Via Sanbikinorian, HM Govt is doing some twatty survey on "drugs" for you to fill in online. Here are my answers, for what it's worth. You can either guess the totally dumbass questions or go online and fill in the damn' thing yourselves:
Q1. Tell [young people] that heroin is harmless if it is clean and pure and prescribed by a doctor. Remind them not to share needles. Tell them not to drive a car while drunk, stoned etc. Remind them to drink lots of water if they take E's. Tell them to buy in lots of snacks before smoking dope. Tell them not to mix alcohol and dope, it just makes you spew up. Tell them never to take LSD when you are on your own in case you flip out. Tell them that taking cocaine or crack just turns you into an insufferable arsehole and makes your nose bleed. And other practical sort of stuff that makes the whole drugs experience pleasant and enjoyable.
Q2. See previous answer.
Q3. Yes, the police have these powers, but they do not exercise them because of political correctness. They'd rather be out fining motorists who exceed the speed limit by 1 mph.
Q4. Why on earth should drug users be given priority in housing or employment? There are plenty of other hard working people who deserve that housing or those job opportunities a lot more. "Drug free" is not the issue here, the issue is crime free. I don't care if people take drugs, I am more scared about being mugged by some junkie or shot by a drug dealer.
Q5. Legalise it, regulate it, tax it, like alcohol or nicotine. Problem solved.
Q6. Drugs are enormously good fun. Sure, they can kill you. Like climbing Mount Everest or crossing the road. Or dying of a broken heart. Dear Government, please stop trying to BAN EVERYTHING, show some liberal credentials every now and then.
Q7. This is all a complete lie. These "serious health effects" are vastly overhyped. If proper leaf cannabis were available in off licences like cigarettes or booze, there'd be no need for people to invent stronger stuff.
For anyone who misses the wireless
10 minutes ago
6 comments:
By the way Mark, I think you're wrong on your advice on 'E'.
It is commonly held that Leah Betts died of water poisoning and the "street wisdom" of drinking lots of water can cause a critical dilution of the body's essential salt balance.
The main reason for the advice on water is a. you get hot, and b. usually because you're hyperactive. So you are losing fluid like a sportsman does and so should replace it in small quantities.
And actually the last thing you want is to have a belly full of liquid. It is very easy for your stomach to get so hot you need to spew, and it can be pretty spectacular if you've got a gallon of water in there!
Strangely cleansing actually! Not that I would know personally of course, oh dearie me no...:)
These are my answers, though I think my stance has softened a bit since.
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1. What role do you think schools could play in better educating our young people about drugs? Have you heard of FRANK? Take a look at www.talktofrank.co.uk and tell us, do you think the messages about the highs and lows of drug use are right?
The drugs education I had at school was minimal at best, though this was 10 years ago. I think the real message that needs to get out on hard drugs is that if you're taking them, there's likely to be something else wrong in your life that needs sorting out, not the drug addiction itself necessarily. The talktofrank site is slow, due to featuring a large flash file that has to be loaded every time you navigate back to the main page. Making one's headline drugs advice website "a bit crap" probably isn't helpful to anyone trying to use it. I can't speak as to the accuracy of the content, since I know very little about specifig drugs. I have heard from drug users that a lot of the content on there is simply wrong. There is an awful lot of content to take in on each page. I would rather see content like "how do I convince my partner/child/friend to come off crack?", a Q&A style.
2. We also know that drugs are major source of concern for parents - what more can we do to help parents, guardians and carers talk to their children and families about drugs? And what support should be available if family members get caught up in drugs?
One of the things Labour has done very effectively as a government is kill off any sense of personal responsibility on the part of both parents and users, particularly those in the working class / unemployed. By spearheading so many campaigns and providing so many services to help people, I can't help but feel that the government has gone over the top in its response to helping people in a "nanny state" sort of way. If anything, government should be encouraging people to think and learn for themselves. So I think the best thing the government could do to help parents concerned with their child's drug use is to ensure that all children learn logic and philosophy and the science of thought and emotion in school from an early age, so that children can grow up understanding their feelings and thought processes better and are then less likely to turn to hard drugs as a cure for their ills. Government should be sending out the message "these are your children, it is YOUR responsibility to bring them up right, not ours."
3. Did you know that the police have the power to confiscate drug dealers' houses, cash, cars and valuable possessions? Did you also know that the police can close drug dens within 24 hours? The police rely on communities for intelligence, what more can be done to help communities and their local police service work together? Do the police and local communities have all the legal powers they need to tackle drugs?
