tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post1441129407411287866..comments2023-09-20T11:15:28.673+01:00Comments on Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog: Tobacco regulation: saving lives vs personal freedomjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15263261726046054614noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-3506584034084410722010-03-02T08:45:23.099+00:002010-03-02T08:45:23.099+00:00There was a BBC program last night about unhealthy...There was a BBC program last night about unhealthy eating in which the government's position was "it's a valid consumer choice to be able to eat something that is bad for you".<br /> <br />You see - it's all about sending the right message...SmokyFroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12875788250362591825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-56189795366730959652010-02-25T07:12:18.633+00:002010-02-25T07:12:18.633+00:00Sunshine, Very Good Point.
Why call a Cabbage a Ca...Sunshine, Very Good Point.<br />Why call a Cabbage a Carrot! Hey. We hear you loud and clear. However<br />for the great masses who vote labour or torrie, the Great unwashed as someone called them rely on soundbites. They have as you rightly point out become use to Propaganda , sadly such works and when that does'nt the system usual shouts in all manner of ways ,ie arresting us etc etc or by sending the odd Grainne Kenny too shout us down, look the lady up yet another Ban everything person, here in Ireland every country has a Blind fool off the point sorry. I agree and understand sunshine totaly, however we really do need to get the mindset changed. Im 34 ive smoked cannabis for a decade, i ant got tits and i have two kids the nads still work fine plus i can still form a conversation better than i can type, im partly washed but very much open to change sadly the minority or the ignorant have a very loud voice which wins votees at election time, my two cents.<br /> I use Cannabis and im Proud..<br /> Im my home there will never be any laws regarding cannabis...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-85001479299251742582010-02-16T19:19:32.737+00:002010-02-16T19:19:32.737+00:00On 1st February the MHRA announced a consultation ...On 1st February the MHRA announced a consultation which proposes to close the nicotine market and medicalise nicotine so it can only be sold in tobacco products and as medicine.<br /><br />Nicotine is used recreationally by many thousands of people and not always by smoking or NRT. Electronic cigarettes are a very promising smoke alternative but they will be banned under these proposals until pharm companies decide to produce something that works for a change, if they ever do.<br /><br />The consultation lies also by saying that nicotine is currently unregulated.<br /><br />It appears that nicotine users are also to become casualties of the smoke wars.<br /><br />http://vapersnetwork.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=199Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-30458210094922064512010-02-15T13:18:41.189+00:002010-02-15T13:18:41.189+00:00SmokyFrog: Erection drugs may be fine, but the use...SmokyFrog: Erection drugs may be fine, but the use of was an aggravating feature for offences under the Misuse of Bottoms Act (aka Sod's Law).<br /><br />Actually your example is very appropriate - it shows how anti-discrimination must evolve if it is to have any importance at all. What was an illegal act (Misuse of Bottoms Act now repealed) has now turned 180 degrees to form new offences of harassment and discrimination law violations for vilifying the hitherto supposedly vile and criminal practice.Sunshine Bandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08351908969557708343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-8808170859416650782010-02-14T07:21:18.454+00:002010-02-14T07:21:18.454+00:00I think there are quite a few laws relating to act...I think there are quite a few laws relating to activities deemed to carry risk. To quote last night's QI: when we started driving cars it was appalling how hundreds of people started dying at once. Yet we didn't, for a moment, consider stopping. We learned to manage the risk. So yes a speed limit could be considered a "misuse of cars act" (I can stretch a point like a good un, me) but it wasn't because everyone accepts that this is a risk we're going to allow in society even though we know many deaths will occur. <br />All I really want (actually similar to what Professor Nutt stated) is the same freedom to take a particular kind of risk without it being frowned upon as evidence of my moral decay. For some reason recreational drugs that give you an erection are fine and can be rushed to market but recreational drugs that make you smile and embrace your fellow man (or, heaven forbid even ease pain) are signs you are a bad person. That's really what I was, in my basic way, trying to get across. <br />If the law is only interested in me as a "misuser", that feels, I dunno (searches for another wild analogy), like as if being gay could once have come under the "misuse of bottoms act". OK, I'm struggling... maybe all I'm looking for is a simpler argument, one that can be presented to the great unwashed as just down to fairness and respect for others' vices. After all, vices aren't crimes and that's all we're really talking about.<br /><br />I'll shut up now. :)SmokyFroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12875788250362591825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-62071004124394393102010-02-13T10:27:34.463+00:002010-02-13T10:27:34.463+00:00SmokyFrog - why would we have a law on peaceful dr...SmokyFrog - why would we have a law on peaceful drug use, surely it is a good thing the law focuses on misuse and seeks not to restrict other use? The MISUSE of Drugs Act suggests that peaceful use is possible IMO by it's title alone - it then goes on to give all the powers I described to government to administer it according to that principle. In fact it does not prohibit use of any drug other than opium directly. The problem starts with the lie of 'illegal drugs' which allows the government to continue the abuse. Nobody should become complicit in perpetuating this lie.<br /><br />Daniel - muchas gracias<br /><br />Steve - so in what circumstances is it appropriate to use the expression 'illegal drugs'?Sunshine Bandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08351908969557708343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-42776445311538609312010-02-13T09:35:31.536+00:002010-02-13T09:35:31.536+00:00When you say "The MDA is fine, this is about ...When you say "The MDA is fine, this is about administration." - I can't understand how any act only concerned with misuse can be fine, in any meaningful way, for society. After all it starts from the principle that the only use to be considered is misuse, which is the same as "drugs're bad m'kay".