General Election: Who the hell am I going to vote for???

In all fairness, the average smoker has paid for them many times over in tax.

I'll wager that you frequently come into contact with regular users without even realising.
There are some who are unfortunate enough to lose control of their usage/habit. All too often this is as a result of unscrupulous dealers pressurising them to "try this, it's good". I've seen it happen with my own eyes. Licensed selling would bring with it responsible selling. With good training the warning signs could be spotted and the offer of help extended. What would not be required would be the constant thieving that some addicts resort to in order to feed the habit if the price reflected the true cost.
Then there are the moral advantages of the government taking control of supply. Whole villages in (for example) Colombia are enslaved or worse to feed the Wests coke usage/habit. Not to trivialise it but fairtrade drugs could effectively become possible.

Just my thoughts but I do believe that the advantages to society of decriminalisation outweigh any disadvantages. I know that there are those who suffer/have suffered enormously from drugs but I also know that there are far more fully functioning members of society (at all levels) than we care to acknowledge. I escaped mostly unscathed mentally and physically (excepting the odd broken bone) yet far more people present at hospital with drink related illnesses and injuries. I'm not sure that what I say is the definitive answer but I do believe it is time that it was seriously thought about.

 

The war on drugs is not working as it is. The fact that drugs are illegal is not putting people off from trying them and using them.

Throwing addicts in prisons for drug use so that they clean up in prison and then just releasing them isnt helping either because they just go out and score again and the cycle isnt broken.

Imo it would be more effective to decriminalise drug use so that addicts arnt sent to prison for possession and instead are sent to rehab and offered help to clean up, stay clean and get their lives back on track

Loads of people use drugs socially from all walks of life it being illegal is not a deterrent. Its not working

I personally think the government needs to start having discussions on what is the best way to change things and come up with a different solution to this one

There are lots of countries with different ways of combating drug use and I have to say Russell brand did a very very good programme on it for bbc 3 i think a while back looking at the different options this country could go down

Here is the programme on youtube



Plus now we are getting very dangerous legal highs appearing that are not regulated and are killing people and the NHS, police and government are struggling to keep up with. These new legal highs to me are far scarier than cannabis and are very very worrying.

I don't know the solution but the system is creating the demand for these and things do need to change

 

How can we do that?

 

I think one thing we should do is send money out there. At the moment the Italian government is paying for all their food and giving out new clothing and looking after all their health needs.

I also think (and I know you won't agree with me in this one) that we should take some refugees into the UK.

 

OK, I said I wouldn't get involved, but if they are refugees, then build refugee camps, and they can go back once things are safe.
If they are illegal immigrants, which I think most are, then Europe cant cope with half of Africa wanting to come here.
Not sure what the solution is, I doubt there is one until those countries become stable again, like they were when they were ruled by dictators.

 

Where would you build the refugee camps? Italy? When would it be safe to go back? In the middle east there are third generation camps, still in use since 1948.

 

The speed with which they can start to affect the way that the regular user functions on a day to day basis is quite shocking. Certainly far quicker than the use of cannabis does.

Even worse, some find it easier to score in prison.

Whilst a cruel dictator is not ideal it is preferable to civil war with religious terror groups thrown in to the mix as well. And let's be honest, we tolerate it in Saudi Arabia don't we.

 

Where ever there was enough room, preferably the other side of the Med, but we dont have the military whack these days to do much.

Its their wars, its just one war after another, if we try to get involved down there we are wrong, if we leave them alone we are wrong.

Got to admit we have meddled far to much in that part of the world.

Would they take us in, if we were in the same situation?

 

One day to go and I'm still clueless ... Mmmm

 

All comes down to money again

 

I have nothing useful to add except...by this time next week the election should be just about over & We won't have to keep hearing about it, listen to the bitching between the parties or fill our bins up with election flyers
I have to say the royal baby was a breath of fresh air....happy positive news please let's have more of this!
I've decided to vote conservative as I always do, I don't like Miliband, lib dem is a waste of time, Farage.....don't get me started! Greens have some good policies but I'm not sure they have what it takes! I will just say if Farage gets in I'm leaving the country , I've never come across such a jerk in all of my life!
Happy voting!

 

I agree with all of that @Beckie76 apart from the royal baby bit that was also annoying and boring for me lol

I will be glad when tomorrow is over but what I am really annoyed about is they are turning off E4 in hopes that will get young people out to vote. They do realise E4 is one channel in hundreds so If young people dont want to go out and vote im sure they will just watch something else.

im annoyed though because thursday night its 2 broke girls on E4 and now i have to miss my TV even tho i have already voted because they seem to think this is a way of getting young people to vote

Im not happy and i dont think it will make much difference to be honest