Fractelle,

Who the hell are you, miss Etiquette or something? Perhaps other posters don't need my affirmation or encouragement or validation of their arguments or their ego's massaged. Maybe they couldn't give a toss what I think of their 'contributions'.

Maybe next topic I'll hand out a feminist talking stick, and we'll all have group hugs with lashings of ginger beer, and a hip, hip hoorah for the most worthwhile contribution. God it's forum where people post stuff. We're not changing the world here, lighten up.

Ooooh bad boy Philo. Me thinks you're about to be forever exlcuded from the Fractelles group hugs, you nasty boy. I'm sure there'll be many sleepless nights:-)

Thanks, Fractelle, *blushes*.
”A very complex issue and deserves sincere debate.”
Exactly, I find it an intriguing topic and at least we probably all agree here that there needs to be a more honest and open debate.
I think that most Australians, if given clear and proper facts, would be in favour of at least decriminalising the stuff.
I think baby-steps need to be taken- legalise the most harmless, class C stuff first like marijuana, and then take it from there.
I've said elsewhere that I'm in favour of reclassification of all drugs.

Philo,
Not that I disagree with you about the role of doctors, but I just want to keep in mind that doctors are drug dealers who deal in legal drugs. ALL drugs come with risk, legal or not. Legal does not necessarily mean safe.
While many drugs are, in most cases, necessary, some can do more harm than good as they create new diseases (long term effects).
The pharmaceutical industry is, after all, a profit making industry that does not always financially benefit from permanently curing illnesses.
Look at the enormous amount of ADHD medication that is handed out to even very young children, or how the Pharmaceutical companies have manipulated the cholesterol industry by creating an artificial need for statins.
And why are millions of healthy people taking aspirin daily because they have been told this can prevent a heart attack?

US I agree that the risks of illicit drugs are largely overrated. Far more people die from prescription drugs than from illicit drugs.
The risks of illegal drugs can also be greatly reduced by legalising them and educating people.
For example, a good quality ecstasy pill (MDMA) in itself is not much of a risk, but if you haven’t been informed about how to keep your body fluids in balance, you can face a greater risk.

BTW US, I hope you don’t assume all feminists are gruggers (group huggers). I’m reading Ben Elton atm, “Blind faith” and the crowd there do compulsory grugs (group hugs) that really put me off for life! ;)

I agree that the drug war should end as it's a sham and that all existing police should be immediately fired and the resources wasted on them saved, or put to use in rehabilitation or drug health related policing.

Celivia,

Ev-love! Great book that.

Celivia I think your point regarding classification of drugs is very pertinent. So, as I am so often motivated by someone’s post on OLO, I thought I’d do a little research. This I enjoy and hopefully we will all be better informed.

As many have noted, alcohol and tobacco cause more harm than all of the other drugs put together.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/mar/23/constitution.drugsandalcohol

“Some of Britain's leading drug experts demand today that the government's classification regime be scrapped and replaced by one that more honestly reflects the harm caused by alcohol and tobacco. They say the current ABC system is "arbitrary" and not based on evidence.

The scientists, including members of the government's top advisory committee on drug classification, have produced a rigorous assessment of the social and individual harm caused by 20 substances, and believe this should form the basis of any future ranking.

By their analysis, alcohol and tobacco are rated as more dangerous than cannabis, LSD and ecstasy.

They say that if the current ABC system is retained, alcohol would be rated a class A drug and tobacco class B.

"We face a huge problem," said Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council and an author of the report, which is published in the Lancet medical journal. "Drugs ... have never been more easily available, have never been cheaper, never been more potent and never been more widely used.

"The policies we have had for the last 40 years ... clearly have not worked in terms of reducing drug use. ..... The principal objective of this study was to bring a dispassionate approach to what is a very passionate issue."”

Before we can start to decriminalise, we need to fully understand the effects of what we are dealing with.

BTW, U-Sus
Your buttons are far too easy to push.
:-)
Instead of ‘reds under the bed’ you see feminist conspiracy everywhere.

As a result you fail to see how frequently many feminists actually agree with you on a variety of issues – like this one for example. Look how much you appreciate Celivia's POV.

Unfortunately Fractelle, it's the extreme activist feminists that counts (this includes for example, all the psychologists 'advising' governments, the activists within government departments, and private activist ngos etc...). This has been represented most strongly in the past and by people like Hetty and Melinda Tankard Reist. MTR for one has close links to the extreme catholics, but hides this from others publicly. I wonder why. This is mirrored in our political system, which has a Federal Minister and an Office for Women's Interests. It is the extremists who drive the news and politics. MTR for example, was an adviser to the extreme pro-censorship catholic ex-senator Brian Harradine. Moderate feminists simply do not count.