After the war on drugs...

[DBoy]

Excellent article in todays The Age
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/societ ... -lu8v.html

More info on the publication mentioned - After the War on Drugs - BLUEPRINT FOR REGULATION
http://www.tdpf.org.uk/blueprint%20download.htm

The Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation
http://adlrf.org.au/

What is happening in Australia around drug law reform? Not much unfortunately...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 744379.htm

in Victoria...
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old ... oria.shtml

Australian organisation conducting useful advocosy - Famile and Friends of Drug Law Reform
http://www.ffdlr.org.au/

[mrj]

Step 1 - Make drugs legal but sold by the Government who gets the revenue
Step 2 - Sack Lynne Kosky
Step 3 - Appointment a new minister for transport and give them the funds raised by selling drugs to introduce free, safe, clean and reliable public transport for all
Step 4 - Rejoice in the utopian world in which you live

[Hardy]

Step 1 - Make drugs legal but sold by the Government who gets the revenue
Step 2 - Sack Lynne Kosky
Step 3 - Appointment a new minister for transport and give them the funds raised by selling drugs to introduce free, safe, clean and reliable public transport for all
Step 4 - Rejoice in the utopian world in which you live

You left out:

Step 5 - Kill Bono

[deviant]

shouldn't that come before step 4?

[mecka]

You left out:

Step 5 - Kill Bono

Can't kill number 2.

But we should definitely fire Lynne Kosky.

[Amick]

[tee193]

Raises a valid point although presents way to many flaws, such as who can actually get a hold of certain drugs and age limits, will it eventually be " underage heroin use on the rise" splattered across headlines instead of binge drinking rah rah. I do like that such a positive approach has been taken on the matter, especially with the comments displayed, not all tabloid media brainwashed retards who try to think that this sort of stuff will never happen to anyone they know so it is not an issue.

[Lephrenic]

Catherine Austin Fitts tells a good story of how she spoke at a conference of socially responsible investors and explained to them about the trillions of dollars of drug money that flows through the world financial market, Wall Street, the big banks. At the end, she asked the group what would concern them if drugs were made legal and narcotics trafficking were stopped. They worried that taxes would go up and that their mutual funds would go down, etc. So she asked them to imagine there was a big red button they could press that would make all illegal drug trafficking disappear immediately. Who would push the button? Out of 100 people supposedly dedicated to bettering their world, only one person said yes.

[autumnleaves]

I have no economics training so that's a disclaimer.

Why would taxes go up? Wouldn't they go down due to all the extra revenue created by taxing previously untaxed goods, and the money saved on the drug war? Why wouldn't this money spent on drugs still go through the world financial market?

[Lephrenic]

It's ok, I have no economics training either.

I'm not sure about taxes, to be honest. But it's widely held that many decriminalisation measures, such as introducing prescribed programs for registered addicts, would hugely reduce the profitability of drugs. I mention the story here because I think it shows the big challenge we face in getting real drug law reform. If people would prefer crime, prostitution and misery to continue rather than risk their investments, things don't bode well.

The real drug barons largely don't even count their money, they weigh it. But that quantity of money is very hard to hide, so you need some crafty accounting to manage your funds. A US Senate report in 2001 stated that roughly a trillion dollars is laundered every year through Wall Street, mostly derived from the drug trade. Citigroup, Deutschebank, many of the big banks have come under fire for their correspondent and private banking arrangements with 'rogue' foreign banks, but essentially the shell game goes on as it always has. As for whether sneaky rogue banks are solely to blame, does the tail wag the dog? Clearly not, particularly in the case of Citigroup, who once purchased a large Mexican bank run by a major cocaine smuggler and promptly put him on their board of directors.

To me, this is where the front line in the war on drugs should be fought. But people watch TV and they see local dealers, bikies, small time thugs and junkies on the street. 'Bad people' that should 'all be locked up'. Clearly this approach has gotten us nowhere, yet it still manages to win votes at election time.

[spiral]

portugal is another legalization success story

[JAMESSSS]

Just legalize drugs but have a massive advertising campaign with people kids perceive as uncool taking drugs on TV.

If Bert can smash mad lines you can too kids!

No person under 18 will want any part of it.

[FoundationStepper]

"your parents take E...

and then they have sex!"

[picture of hairy bumcrack]

[DBoy]

Just legalize drugs but have a massive advertising campaign with people kids perceive as uncool taking drugs on TV.

If Bert can smash mad lines you can too kids!

No person under 18 will want any part of it.

Not true - kids would just think Bert is ultra cool.

[JAMESSSS]

He does still look 18 I suppose.

[SoulWhiteMan]

If there was ever government-produced drugs, there would be the benefit of it being made to a certain pharmaceutical standard (no pun intended).

This would thereby result in clean mdma being in pills - sure, it might lead to an increase in melodic trance, but melbourne street violence would cease to exist.

[deviant]

I've taken drugs before

[FunkyJ]

Interesting on the J's this arvo I heard a story of a guy who's a successful business manager, who also shoots up 3 times a week.

Also I really like this line:

The focus of any drug debate should not be morals or the law; it should concentrate on the welfare of human beings

[FRAKSHA...]

soz if this has already been posted (i had a look but couldnt see)

looks like the Czechs have got the right idea as well (they also had very nice weed everytime i've been there )

New guidelines

Starting in 2010, possessing the following amounts of drugs is no longer a criminal offense.
Marijuana 15 grams or less
Heroin 1.5 grams or less
Cocaine 1 gram or less
Methamphetamine 2 grams or less
Amphetamine 2 grams or less
Ecstasy 4 tablets or less
Hashish 5 grams or less
Hallucinogenic mushrooms 40 pieces or less
LSD 5 tablets or less
http://www.praguepost.com/news/3194-new ... beral.html