The thing is prime minister, if you legalise all drugs, YOU will be blamed for all the deaths and will make Thatcher look loved by comparison.
Yes thatās because thatās what happens when you legalise drugs.
The fella who gave the drugs talk at your school has clearly done a number on you.
You donāt die instantly just by being in the vicinity of a bit of drugs.
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A little back story then, we had a LOT of drugs at school age. Never went past pot personally but saw a lot of LSD, speed, mushrooms etc. Two good friends died of overdoses not long after. If peopleās addictions are serious enough to make them rob, steal, swindle etc, they wonāt last long if itās in the newsagents.
Iām just thinking of the consumer here.
If it was legal it would be regulated - the user would know exactly what is in the substance and how much.
If they want to overdose thatās their choice, surely?
Absolutely. Individual choice. Iām just looking at the social impact of that.
The lunacy is that the current legal drug makes people argue and fight (in certain people) and utterly lose their shit. Booze should be banned and let everybody smoke weed then they just chill and fall asleep. Never happen here though, would be like painting the White Cliffs with the Tricolour.
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Actually, addiction is often more determined by social circumstances rather than by how available the substances are. Ever wondered why you often see high-functioning individuals who use drugs? Itās not because theyāre special or anything. They just happen to have other sources of fulfillment.
On the other hand, ever wonder why drug abuse is so common in deprived communities? Itās because (and Iām simplifying a lot here) the social problems drive people to use drugs as escapism.
Give people a stable income and lives, and youāll see drug abuse go way down. Stop criminalising them and continuing the spiral into that life.
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Addiction is such a nuanced subject itās hard to apply blanket rules to. Iāve never had an addiction issue myself but have a friend who was very much a drug addict to the point of serious detriment to his life. He would say he has an addictive personality and whilst now thankfully clean, that addictive nature has transferred to tattoos to the point heās now covered every inch with artwork, including his twig and giggle berries. In a way itās probably the dopamine hit heās addicted to and itās just different ways to earn those that is his issue.
Read a fascinating book a couple years back called Tony 10 about an Irish postman who went from never having gambled before a 50p bet on a world cup game to losing ā¬10m euro gambling in a matter of only a few years.
Now, thereās no doubt he chose to make those bets and do the things he did to get the money to feed his addiction but when you hear how Paddy Power treated him thereās no way you can say the industry isnāt partly responsible for targeting the addicted as they are their best customers at the end of the day. Free events tickets, special offers, constant bombardments of communications all to keep gambling front and centre of his mind. Meanwhile they get to hide behind the excuse of āwell we donāt know he couldnāt afford itā.
That industry has always been shady and for me is getting even shadier with punters who win too often now being blocked from claiming winnings, having stakes capped to ridiculous levels or barred entirely. If youāre happy to keep and target the ones who are losing money, you shouldnāt be allowed to ban the ones who win more often than youād like.
Same friend who was addicted to cocaine and now tattoos was the barber of one of the Leicester City players. He told him that whilst you or I might get a free Ā£10 bet as an incentive to join a certain site, they have reps hanging round outside the training ground and places they know the players frequent in order to offer them thousands or tens of thousands of pounds as incentives to get them gambling. When your business model is no different to that of some drug tout then I think the gambling industry needs a long hard look at itself and some serious regulation.
When the owner of a betting company is able to pay herself nearly Ā£500m in a single year, thereās something very very wrong going on.
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I heard that some (if not all) companies with online betting, identify those that are addicted and if they seem to have stopped for a while theys end them offers and incentives to get back into it.
Itās this sort of thing that makes the freedom of choice argument null and void.
If they are found to have done that , they should be fined to cover the cost and compensation to the person and have a serious look at the relevant licences issued to them imo .
One of my cousins owns / runs an online gambling company. The complexity of the front end is peanuts compared to the algorithms that generate data about the customers. Signed up at 11:30pm in the UK? Drinker whoās just left the pub, easy target etc.
I believe thereās a difference between people who do drugs / alcohol etc recreationally and people who are addicts.
I still worked my ass off during my addiction. So i was probably still a āhigh functioning guyā even when i have a serious drink dependency.
Fwiwā¦ I believe the term addiction should be replaced with dependency. If you are looking at someone who canāt function without his fix , itās something that ought to be addressed by the person in question and the people closest to him.
You are either a non user / recreational user or an addict(person with dependency) , thereās nothing as high functioning addicts. Substance Dependency affects people in different ways (both short term and long term )
Again , why should people who donāt mind having the odd bet etc etc suffer because of the minor percentage of people who do have a problem ?
Itās taking ownership of oneās actions. End of.
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Also part of the reasons we see more dangerous drugs like heroin , LSD being used more is that powers to be actively propogate against weed/pot etc which are relatively harmless compared to the othersā¦
Plus the stigma that religion and religious outfits play against marijuana despite the plant being something which has been in use for thousands of years without it being a problem.
Legalize weed and supply it through government channels and youāll find that the takers for more serious effect causing drugs decrease.
Its when weed is painted in the same brush as the other drugs and is banned/regulated/criminalized that people start taking whatever they get their hands on (some of the other drugs being more addictive and more dangerous)
Thats again a common biz practice across all industries.
Iāll give you a real example of food aggregation companies giving more discounts to someone who has not ordered anything for a while.
The rationale is the same , how is it different when its applied selectively to gambling companies.
That said , the gambling industry shouldnāt be allowed to have no oversight at allā¦ But just pointing out why its difficult to legislate against gambling companies when so many entities use the same tactics to sell their products
Didnāt know about this? Which religion? If itās in the bible Iāve missed it.
The bible mentions the marijuana plant quite favourably. Its the recent religious activities actively propogating against it (abetted by the govt ofcourse) which have cast a stigma on the plant.
Also Iād love to see which ancient philosopher had his ground breaking philosophy without using that plant.
Imo , that would probably have been how most religions were invented.
I disagree, doesnāt the Bible mention a few times Jesus was stoned ?
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Againā¦ I clarified that i meant recent religion