I have seen peoples lives utterly destroyed from heroin. It's not just the sufferer but everyone around them. As the withdraw is so painful, these guys will do anything for a hit. Heroin should never be readily available!

Laws are often made on the basis of "morality", which inevitably changes over decades/generations.

When it all started to become popular with the counter-culture, naturally, it appeared this evil had to be stopped on "moral" grounds. After all, it was only being widely adopted by the evil counter culture hell-bent on ruining society as we know it (despite so many subscribing to the moral "high ground" routinely drinking themselves into oblivion and engaging in all kinds of despicable acts).

As the "weed" business went underground, naturally we saw the growth of a huge illegal trade, conducted by criminals and people who recognised only their own form of justice, which of course, only proves the morally questionable nature of Marijuana and other drugs, and only sends us packing more resources to fight it, ironically only making it more popular, causing more and more conflict, whilst criminals walk away with billions that could otherwise be windfall tax profits used for the common good.

We live in different times now, and perhaps we can begin to reflect on the consequences of closed-mindedly enforcing "moralities" the majority subscribe to at any given moment in history. Unfortunately, probably not in this lifetime...

A drop in the ocean compared to the lives blighted by alcohol abuse and I'll go so far to say alcohol USE. Just how many people do you think actually take heroin? I'll bet if you sat 1000 people in a room and asked people to BE HONEST, less than 10% would actually know a heroin user.... What's the betting more than half know someone whose life has been blighted by alcohol in one way or another.

I take your point but as a genius who is lost to us once said...

" You always hear stories about people taking drugs and jumping off a building thinking they could fly, idiots, when was the last time you saw ducks taking the elevator to get to the top of a building to fly south for the summer, if you thought you could fly, take off from the ground! **** them, we haven't lost a cure for cancer in these idiots, just another petrol pump attendant"

Just out of interest who said it Matt?

Well there ya go, just what I was saying!

You're taking what I said out of text. I'm saying I don't believe heroin should be made legal.
Alcohol, well that's always the alternative but there is a difference!
People taking heroin end up ruined! Millions upon millions of people enjoy alcohol!
So, comparing cannabis to alcohol is comparing like for like, though alcohol causes more problems with people, families and crime rates.

He also states that he is "cold, cruel and vicious"
And you pay attention to the ramblings of this idiot! I'm not knocking you but hey, he's hardly an authority on life.

I read earlier that 75% of cannabis, of the stronger, 'skunk' variety is now grown in the UK, mostly in factories run by Vietnamese people who employ hapless young 'slaves' to run them.

I can't quote the interesting article because it's in a paper you have to pay for.

I didn't take anything out of context, I was using your post to highlight a point I was tying to make... Oh and no they don't, I know two people who are former addicts and both have completely turned their lives around, one of them has even made a good life for himself and his daughter.



Was anything he said wrong? You're damn right I listen to people like him, if not who else is there? The politicians telling us their drug policies work? The "Drug Tsars" who tell us that the likes of cannabis is more dangerous than alcohol and tobacco? Without voices like his, and I'm not saying he is some sort of messiah, he is just a voice, we are left believing the shite we are told by the very politicians who lie to us to keep us from asking questions.

[QUOTE=rugbymatt;10868510]I didn't take anything out of context, I was using your post to highlight a point I was tying to make... Oh and no they don't, I know two people who are former addicts and both have completely turned their lives around, one of them has even made a good life for himself and his daughter

I hear what you're saying Rugbymat but the truth is, heroin users tend to hit the depths of despair before finding the strength to put things right.
I'm glad for the people you know as I too know similar stories.
As for you taking things out of context...my brain is often a bit weak on a Sunday and I misunderstood!

Honestly not an issue at all...

The same could easily be said about alcohol abuse, it takes those involved to hell and back and unlike heroin it effects people most of not all of us know. I think we are both coming at this subject with the same message even if its by a different approach. I am not in any way advocating heroin use but I do find it difficult to understand why, in such an informed day and age we not only allow but actively encourage alcohol use yet penalize people for trying illicit drugs.

I've read the same article in today's Sunday Times. It's another reason to legalise cannabis, IMO, to take organised crime out of the equation.

Mostly for the same reason, I agree with those who feel it's time to legalise all drugs, even heroin. Not for a moment do I think it's a good idea to use it, but decades of attempts to prevent it via the criminal justice system have failed and if people are so determined to risk their health it would IMO be better that it be available to buy under controlled, safe conditions, it could be taxed just like alcohol and tobacco and most importantly it would deprive the gangsters of an opportunity to get rich and attract vulnerable people to get involved in their trade at a level where they are far more likely to fall foul of the law whilst those raking in the real money, at a safe distance, remain free.

Whilst I agree with your point that alcoholism is a major problem, I don't see it as a valid comparison with drug abuse.

The vast majority of habitual alcohol users do so in moderation and have enough control of the habit not to allow it to be detrimental to their own lives or the lives of others.

How many hard drug users can say the same once they've got into the habit ?

Which is precisely the same situation as millions of habitual cannabis/marijuana users.