great joseph
make them into 'drug'..[under the act]
and lets have a faux drug war on them.their trust[the people]

mate if afganastan..isnt about drugs..[control of supply]
then what is it really[an excuse for cia to render the drugs globally via 'secret rendition'..delivery systems..[flying the stuff in/out with drones

thing is the drug war is a real war
fought by too clever people..with capitalist intel adgendas
drug sniffing dogs and dawn raids..[to lock up the parents..and steal their kids..

[ITS A REAL WAR OUT THERE!]

by what reason has authority been given
to govt[any govt],,to DECLARE WAR ....*ON ITS OWN KIDS?

legal drugs for the rich
drug sniffing random inspections for the poor

20 out of 21 plead guiltyy..in ignorance..out of fear!
cause court is designed to waste three days..[then when you cant pay the 'fine'..you get arrested for failing to pay bribes..to govt..

who then get to work for PRIVATE PRISON INDUSTRY
for buck fifty per day...lol[endebited slavery]

private prisons=work camps

its a standover teqnique
so clever its criminal..

[lawyers getting 250 for a guilty plea]
10 of them in a morning..its a great industry..
[for cheap lawyers..wanting nice steady govt cash..not getting the real criminals stealing our union/retirment funds and bailing out bankers

bah on the lot of em

keeping police busy..policing policy not criminal law!

and lawyers dont need to know law..to convince a kid
to plead guilty...[i wil get you off]..till you get his bill..PLUS THE FINE

thenm defaiult fine[go to jail]

plus..*he claims govt subsidy
legal aid..wasted education time on fraud/drug war lore

its great mate

take that away
the drug law fails over night

or refuse to play their game...turn yourself in..
dont pay bribes to corrupt colluder's of treason upon the people

hoover began this..along with randel hurst news media
cause they had mates that wanted that hemp was doing[wanted to bankrupt the drug fibre..[then buy up the processing machines and industry once they cornerd supply..AND PRODUCTION

its all about taxing others
while bailing out ya party mates

The question should have been "should we legalise drugs or criminalise people ?."

Dear Josephus, without wishing to be rude your comments are hysterical. There is no connection between cannabis and Parkinson's Disease. Nobody has ever held any up with a knife to pay for cannabis. Cannabis does not produce the physical addiction symptoms that are the usual driver for such events for a start Josephus.

A morbid fear of the unknown may produce a life that has boundaries just as restrictive and unproductive as one produced by drug addiction.

If we drill down to the facts about this subject and applied the kiss principal, we could simply state that "if you allow people whom wish to use drugs access to them, then you will no longer have to fret so badly about the possibility of one them stealing your TV set" Josephus.
This is primarily because the servicing of a costly addiction and all the crime associated with that, no longer exists.

As for the question of encouraging drug use by doing this (legalising I mean), I believe the opposite effect would most likely occur. Existing drug addicts would soon learn that they can live more fulfilling lives by tempering their addictions, instead of being trapped in a never ending cycle of payment of bootleg prices for un-monitored/un-regulated product more risky alone by the sheer nature of it's illicit underground manufacture. With the mystique removed, the young can look at the actuals, the facts, the truth, and make informed decisions about what it is they wish to do with their lives in later adulthood.

Instead we press on with this process of maximising the harm that we consider wise, these prohibition philosophies,these crime and punishment, policing and profit cycles that are clearly not working, and it is fair to say that they largely perpetuate the problem.

Criminals will most likely move on to cyber crime, or just have to go back to robbing banks, with opportunity removed to profit so handsomely from illicit drug distribution.

There are a lot who are much brighter than me in this forum.
And almost every one is better educated.
But we often do not show it, I understand some, childishly,do not want to talk to others.
And yes I too understand OUG when in comes to smokeing or grass is fixed in his views.
Here however is a subject we could make great use off.
An opportunity to be better for change.
I am not posting every link of interest, but this morning saw, in the SMH.
It reminds us our waterfront is as it always has been, a center for CORRUPTION.
You can get guns drugs anything, past those we pay to load unload search,we feed criminals and we kill, in the name of corruption.
Party's like, very briefly, greens formed in hope of sustainable change.
Infected by every lost thought and idea that party is dead standing up, waiting for a place to fall.
Labor and Conservatives have been tainted by disclosed ties to drug cash.
Both lack the guts to act.
Are we content to see our country continue to see this blight get worse?
Change is the only way forward.

We have legal drugs in alcohol and nicotine so do not pretend things will be far better off by making them available to any and all who use them. These two legal drugs cost the nation billions in loss of family life, productive employment and personal health.

More people die from the affects of these two drugs than ever died from aspestosis yet the companies that produce these legal drugs have not been brought to account as James Hardy to pay for loss of health.

Decriminalising to make it cheaper and readily available is not the answer to the social need of the addict.

If you can convince me that alcohol does not cause death, violence and criminal acts I will concede my opposition to other drugs being freely available.

It seems to me that much of the argument in this thread is driven by values and belief systems, about which there will never be agreement.
So, why don't we start from the data?
Which is telling us, loud and clear, that our currrent strategy, i.e. "war on drugs" has been a complete failure.
I say that because:
1. Drug usage has steadily increased throughout the period since war was declared back in the 70s.
2. Drug related crime has increased steadily over the same period.
3. Convictions for drug related corruption has increased over the same period.
4. Drug funded international gangs have grown in power and ruthlessness over the same period. (e.g. the 50 beheaded bodies found in Mexico this week)
5. The sizes of intercepted drug shipments has increased over the same period.
So, by any measure, we are abjectly losing the "War on Drugs"
Do you not think it's time that we, as a society, at least consider trying another approach?
So, what has worked?
Well, programmes aimed at reducing drug usage related illnesses and deathshahve workd very well. Aids, Hep C infections, OD's and so on are falling.
But the strategies that have brought about these achievements were not based on treating users as criminals; they were based on treating users and people with an illness.
In summary, what we have done for the past for decades is measurably failing.
Whan we try something different, things improve a little.
I think there are a couple of clues there.
Anthony
http://www.observatinopoint.com.au

Anthonyv as usual you are quite right.
It is our refusal to leave our personal biases in the bucket by the door and come equipped to think in other ways that condemns us.
I however have hope, in youth and new ideas.
One day a truly nonpolitical group will come running online polls and handing the results on the media and Parliament.
Such will see progress here, the victims of drugs corruption and all the droppings of both deserve better.