Should drugs be decriminalised?

IDK if it's been covered already but all drugs have been decriminalised in Portugal and it's OK over there...

Not quite, you'll still get done for carrying anything above consuming limits.
Main point is, we had enough of minors getting arrested, parents called, over 18s being given criminal record, etc. the whole lot, wasting police time and taxpayers money ....on people smoking weed.
And thta's the main point.
It made no sense to perpetuate that attitude.
It's not like suddenly we became a lawless country, it's about facing the truth.
Everyone does it, everywhere... there. From famous to important and responsible people.
And it's known. So let's all be very honest.
As mentioned above already, it was a change of attitude, of the way of facing drugs and it's implications at a deeper social level.
Class A drugs in Portugal are still seen as Class A. But i suppose their not the same as in here.

Serious point. There is only one decent reason I can think of for keeping illegal drugs illegal -

There is a proportion of society who refuse to get a job and instead make their money illegally. It is a fuck of a lot better that they are dealing drugs than robbing, theiving or extorting. Make drugs illegal and you'd put them out of work and they might mug you instead.

Seriously, that's the only reason you see to keep them illegal?
How about the fact that countless people lives have been ruined because they didn't always know what they were getting themselves into?

Serious point. .... It is a fuck of a lot better that they are dealing drugs than robbing, theiving or extorting. ....

Doesn't sound very serious.
Drug dealing is more often than never related to all them 3^.

Yup, nearly all gang related activity is funded by drug money and caused by drug dealing territory.

This is a tough call. Who can say whether or not decriminalising would be a good thing and as someone else said ^ it makes little sense for cannibis to be illegal but not alcohol which kills far more people directly and indirectly in this country.

Rather than locking them up in prisons and calling them criminals, I'd much rather see addicts (many of whom resort to stealing, prostitution, selling etc) receive some no nonsense adiction treatment. This would also save the tax payer in the long run.

^ repped

Cheers Indra!

And lemonade, put like that, it seems a no brainer.

(more info:http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/whyinvestjan2012.pdf)

Sadly the NTA (National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse) is being dismantled.

Supposedly its functions will be integrated into the new PHE (Public Health England), but its funding has not been ring-fenced.

Yeah I thought that some figures might inform the debate a bit. Missmouse your point about treatment rather than prison is exactly the right point. Anybody who doesn't live in London, why not make this point to your PCC candidates?

^^^ Page not found.

That news sounds a bit worrying. It amazes me how a country so pioneering in its inventions, mathematic and scientific discoveries etc., can be so slow to adopt different yet actually very logical and effective attitudes towards addiction, and other mental health issues.

Perhaps the social stigmas are too dominant or the fear of public backlash too great? Or the old 'not enough evidence' argument.
You only need to read the comments sections under news articles about celebrity addicts to see how difficult it is to convince a non-addict that what's needed is not punishment, imprisonment or scorn (things which most people with the illness would tell you they experience in of themselves).

That's not to say treat people with kid gloves, allow them to forever more eschew their responsibilities or avoid taking action to help themselves. They just need support doing this and not extra criticism from society.

You only need to read the comments sections under news articles about celebrity addicts to see how difficult it is to convince a non-addict that what's needed is not punishment, imprisonment or scorn (things which most people with the illness would tell you they experience in of themselves).

You hardly need to go that far; have a look at some of the comments posted on this lovely forum after Amy Winehouse died.

And making them illegal stops that? righto.

No it doesn't but it removes some of the guilt felt when it happens.

^^ Daily Mail = lfgss = Mumsnet?

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Fixed now I think.

Seriously, that's the only reason you see to keep them illegal?
How about the fact that countless people lives have been ruined because they didn't always know what they were getting themselves into?

The point of making drugs legal is so that they would be regulated and consumers can be more educated on the substances they are taking, then fewer peoples lives would be ruined as a result. The contrast would be that a dealer feeding heroin and coke addicts doesn't care that he's destroying countless lives as long as he gets his cash, whereas an official vendor would ideally have a legal and moral responsibility to spot developing problems, restrict access to the drugs and point them to some sort of support group. This then leaves the people who can take drugs responsibly recreationally, which is probably the majority, able do so without fear of prosecution.

Perhaps the social stigmas are too dominant or the fear of public backlash too great?

Stigma is very important, the tabloids propagate a lot of revolting stuff, terms like 'junkie scum' are common.

I think decriminalisation is the way forward, however- a cautionary tale:

(Advanced warning of what I am sure will be characterised as sexism)

I used to run bars- of these, I ran, at one time or another, both of the All Bar One's in Islington- they've both since shut, possibly due to my amazing managerial talents.

Anyway, they attracted (in the main) the business crowd on the piss after work, which meant that the chaps were wearing suits and the ladies skirts- so they had handbags with their purse/keys/phone/everything else in.

A convenient place to put a handbag was on the back of the chair one happened to be sitting on, which was also ideal for bag thieves as the bag owner would never, ever see the person who took their bag and walked out of the door with it.

So I ended up spending quite a few evenings sat in my office with shitfaced women trying to get them to make some sort of sense on the phone to a) their bank, then b) their flatmate/husband/mother/progeny and often c) lending them the money to get their train home.

Trying to imagine what it would be like doing the same thing whilst Sandra from accounts was both drunk and off her tits on pills is not one that appeals.

^ That's where the official line would be useful though. Education making it general knowledge that alcohol and drugs shouldn't be mixed and a social faux pas (which is sort of is anyway). Water would be freely available and bar staff trained to not give booze to people clearly on drugs and offer water instead.

Not that I'm totally for legalising drugs, but I just feel that people underestimate the barrage of rules, regulations and extra things that would come with decriminalising them and that it wouldn't just be a wild free-for-all of people munching their faces off all the time but something more structured.

Problem with that is that alcohol/other is not a "real time" intoxicant- you can throw back 5-6 pints before you start appearing drunk, so the issue is when the apparently sober person grabs a bottle of wine, then starts chewing their own face off and quaffing.