Drug Use
 

Do not do it is my advice -

https://stv.tv/news/west-central/143...QEvfKKGPTK-LO4

I speak as one who had problems with alcohol and as one who has observed family members use and lose.

Re: Drug Use
 

There's no cure for stupidity, well other than the one she self-administered. :lol:

That is the second "burst bag" death I have read of in the past few days, though I suspect her death was more foreseeable as it was apparently a spur-of-the-moment, improvised bag swallowing that she performed, not a more carefully planned and organized bulk smuggling plan (which the other death was).

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A "sensible" user (if there are any) would have flushed it down the toilet.

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By which I assume you mean "anyone with an ounce, or even a few grams :sneaky:, of sense wouldn't have touched it in the first place." :nod:

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Indeed.

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Totally utterly stupid. With time before the flight and waiting around at the airport, more than enough time to stick £60 up your nose. Such a waste.

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This seems to skate along the edge of BE Site Rule #3. :unsure:

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Really tragic story in particular as she had family and seemed to have a lot of positive things going on in her life.
My perception is that drugs are an ever present temptation for many in the UK, particularly people who want to appear cool and popular. A lot of my uni friends in London continue to dabble when out parting even as they age into their 30s /40s. I can imagine how how a normally smart person when a little drunk or wired from partying might make a daft decision like she did.
With the strict laws in the GCC i would not consider it and generally appreciate the benefits of not having the temptation.

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Opium Use destroyed The Chinese Empire in the 19th century. Our society is now set on self-destruction in the same way.

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The rate at which opiates are killing Americans, I have been wondering how long it will take for the problem to "burn itself out"? Though I can't help but wonder if legalizing a gateway drug has just increased the market for other illegal narcotics? :unsure:

Re: Drug Use
 

The problem in both the UK and US is the lack of political will to go after the users - basic economics tells us that if you try to reduce the supply, by targeting suppliers, all you will do is increase the price, and therefore the motivation for other suppliers to enter the market.

If you want to reduce the drug problem you need a way to reduce the demand, which means (i) an effective drug treatment program, (ii) an effective program to keep new users (children) from starting, and (iii) a willingness to incarcerate chronic users who won't stop using. If you have all those in place then a "throw away the key" sentencing policy for wholesale traffickers would be the icing on the cake, but at the moment there is no cake to put any icing on. :(

Re: Drug Use
 

You raise a good point.

The solution for prostitution is apparently to cut demand and not supply. The solution for drug use is apparently to cut supply and not the demand. Both are incorrect strategies. The reality is both will continue regardless of supply-demand dynamics.

The real issue is the UK is the social acceptance of casual drug taking. A middle-aged teacher with three kids who does it for fun with her husband is a great example of social acceptance. My guess is her parents probably knew but turned a blind eye or at least some friends (who was she in the lounge with). Just as drink driving was once socially acceptable but through education and cultural change it is no longer acceptable, drug use has gone the other way.

Re: Drug Use
 

Total waste of life , a death through a 50 quid bag of bashed up beak . Should have just did 2 big lines then flushed the rest down the shithouse .

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Agree.

Drugs, especially marijuana usage has come out of the shadows and you now see more and more stoned middle aged people out in public and you smell it far more in public now than you did 20 years ago. And it's not always healthy. Some people think it's no different from having a bottle of wine at a dinner party, but it risks long term psychological and mental issues.

I do wonder what the long term outcome of making drugs respectable will be. I've been traveling to the US for work trips recently and you also see so many drugged up youths begging on the streets. An American coworker said 20 years ago all the street beggars were old black men who had alcohol and drug abuse problems. Today they're all young white kids. He used to support pot legalisation but now thinks it's jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire situation. And I have to agree. I walked past one of these beggars last week, a young white chap, early 20s. His eyes were completely whacked out. Brain gone for sure. And it's all due to drugs.

Re: Drug Use
 

You make two interesting points - firstly that there is some combination of denial and ignorance about the dangers of pot - it is well documented that pot use has profound impacts on the brain for at least some users, with the effects apparently worse and/or more likely for younger users. Pot users appear to run the risk of developing schizophrenia and/or suffering a reduction of IQ, there is also some evidence, unsurpringly, that inhaling the smoke increases the risk of causing cancer.

Secondly. I have read recent reports that the largest demographic of people who have taken advantage of the legalization of pot in a number of US states are "young, less educated, white, men", so while there are certainly many people in various demographics who are now "partaking", chronic and frequent usage is often by those people who can least afford to deal with mental issues and depressed IQ (not, of course, that these effects are desirable for anyone!)

Re the "out of the frying pan" angle, the risk of legalizing pot is two-fold. It is well known that pot is a gateway drug, so once you have tried that you are more likely to try something else, and secondly, and perhaps more concerningly, if the street dealers in pot have lost their market to legit "head shops", their backup plan to maintain their income is likely to be to push something else, so effectively doubling the risk of the "gateway drug" problem.

All that said, I do think its a curious paradox that smoking tobacco has been in significant and continuous decline for at least 30-40 years in most of the industrialized world, while over the same time pot usage has tracked steadily upwards.

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I think she probably didn't realise she still had it on her until she was in the airport bar, maybe just before boarding, then either panicked and swallowed it out of fear of arrest at her destination, maybe had too much champagne and thought the bag would hold. Definitely not premeditated or she would have wrapped it to travel and doesn't make sense because if they were serving alcohol there would have been a restroom and she could have flushed it. Too bad for her family.

Re: Drug Use
 

This story, and other reports, have all been lifted from the Daily Fail, who've also seen fit to use the dark arts and copyright images garnered via her social media page.

There's loads to this that doesn't add up and even the worst thieving scrote of a skaghead still has more morals than any of the so called "journalists" there.

Re: Drug Use
 

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Maybe that confirms my view, that you'd have to be mad or on drugs to want to lead the Conservative party at the moment? :unsure:

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Only sane one in that group is Rory Stewart. His handicap is that he is a "one-nation Tory" The fact that his dad was the boss of MI5 might be a handicap.

I rather like him and I am neither Conservative nor Unionist

I remember that in one of his books he describes how it was to smoke opium in Iran.!

Re: Drug Use
 

That's one of the largest groups of cocaine users in the UK now, middle aged parents, I believe?

Amen to that. Normally I'd say just get it done ASAP but in an airport lounge before a flight you'd need your head tested, flush the lot.

Both, technically.

How'd she even get it to the lounge? Must have got it through security....

Re: Drug Use
 

How funny it would be if one of our future PMs isn't granted a new US visa due to lies about drug taking on previous visa applications. Although I must say a proper US visa (not just the ESTA) is not an easy form to complete.

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Airport security is looking for, and has equipment to look for weapons and explosives. They aren't equipped to identify retail quantities of recreational pharmaceuticals.* Try taking a couple of keys in your carry on, and it might get someone's attention on the X-ray image, but three lines in a baggie, no chance.

* This may be different in some drug-producing countries or countries with a very lower tolerance of drug trafficking, such as Thailand or Malaysia.

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Fair point. If it was tightly wrapped or rolled it might be mistaken for something else as well I suppose.

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You can always donate to the just giving page...

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The only thing that would pick up traceability would be a swab and she would have already been through that procedure so her thinking was flawed to say the least