The Birth Of Rave - Observer Music Monthly

Dr Mick said:
I think more "important" people should go on the record about safe and responsible drug use.

An overdose is not an inevitable consequence of taking recreational chemicals.

The sooner the whole industry is legalised, regulated and I can go up to the bar in the club and say "I'll have a beer and half a speckled grouse tab" the better.

:idea::idea:
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i agree with you 100% but until this happens...:!:
 
That book is purchased, £5.49 too. Cheers chaps.

Just to add, I once tried to argue this point of legalisation with a friend of mine, who is far far more intelligent than me and I was so shot down on every single one of my points it was unbelievable. It simply cannot be done, for reasons I cannot list due to forgetfulness and general stupidity but it can't.
 
Super Polack said:
That book is purchased, £5.49 too. Cheers chaps.

Just to add, I once tried to argue this point of legalisation with a friend of mine, who is far far more intelligent than me and I was so shot down on every single one of my points it was unbelievable. It simply cannot be done, for reasons I cannot list due to forgetfulness and general stupidity but it can't.
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Send him/her this link to a Financial Times article, which riffs on the fashionable "prohibition = terrorists" theme:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n941.a06.html

The author is Willem Buiter, professor of European political economy at the
London School of Economics' European Institute.

:o:o
 
I don't think this article is particuarly good. I have forwarded it, if for nothing else other than to get my friend's argument in writing so I can relay it to you. Many of these points I remember originally bringing up, funding terrorism, controlled use, cutting crime and a fair few more. However, I feel Willem doesn't actually consider any argument in anywhere near enough to detail for this to have any weight. Many of the analogies are ridiculous too, an "it worked for Amsterdam" type attitude is something I'd except from a drooling raver not a Professor of Economics.

To be honest, I'm fairly unsure of the actual validity of the article itself, never have I seen "So legalise, regulate, tax, educate and rehabilitate. Stop a losing war, get the government off our backs, beat the Taliban and deal a blow to al-Qaeda in the process. Not a bad deal!" written in the Financial Times.
 
Super Polack said:
I don't think this article is particuarly good. I have forwarded it, if for nothing else other than to get my friend's argument in writing so I can relay it to you. Many of these points I remember originally bringing up, funding terrorism, controlled use, cutting crime and a fair few more. However, I feel Willem doesn't actually consider any argument in anywhere near enough to detail for this to have any weight. Many of the analogies are ridiculous too, an "it worked for Amsterdam" type attitude is something I'd except from a drooling raver not a Professor of Economics.

To be honest, I'm fairly unsure of the actual validity of the article itself, never have I seen "So legalise, regulate, tax, educate and rehabilitate. Stop a losing war, get the government off our backs, beat the Taliban and deal a blow to al-Qaeda in the process. Not a bad deal!" written in the Financial Times.
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I don't think you read the article properly.

It's short, which is why there are no detailed analogies.

Re: the Netherlands, Buiter actually talks of the downsides of their tolerance. He does not hold it up as success story.

Re: the validity of the article, it's from an established site that collates drug news. As you can see here it corresponds exactly to the original source:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c0eaf51e-4509-11dc-82f5-0000779fd2ac.html

Legalising and regulating recreational drug use is a stance taken by many respected, free market-oriented publications, most notably the Economist.

Medical journal the Lancet has pointed out the current drug classifications bear no relation to the harm or potential harm their use can cause:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6474053.stm

Current drug law is flawed and causes negative consequences that affect the future of entire nations, as pointed out in the Times article.

:idea::idea:
 
"When the Netherlands became an enclave of tolerance of drug use, drug users from all over Europe congregated there."

I saw this as positive, may have taken it incorrectly.

The argument of drug classifications is fairly irrelevant too. I'm percieving "legalisation" as pop to the shop/drug clinic or some sort and ask for "5 pills, a gram of coke and some heroin please". Can't see how it would be done.

As the article states, there are alot of postives, crime, terrorism cut etc however we can never judge the actual outcome until it's done. I personally just think our whole society will change and the world will be completely different. I'm yet to have a definate idea as to whether I'm behind this or not, doubt I ever will but then again, I very much doubt it will ever happen. Until someone comes out with a clear plan as to how this would be rolled out I can't see it being plausible in any way.
 
Super Polack said:
"When the Netherlands became an enclave of tolerance of drug use, drug users from all over Europe congregated there."

I saw this as positive, may have taken it incorrectly.
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Well obviously I think a congregation of drug users from all over Europe is a good thing, but Buiter's point is that the revision of drug laws "should occur simultaneously in a number of neighbouring countries" otherwise you get a concentration of vice with all the accompanying negative effects.

Super Polack said:
The argument of drug classifications is fairly irrelevant too. I'm percieving "legalisation" as pop to the shop/drug clinic or some sort and ask for "5 pills, a gram of coke and some heroin please". Can't see how it would be done.

As the article states, there are alot of postives, crime, terrorism cut etc however we can never judge the actual outcome until it's done. I personally just think our whole society will change and the world will be completely different. I'm yet to have a definate idea as to whether I'm behind this or not, doubt I ever will but then again, I very much doubt it will ever happen. Until someone comes out with a clear plan as to how this would be rolled out I can't see it being plausible in any way.
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Yes our whole society would change. Your lack of imagination does not preclude this from happening.

:idea::idea:
 
Dr Mick said:
Send him/her this link to a Financial Times article, which riffs on the fashionable "prohibition = terrorists" theme:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n941.a06.html

The author is Willem Buiter, professor of European political economy at the
London School of Economics' European Institute.

:o:o
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And now common sense breaks out at the Times:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article2351152.ece

"...tougher sentences for carrying knives or guns are pointless when the law already imposes even longer prison terms — up to life for large quantities — on people who carry drugs, which many of the teenage gangs habitually do. Similarly, zero-tolerance policing, which could certainly help to get weapons off the streets in the right conditions, is of little use if prisons are so overcrowded with drug offenders that there is no room for violent criminals carrying knives and even guns."

I've thought about this a lot, and in my view the current and ongoing prison crisis could force the issue of legalisation to the top of the political agenda.

Either that or it'll end up like the States where incarceration is an industry and more than two million are behind bars.

:x:x
 
Dr Mick said:
Either that or it'll end up like the States where incarceration is an industry and more than two million are behind bars.

:x:x
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Without a doubt, it's got to happen. Lots of people are ready gunning for it as it is obviously very lucrative. Up to 35 years for cannabis I think, knive = caution, wounding with intent = suspended sentence and that baby raper guy got a year !!!!! Gordy will sort it.
 
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