I did not say legalise all drugs and have them all for sale in coffee shops, I said decriminalise. I think that someone has an addiction they need real help, government funded rehabilitation and a society that doesn’t look down on them, not a jail term.
Mephedrone is a strange one I'll admit, but you have to ask yourself why it's come about in the first place. The reason that this, and I no doubt many MANY substances in the future will appear is because boffins are looking to make chemicals that provide the same effects as common illegal, (often safer) drugs, but that fit legal loopholes. You ban drugs, you send them underground and simultaneously make 'legal highs' more dangerous.
Prime example; I use to love magic mushrooms. Fantastic times, no side effects, taken sparingly they are completely harmless. Media decide they need something to wage war on, so they start pushing for them to ban mushrooms because they overheard someone on a bus recount a horrific story about a guy who thought he was a lump of cheese and tried to grate his own face. Government bans them. I go from a position where I am able to purchase the shrooms, fresh, from a shop, with a freakin receipt, to a position where I have to meet a dodgy dealer to buy them dried; they’re not as effective, and twice the price. I'm also a felon overnight, and can now be locked up for upto 7 (I think) years for possession. That is not right, and I don’t give a toss how many polititions, teachers, social workers, cops, etc try to tell me it is.
Mephedrone is a strange one I'll admit, but you have to ask yourself why it's come about in the first place. The reason that this, and I no doubt many MANY substances in the future will appear is because boffins are looking to make chemicals that provide the same effects as common illegal, (often safer) drugs, but that fit legal loopholes. You ban drugs, you send them underground and simultaneously make 'legal highs' more dangerous.
Prime example; I use to love magic mushrooms. Fantastic times, no side effects, taken sparingly they are completely harmless. Media decide they need something to wage war on, so they start pushing for them to ban mushrooms because they overheard someone on a bus recount a horrific story about a guy who thought he was a lump of cheese and tried to grate his own face. Government bans them. I go from a position where I am able to purchase the shrooms, fresh, from a shop, with a freakin receipt, to a position where I have to meet a dodgy dealer to buy them dried; they’re not as effective, and twice the price. I'm also a felon overnight, and can now be locked up for upto 7 (I think) years for possession. That is not right, and I don’t give a toss how many polititions, teachers, social workers, cops, etc try to tell me it is.