the face, you also come to recognise a more calm demeanour.
ExiledFromMancSt@reddit
Indeed. It's called the munchies. No one who's had a decent line of charlie or MDMA is gonna be ordering pizza anytime soon
WestleyMc@reddit
I think weed should be legal. It’s pretty much a known quantity at this point, with the option for quality control, taxation and preventing gangs from profiting off it.
My instincts say ‘legalise everything’, but I’d be interested in arguments/studies for both sides of the argument.
EasyCheesecake1@reddit
I would have it legalised, I believe if in some alternate universe alcohol was not a traditional drink for centuries it would be as illegal as most drugs, it effects your mind and judgement and can be addictive. Not saying I'd want that just that I view it as hypocrisy because alcohol was already a normal big business. I totally get that in the UK we don't often see the dark side of the drugs business as a customer, you pay your money and get your goodies. Cocaine in particular can seem very middle class.
Spottyjamie@reddit
Its been like this since before i was born but id say now people are far more excessive
Like going out in the 90s youd just have a half a pill then the other half later on, weed at the afters.
Now its like a contest who can consume the most.
Even pub afternoons are obvious in some bars that one cubicle is for coke and you see the same faces going back for more after 2-3 hours compared to a line to start the party before the bus into town
Kanebass98@reddit
No thanks
Wooden_Astronaut4668@reddit
Its too nuanced, for recreation - so a holiday, no issue.
But whilst driving, working etc No its not okay.
BLightyear67@reddit
I draw no distinction between lefal and illegal drugs. Nicotine and alcohol are two of the most addictive drugs known to man. If you don't have an addictive nature then enjoy. If not abstain.
Yallow_Bonerholder@reddit
Childish and immature comment, shows you know nothing of real world I’m afraid
Horror_Interest_914@reddit
With weed it winds me up that people have to go to someone who also sells coke or harder drugs. I like the Barcelona model where you have private clubs but the smell can’t go on the street.
I think coke people are too ignorant/don’t care about the downstream effects on the countries where it is produced
Pedantichrist@reddit
I think it it’s disgusting and wrong that the normalised drugs remain illegal.
Drugs being illegal fuels organised crime massively, and while the fuck has the right to tell Brian in number 37 that he is not allowed to grow hemp and breath in the smoke from it, should he want to?
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
I remember 10yrs ago reading that illegal drugs were worth approximately £16bn to the UK economy. That is quite a shocking figure and that information is 10yrs out of date.
Lenske97@reddit
It’s personal choice. Long as your substance usage don’t affect other people who cares
WGD23@reddit
I for one am astounded that people ordering fatty, salty food would be indulging in the one drug known to increase appetite
AlucardVTep3s@reddit (OP)
One time a customer fell asleep and wasn’t answering. She opened the door eventually and poof, I couldn’t answer either!
CommercialPizza434@reddit
Decriminalise drug use but criminalise trafficking. So only legit people/businesses/hospitals can sell it. Half the time people don’t know what is in their drugs. Could be fentanyl or something mad.
But also make sure it’s regulated. I can’t stand the smell of weed, cigarettes or vapes. It should be prohibited in certain areas - schools, restaurants etc. so no users don’t have to endure it.
For the stronger drugs like heroincreate Supervised Consumption Facilities in event of overdose of bad reaction.
I think that’s a win win for people who want to use and people won’t don’t want to use. But more importantly stops bad actors taking advantage.
Vivid_Employment8635@reddit
Weed I’m fine with, think it should be legal, I’d probably try it if it was. The others are a bit more concerning.
CowDontMeow@reddit
Professor David Nutt was sacked as our drugs advisor for saying MDMA and LSD (as well as weed) are safer than drinking in typical sittings, obviously with overindulgence or habitual use MDMA becomes dangerous but it’s still a “pick your poison” type thing.
I personally think we need to go the decriminalisation path for “harder” (potential for damage) substances and the legalisation path for things like weed, psychedelics etc, use the taxes raised from those to offset treatment for addiction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8334774.stm
MysteriousSwitch232@reddit
Why?
gnarlstonnn@reddit
as with everything moderation is key, but some drugs are so much better than alcohol, and some certainly have the power to give people the most profound and life changing experiences,
i've seen the absolute worst people completely change their ways and mindset after having MDMA for the first time
Unhappy_Performer538@reddit
Oh no, not weed!! Gasp
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