Firstly, I firmly believe that all drug use should be, in Bill Clinton's words on abortion "safe, legal and rare". This will colour my answers: 1. Those police powers sound criminal and they should be taken away. Bankrupting someone is hardly likely to lead to them stopping selling drugs for money, is it? 2. That sounds very silly. Another one will open up soon enough. Police should not waste their time firefighting these symptoms of drug use. 3. "Relying on communities for intelligence" sounds very much like an excuse for any busybody with an axe to grind to complain about a drug den over the road. I think that the police should, insofar as they should be doing anything about drugs, do their own intelligence. 4. I suspect that the police have far more powers than they actually need to tackle drugs, insofaras police are able to "tackle" drugs. I would like to see the monopoly on violence (police) kept on a very tight leash, thank you, even if it means that their hands are tied in some circumstances. Let them focus on the results of drug use: muggings, theft, and violent crime.
4. The Government is committed to helping drug users build drug-free lives. Treatment, housing, employment and education are all vital. What more do you think Government, local services, the voluntary sector, private business and others can do to help people stay drug free?
MAKE DRUGS LEGAL. --- Firstly, by separating "soft" drugs (cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, etc) from hard drugs (nicotine, heroin, cocaine) from hard ones, and allowing the sale of these soft drugs in corner shops at managed strengths, high taxes and good advice on the packet, just like cigarettes and alcohol now, you prevent soft drugs from being a "gateway" to hard drugs. After a short period of greater use, use will fall, like it has in the Netherlands. There's less cannabis use per head in Amsterdam than in London. Most of all, let people do to their own bodies what they like. These mild drugs are not harming anyone (except possibly the user) in their use. All of this research on cannabis coming out and showing that it is bad for the lungs, increases schizophrenia, etc, is not a patch on the damage that cigarettes and alcohol are currently doing to the population, and the penalties of use are probably far outweighed by the gains made simply in divorcing soft drugs from hard drugs and destroying the "gateway" effect. --- Hard drugs are a greater problem. These are the massively addictive drugs that are either debilitating (heroin) or have really bad side effects (coke, nicotine). They should be available over the counter in managed doses from pharmacies, with no advertising allowed, and lots of support given to the addicts. These are people with real problems who need lots of help to get over their addiction. That's the part government should be involved in.
5. What information and action would reassure you that drug dealing and other drug-related nuisances were being tackled where you live?
I don't think there really is a problem of drug use where I live now. If people are smoking cannabis in their homes, good for them, they aren't hurting anyone (except possibly themselves). If clubbers want to buy some poppers or a cheap high, good for them, but let's make sure what they are paying for is what they are getting, and that they have sensible instructions on use.
6. The Government remains concerned that drugs can look glamorous to young people. What more can we do to challenge this? Do you think we could do more through role models, including those from peer groups? How can we get more young people involved in challenging the drugs culture?
Stop making it illegal. Kids always want to do what's prohibited - look at underage drinking: what's cool when you are 15-17 is forging IDs and getting a bottle or two of White Lightning from the shop and then going and drinking it in the park. There are so many things wrong with this that simply making it legal would help: 1. Less pressure to do the prohibited 2. Less pressure to buy the cheapest, strongest thing going 3. Kids are more able to ask questions of their parents about how much they should have 4. Kids can consume alcohol in lower quantities in a safer environment - the reason they are in the park or on street corners is because they can't risk being caught at home. 5. Therefore less vandalism, littering and other associated crime. Extend this thought to basically every other drug and you have my answer. -- Secondly, on role models: the only role models going at the moment seem to be on telly, in films or in gossip magazines. The destruction of local culture by this government's authoritarian, centralizing, managerial bent has stopped people looking for role models in their local community. So the government could do an awful lot more on the local level: fund community centres, youth groups, sports clubs and other activities for the 12-25year olds to get younger children interacting with older ones and adults, with people to look up to and respect. Give more power to loval government so that acting on local matters really makes a difference.
7. The Government is concerned about skunk and stronger strains of cannabis, because of the reported serious mental health effects they can have. The Government is therefore consulting on whether to make cannabis a Class B drug (it is currently Class C) which could mean tougher penalties. What are your views? Do you think this will help?
My views are that if the government was serious about controlling the strength of cannabis available to users, it would be legalizing cannabis and controlling the allowed legal strength (at a reasonable, not miniscule level) in order to make the legal purchase more compelling than the illegal purchase. It would then be taxing the sale of cannabis cigarettes in order firstly fund much better research into the effects of mild cannabis consumption, and secondly in order to help the (very few) serious cannabis addicts get off their (psychological) addiction and to treat the results of the addiction. Y'know, much like we do with cigarettes and alcohol. Making the penalties tougher will lead to the reverse of this scenario - if it is more illegal, then the contents of an eighth become more unknown. How strong is it? What's it cut with? Where do I get it? From that chap who also sells crack? DON'T let cannabis become a gateway drug into hard drugs. Make it safe and legal!
Ive just done this mind freakingly idiotically brain numbing survey
I'll put the answers up on my blog sometime
Christ its not rocket science is it?
Good answers. I'll take it sometime too.
Jock, great, I have never even seen an E, but if the sensible thing is to drink some but not too much water, then our Young People should be told.
RE:Q7
methinx that there are enough numb nuts' out there who WILL ALWAYS invent stronger and stranger stuff.
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