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Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

independent.co.uk

41–50 of 166 posts

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#41
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious as to why you "wouldn't have expected Ireland to be on this forefront". Not trying to sound accusatory - just genuinely curious on the perception.

Stuff like this (2014) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/17/ireland-woman-f...

Without doubt an issue that needs reform (which I believe is coming - there's a lot of campaigning around it).

Would be surprised if many people outside the country knew about this problem though. Of course, its possible I'm wrong which is the reason I asked in the first place.

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#42
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious as to why you "wouldn't have expected Ireland to be on this forefront". Not trying to sound accusatory - just genuinely curious on the perception.

Stuff like this (2014) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/17/ireland-woman-f...

Yeah, we're not any more progressive on that front at all.

There's plenty of pro-choice activism here, but sadly, I believe Ireland still a long way from a civilised, non-hypocritical policy on abortion.

I would love to be proven wrong about that.

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#43
post #38
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Far from half baked (theres a pun here if I look hard enough), Portugal stepped up and did the experiment already. And it worked.

The OP's point is that decriminalization leaves the market, the money and the tax revenue with the criminals. As a taxpayer, I want a fair proportion of the money to go to the government, and only full legalization and regulation does that.

Fully agreed. I support fairly high taxes on it, but full legalisation. And it is true that people still need convinced, but different places are starting experiments now. I've heard the US puts anti-drug language in contracts and stuff - if true, the faster the US loosens up, the more quickly change can be possible.

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#44
To really solve the social problems, the sale needs to be legalised.

Making the sale a criminal offence puts money into the hands of organized crime, drives up the prices, forces addicts to steal to buy their drugs and leads drug users to take "worse" drugs like methamphetamine because "better" drugs aren't easily available.

Drugs need to be made legally to ensure quality, to remove harmful impurities, to ensure the dosage is consistent and predictable which reduces risk of overdose, and especially to ensure that when a person consumes "drug A", they do not in fact get a dose of the more addictive/harmful "drug B" (i.e. methamphetamine).

Governments stand to make tax dollars off marijuana too.

There's a trail of logic that must be followed - if it is OK to buy and consume drugs, why is it not OK to sell them?

The only caveat is that methamphetamine should remain illegal to buy or use. The idea being that people will use "less harmful" drugs than methamphetamine because they are available cheap, easy and clean. The strongest possible justification for legalization of sale and use of drugs is to minimize usage and supply of the greatest of all evils - methamphetamine.

We need to accept that people want to get high. You can't arrest that human desire out of existence. We can however remove the harmful effects of criminalization of the sale of drugs.

Criminalization fills prisons, wastes police and legal resources, destroys families, prevents people having functional lives and creates both organized crime and petty crime.

N.B. personally I'm not interested taking in any drugs except alcohol and caffeine so I'm not angling to be able to get high. I wouldn't take em even if they were legal and free.

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#45

Very interesting news! I wouldn't have expected Ireland to be on this forefront. When I got to the paragraph below, I also couldn't help wondering which nation that was: "His comments follow a leaked report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, appearing to call for a worldwide decriminalisation on 19 October. The report was reportedly withdrawn after at least one nation put pressure on the international…

Curious as to why you "wouldn't have expected Ireland to be on this forefront". Not trying to sound accusatory - just genuinely curious on the perception.

From an outsider perspective, I viewed Ireland as somewhat socially conservative. "Somewhat" meaning that while a significant proportion of the population has liberal/progressive views, I felt that segment was less than majority, therefore unable to swing the vote on issues like this.

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#46

It is a step in the right direction, but it still half-baked. Without decriminalizing production as well, they are maintaining a monopoly for those that works outside of the law. Which means a very profitable tax free market that has to recreate all of the state features like physical safety and insurance policies from scratch. Every nation that forbids something that is in demand, is gestating its own competition. T…

I agree with you but remember that Ireland and the UK are islands, which immediately puts them in a better position to deal with smuggling compared to countries that share long land borders. I think this is why island nations are generally a bit more conservative - it's much more practical to control imports.

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#47
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious as to why you "wouldn't have expected Ireland to be on this forefront". Not trying to sound accusatory - just genuinely curious on the perception.

Stuff like this (2014) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/17/ireland-woman-f...

This is a test as to whether we can downvote a post that we've replied to. Nothing in this post is relevant to the discussion at hand, and no criticism of DanBC's point is implied by my downvote. He volunteered for this experiment.

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#48

It is a step in the right direction, but it still half-baked. Without decriminalizing production as well, they are maintaining a monopoly for those that works outside of the law. Which means a very profitable tax free market that has to recreate all of the state features like physical safety and insurance policies from scratch. Every nation that forbids something that is in demand, is gestating its own competition. T…

Couldn't agree more but I don't think it has to do with capitalism, but economics. Regardless of the system in place, if there is a high enough demand for a product, as there is drugs, there will be a supply.

An interesting example is how drug use is actually rampant in US prisons, some of the most controlled environments in the country. No ones idea of a free market capitalism, but somehow drugs are still very accessible.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/27/drugs-inside...

Re: Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

#49

Ignoring the quality of the article, I am struck by one thing. Why has Ireland all of a sudden taken such a progressive shift? First national recognition of gay marriage, now this? I'm loving it, wherever it came from.

The Irish were one of the first to ban smoking in pubs too.
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