Silk Road forums
Discussion => Philosophy, Economics and Justice => Topic started by: A1pha on August 03, 2013, 04:17 pm
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I have been watching with interest the situation in the states over the last few years and it seems that weed over there has beaten prohibition and is now available to buy as long as the government gets their tax dollar.
any of you UK guys think we might see a similar situation here anytime soon, legal medicinal outlets popping up in your hometown?
I know it is not that far away but also I have been saying that for 20 years, what do you think?
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Nah it wont happen anytime soon, unfortunately.
Uruguay has just accepted it and it's getting legalized. There are plenty of states in america where its medicinal and some where it is legalized, Amsterdam has it tolerated. The czech republic has limits like amsterdam 5grams and 6plants i think, There are parts of australia where it is tolerated And in spain i reckon your allowed small amounts as well in places.
Its happening everywhere, But the Uk, Thats going to be the toughest to crack
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The price would shoot through the roof here anyway the time the goverment put their tax on it!
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The price would shoot through the roof here anyway the time the goverment put their tax on it!
no way-they could tax it massively and the price wouldn't up at all - can be grown very cheaply
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Speaking from state-side, I'd have to remind you that only 18 of 50(ish) states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Only 14 of those have taken any steps to partially de-criminalize it, and only 2 of those have passed resolutions for full de-criminalization. Even then, both of those states (Colorado and Washington) have only 1 year to pass laws regulating its sale and distribution... or the whole thing starts all over.
Unfortunately, I don't reside in any of those states. It's all BlackMarket for me. ;D
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If we all chip in and hire Lynton Crosby as a lobbyist these tory prudes would prob legalise it tomorrow.
If anything UK is going in the wrong direction, it was changed from class C to class B, and they are ignoring the advise of there own advisory council on drugs who said cannabis should be legal.
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Drug policy in the UK is shaped by the governments perception that any attempt to loosen the grip will result in a backlash from their core Daily Mail reading supporters. Cam moron is on record as being in favour of legalization, but that of course was before he was leader and now he has to push the official line.
No party wants to be known as pro drug, but if i remember rightly when it was suggested that MP's be regularly drug tested they were unanimous in quickly rejecting the idea.
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If we all chip in and hire Lynton Crosby as a lobbyist these tory prudes would prob legalise it tomorrow.
If anything UK is going in the wrong direction, it was changed from class C to class B, and they are ignoring the advise of there own advisory council on drugs who said cannabis should be legal.
I know, I was shocked when they ignored advice from THEIR scientists that did studies for them, Seeing as usually anyone who does anything for them finds in their favour.
Thats actually an idea, Why not start a BTC donation fund, keep it in a secure wallet and we will all hire lynton crosby :O Why the fuck not?There are questions to be answered about how we would do it, But for a basic yes or no i dont see a reason why not.
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No. Not for a long time, if anything the government is just getting worse with its drug policy. They recently banned Khat making it Class C.. WTF. Most of the population has not even heard of this harmless drug which chewing apparently has the same effect as having four strong espressos. All this is going to do is anger the Western African community in which it is a popular activity to chew and unnecessarily criminalising and alienating a cultural group in British society. I just cannot see any sense in it at all.
They also just banned Nbomes I think, again... I doubt the majority of the population has heard of Nbomes and those who have, and who take them, are already taking illegal substances and so banning them is not a deterrent at all. Further criminalisation. I suppose there argument for it would be that the long term effects are uncertain, I haven't seen much on it in the media and both of these bans were not covered in the British mainstream media at all as far as I'm aware.
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Drug policy in the UK is shaped by the governments perception that any attempt to loosen the grip will result in a backlash from their core Daily Mail reading supporters. Cam moron is on record as being in favour of legalization, but that of course was before he was leader and now he has to push the official line.
No party wants to be known as pro drug, but if i remember rightly when it was suggested that MP's be regularly drug tested they were unanimous in quickly rejecting the idea.
Spot on. It's so frustrating that the Daily Fascist and similar can keep drugs firmly on the very naughty step, generating fear and paranoia, with the politicians frozen to unrealistic attitudes terrified of losing votes. Papers like that can take a minor complaint and whip it up into a media storm, a trick that works a treat on the politicians. Their backs are firmly against the wall to avoid that embarrassing u-turn. Like Cameron before coming to power, many hold quite sensible private views which cannot be mentioned in the corridors of power.
A bit simplistic, but I never understand how the govt can resist the huge profits that a govt regulated drugs trade could generate. It surprises me that money alone doesn't motivate the required policy change, nevermind the other obvious advantages that would follow. All the big pharma companies are standing by ready with the patents, names, land and crops required to return their best-sellers of last century to todays consumers.
