Legalise the herb

**spudchucka** · 8th February 2005, 07:35

Originally Posted by onearmedbandit

Must have got a good yield from that lot then SC? Tell me, are you 'bagging' it up or was it all for perssie? Did you use lights and go indoors or did you go outdoors? I must say, very brave being a police officer and talking about your 'activities' on the net.

Taking the piss. (thats for those who might say 'oh oh, don't get him in trouble by making remarks about him growing pot, his superiors might stumble across this').

Bloody hell, you don't work for the Sunday News do ya?

**jrandom** · 8th February 2005, 08:11

Originally Posted by Blakamin

I'll tell ya now... speed fucks with ya head!!!!

"It's a speed thing. You wouldn't understand."

**El Dopa** · 8th February 2005, 19:15

Originally Posted by spudchucka

Adolf Hitler was apparently an amphetamine addict, so I guess you could blame the war in europe and the holocaust on drug abuse.

Not entirely sure what point you're trying to make here.

If you read my posts carefully you'll see that I'm not actually arguing that it's 'harmless' (cos it isn't). What I am trying to argue FOR is that both our laws and our enforcement of them should be logical and consistent. At the moment they aren't. Bad laws and indifferent enforcement breed contempt for the system and the people that enforce them.

Comparing alcohol/tobacco with pot is crude and imperfect, but it is the only real comparison we have available. The government taxes the first two to death and makes a few half-arsed attempts to 'educate' people away from them (half-arsed because they gain far too much filthy lucre from them).

With pot on the other hand, the prevaling education/enfocement is, in my opinion, heavy-handed and OTT for the average user.

I accept all arguments about funding organised crime, and that the average user in conveniently 'morally blind' to the end location of their money when they pay for the stuff (which is one reason I don't smoke it).

I also accept all health related arguments.

However,the genie is out of the bottle and ain't going back. The current situation is completely daft and needs a major sea-change in attitudes/law/enforcement. I don't know quite what, but Im' opn to suggestions.

For the record, I don't smoke (too much to lose/better things to do with my time than talk about how great '70's kids cartoons were).

However, if I was at a party and a doobie came round, I'd probably be inclined towards taking a hit. I'd hate to see my life go down the shitter if, by some insanely unfortunate coincidence, I got busted just at that point in time.

Agreed, don't do the crime if you can't do the time. But someone who loses their licence by accumulating too many points is unlikely to be barred from their chosen profession. I would be if I was busted for drugs (and so would a lot more people, proportionally speaking, using the speeding/drugs comparison). And I think that's using an awfully big hammer to crack a small nut.

**MikeL** · 8th February 2005, 20:38

Originally Posted by El Dopa

And I think that's using an awfully big hammer to crack a small nut.

Very good points, El Dopa. Some won't agree that it's a "small nut". Some would argue that it's better to kill a small nut because it may lead on to bigger nuts.
The fact that there is no easy, obvious answer doesn't mean that the status quo is best. Many strident voices were raised against the legalization of prostitution, yet the previous status quo was manifestly unsatisfactory both on practical grounds (public health, exploitation by pimps...) and because of the hypocrisy involved (not only were the clients - without whom prostitution could not exist - not subject to prosecution, but the IRD insisted on its share of earnings from a business which in law could not exist!). Now that the law has changed, has the sky fallen in?
A bit of thinking outside the square might come up with something better than the cannabis law status quo...