Alcohol should be banned

[Halibut]

what drug have they legalised ???

i would'nt imagine they have legalised ecstasy/heroine or ketamine !

 

They have decriminalised everything.

[Treatment]

What would people suggest as an alternative to Alcohol, embroidery or Crochet perhaps, with all the attendant risk of sharp objects ?

[GordonBennet]

If this thread is serious, it just goes to show what New Labour has done to people's thought processes. Whatever happened to freedom and tolerance? Why is some people's automatic reaction to ban something just cause they disapprove of other people doing it?

[HeadingNorth]

what drug have they legalised ???

i would'nt imagine they have legalised ecstasy/heroine or ketamine !

 

"Legalised" doesn't necessarily mean "available from your local chemist at 50 cents a hit."

 

A system where addicts can obtain a clean, pure supply from the health authority, instead of having to pay criminal rates from a pusher, means everyone benefits:

- the addict's life is safer, and he no longer needs to commit multiple crimes in order to raise the money for his fix, since it's cheap/free. He can go back to work and contribute to society instead of being a drain on it.

- the pushers are out of business, since addicts can get a legal supply from the health authority; so they are no longer raising vast sums of money with which to fund other criminal activity (and/or terrorism, given the origin of much heroin.)

- the health authority, unlike the pushers, does not care about increasing its profits by roping in new customers; it will supply only registered addicts, and not just anyone who fancies getting high to see what it's like. Since the pushers aren't around any more either, the number of people BECOMING addicts will collapse to almost nil.

 

In short, yes, even heroin is better legalised than not. Indeed, we used to have exactly this system in England, and the number of addicts was tiny; never above 5,000. It is only since we handed the supply of heroin over to the criminals, who are interested in profit and not in the welfare of their customers, that the number of addicts has exploded.

[HeadingNorth]

If this thread is serious, it just goes to show what New Labour has done to people's thought processes. Whatever happened to freedom and tolerance? Why is some people's automatic reaction to ban something just cause they disapprove of other people doing it?

 

You can't blame New Labour for this one; Old Labour was in charge while most drugs were banned, and never sought to un-ban them. Nor did the Tories.

 

The OP asks for a logical reason that alcohol is treated different from, say, cannabis, or cocaine, or heroin ... and there isn't one. If those things are better banned, then alcohol must also be better banned; if alcohol should not, then neither should all the others.

[Gypsy Hack]

If this thread is serious, it just goes to show what New Labour has done to people's thought processes. Whatever happened to freedom and tolerance? Why is some people's automatic reaction to ban something just cause they disapprove of other people doing it?

Since when was 'Ban This Sick Filth' a purely New Labour phenomenon? It's more typical of tabloid-style over-reaction. We've always had it, and I never considered Mary Whitehouse much of a Blair Babe.

[Gothic_Angel]

why?

 

(out of interest, and because 'why?' is too short for a response;))

 

Many reasons. A big one being the way people behave after drinking.

 

But I'm aware it would never work as the stuff is too popular to be willingly given up by most people.

[El Robbo]

If this thread is serious, it just goes to show what New Labour has done to people's thought processes. Whatever happened to freedom and tolerance? Why is some people's automatic reaction to ban something just cause they disapprove of other people doing it?

 

It was never serious as far as banning alcohol is concerned. It did get a good debate though

 

Sod all to do with New Labour though - spread that out to include all the parties currently represented in Parliament - except possibly Respect - and they all have the same basic policies about "ban X, Y or Z".

 

Interested to see that pretty much all the arguments against have been either prohibition doesn't work, there are benefits to the economy or people have the right to do whatever they want to their own bodies as long as it doesn't harm others. All of them I agree with.

 

All of which leads me to the conclusion that nobody here could have any objections to the legalisation of at least some drugs, since all the same arguments apply as much or more in some cases. Framing it around alcohol brought out the arguments rather than just reactions.

[Cyclone]

Many reasons. A big one being the way people behave after drinking.

 

Get a bit louder, talk rubbish, think they can dance.

 

What's so wrong with that?

 

Or do you mean the way that a criminal minority behave?

[Cyclone]

All the same arguments have been put forwards many times in drug related threads El Robbo. Some people just aren't interested in logical argument though.