Somebody should start a drugs political party to ramp up the pressure before the next elections. Fringe like UKIP but idiot free. If they started to gain any popularity you can guarantee the main parties would poach the popular policies for themselves. Any volunteers?
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Drug policy in the UK is shaped by the governments perception that any attempt to loosen the grip will result in a backlash from their core Daily Mail reading supporters. Cam moron is on record as being in favour of legalization, but that of course was before he was leader and now he has to push the official line.
No party wants to be known as pro drug, but if i remember rightly when it was suggested that MP's be regularly drug tested they were unanimous in quickly rejecting the idea.
Spot on. It's so frustrating that the Daily Fascist and similar can keep drugs firmly on the very naughty step, generating fear and paranoia, with the politicians frozen to unrealistic attitudes terrified of losing votes. Papers like that can take a minor complaint and whip it up into a media storm, a trick that works a treat on the politicians. Their backs are firmly against the wall to avoid that embarrassing u-turn. Like Cameron before coming to power, many hold quite sensible private views which cannot be mentioned in the corridors of power.
A bit simplistic, but I never understand how the govt can resist the huge profits that a govt regulated drugs trade could generate. It surprises me that money alone doesn't motivate the required policy change, nevermind the other obvious advantages that would follow. All the big pharma companies are standing by ready with the patents, names, land and crops required to return their best-sellers of last century to todays consumers.
Somebody should start a drugs political party to ramp up the pressure before the next elections. Fringe like UKIP but idiot free. If they started to gain any popularity you can guarantee the main parties would poach the popular policies for themselves. Any volunteers?
This would actually be rather funny.
As long as whoever started this party was fairly intellectual and not the steriotypical "Stoner" kind of looking person, They had plausible arguments and used good reason, And alongside that had a LOT of money to hire very good lobbyists etc,Then we would be shooting through the ranks. Alongside the drugs policies they would need to have other policies because nobody wants to vote for a party that cares about drugs solely.
But yes, I doubt they would win, But should they get more than a few hundred thousand supporters, The government would be stealing ideas from them faster than david cameron made a U turn on ciggarette packaging.
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Yep no stereotypical types allowed - stereotypes would inevitably be applied by the media anyway but breaking antiquated misconceptions will be part of the manifesto. So as you say the party would have to be super slick, uber-professional and totally convincing in its reasoning. Look at the Pastafarians - nobody would have anticipated the runaway success of the FSM. Our party would seem conventional by comparison, no reason it shouldn't gather a worldwide support platform too!
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Yep no stereotypical types allowed - stereotypes would inevitably be applied by the media anyway but breaking antiquated misconceptions will be part of the manifesto. So as you say the party would have to be super slick, uber-professional and totally convincing in its reasoning. Look at the Pastafarians - nobody would have anticipated the runaway success of the FSM. Our party would seem conventional by comparison, no reason it shouldn't gather a worldwide support platform too!
Correct, We would need to have educated people, With nice suits and other policies that were great, And a direct plan to implement them . We would not be aiming to win, But aiming to get lots of support, because the government cannot ignore so many people.
The PM would try and say it is damaging for health etc, However We could provide many statements from highly recognized and respected medical proffesionals stating otherwise.
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Another major influence on UK drug policy of course is the US. It's been speculated that the ban on Khat was imposed after pressure from the US, as people were using the UK as a stop due to its legality, when exporting it between wherever it's grown and there
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My greatest fear is that people, in these countries/states that legalize weed, fuck it up. We are now at some point where e.g. Uruquay, Colorado, Washington are trying some new way to cope with one of these "evil" drugs.
If you watch some political debates in Germany you see some people with solid arguments for a decriminalisation/ liberalisation and some people telling lies or quoting studies from the 1970s to prevent a change in the war on drugs. I think if more and more people see positive changes in the places which legalised weed, they can't maintain their lies. At some point they have to follow the truth, especially if more and more people get aware of it.
So the majority of people has to be educated and informed about all these positive studies so that they don't belive these fucking lies politicians are telling. It will take several years to get long term studies from Colorado, Washington, Uruquay. And there are already studies from Portugal but noone cares or knows about them.
It is hard to convince people and talk about it in public. But if you know the studies you can convince a few people which never thought about it. From times to times I try to debate with some people, most don't know anything and a simple questions like "Do you think the war on drugs is sucessful, as you can buy drugs at every corner? Do you really think your kid can't buy every drug he likes on the street?" make them think about it.
So in my opinion the only thing that helps us is the enlightment of the masses. (the politicians will have to follow as their main goal is to maintain their power ;) )