<br /><br />The big problem, as I see it, relates to entrenched positions, especially amongst politicians who are currently so afraid for their jobs they aren't likely to want to fight for the freedoms of any "wrongdoers". We've seen that no amount of science or reason appears able to make a dent in that because science and reason are not primary factors in believing use = wrongness. Drug use is somehow successfully portrayed as being part of moral decline. Imagine, oh I don't know, motor racing being portrayed only in terms of crashes?!! If nobody were allowed to talk about the highs, the good bits, motor racing could be demonised too. Anything involving risk could (which, let's face it, is anything all) and that's where we have been for a long, long time. Fighting for freedom as other minorities have in the past. Recreational drug users are a Large Minority though.<br /><br />One of the more helpful campaigns lately attempted to put across the message that "drug users are nice people too". We have to undermine the constant sniping in the media somehow and that seemed a good start. Last year's Massive Attack tour used the platform to show drug-related facts to the audience - facts the public is normally shielded from (so that ignorance can continue). There need to be more challenges of this type. Not pro drugs, but pro freedom. We could also do with a Home Secretary with some backbone - the days of Roy Jenkins pushing through unpopular freedoms because they are 'right' are long gone...<br /><br />Sorry, didn't mean to go on so. But we seem to be essentially agreeing here yet wallowing in complexities of language that are easily dismissed by those morons in the press (and therefore not even scrutinised by others with entrenched positions). Maybe we need a new campaign "I use drugs and my biggest problem in life is the law. Something's not quite right." OK, I'm no slogan creator... :)SmokyFroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12875788250362591825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-24166339086835625712010-02-13T09:29:32.864+00:002010-02-13T09:29:32.864+00:00its hard if not impossible to regulate a plant. Bu...its hard if not impossible to regulate a plant. But you can regulate its commercial production and sale.Steve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-79738895713646149742010-02-13T00:30:43.999+00:002010-02-13T00:30:43.999+00:00Why regulate a cannabis plant? The more plants, t...Why regulate a cannabis plant? The more plants, the less stigma associated with them. When we have a country full of them, would it not be possible that people would just turn a blind eye to its uses. On the other hand...the more plants the greater chance "Hemp" will be accepted as a natural resource to. It's a plant with uses. Only difference between cannabis and Sativex for example is cannabis is bought in its "raw" form and smoked whilst Sativex is THC and CBD with a different administration system. It reminds me of brewing beer. Only difference is you can buy from a brewery or brew your own. That won't be possible if GW Pharma has its way. No plant is illegal. No plant is controlled. You want it, you grow it. Having possession of it...well that's a different story. Let's level the playing field a bit here. If GW can have it then so should we. FREE!!! NikAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-55091073090687453412010-02-13T00:14:19.537+00:002010-02-13T00:14:19.537+00:00it may be helpful in some scenarios but it may be ...it may be helpful in some scenarios but it may be unhelpful in others.Steve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-14937109973437661292010-02-12T22:33:42.143+00:002010-02-12T22:33:42.143+00:00Steve, you say it's useful for highlighting th...Steve, you say it's useful for highlighting the flaws with the MDA - it is frustrating to have to say that this shows more misunderstanding - we are not trying to criticise in any way the MDA. The MDA is fine, this is about administration.<br /><br />I cannot understand the objection to using the right words, even if it only had marginal effect. Given that the error goes to the heart of the problem of prohibition finding comfort in the language of 'illegal drugs I would expect a useful response to the declaration that Illegal Drugs Do Not Exist, certainly creates a discussion which could be channelled to highlight your agenda.Sunshine Bandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08351908969557708343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-6702092886215160842010-02-12T20:20:06.418+00:002010-02-12T20:20:06.418+00:00What a pleasure to read Sunshine Band comments! We...What a pleasure to read Sunshine Band comments! Well done! Many people in Spain is has also notice the necessity of such a language shift (Antonio Escohotado among others). I don't know right now how to improve Sunshine explanation, but I will try as soon as I have some free time. This language shift is not just "important"; it is vital. We can't transform drug policy without transforming first the language.<br /><br />To read Sunshine Band feels like a fresh breeze entering an stale room to me.daniel camposnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-63324447578681471242010-02-12T16:23:57.387+00:002010-02-12T16:23:57.387+00:00Nik _ i dont think just because something is a pla...Nik _ i dont think just because something is a plant makes it ok - as a drug it just makes it harder to regulate than for pharmaceutical or processed products.<br /><br />re sunshines argument - I get it intellectually, and I can see its a useful line of argument in certain arenas (ie highlighting the flaws in the MDA for example). <br /><br />I'm just far from convinced it is useful in the broader political domain, or that it is vital or a central pillar the reform cause. We have always called for drugs to be regulated and controlled and highlighted how the concept of 'prohibited' as 'controlled' is ridiculous. <br /><br />So just to repeat: I GET IT. <br />Ive not ignored your work - I take it seriously and have discussed it widely. I just don't think, as a line of argument/attack, it has the political or rhetorical punch you seem to ascribe to it.Steve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-20529794612199555332010-02-12T16:09:11.453+00:002010-02-12T16:09:11.453+00:00OK This is getting silly. Why not break your argu...OK This is getting silly. Why not break your arguments down to a simple form and just say what's right or wrong. <br />I see your arguments like this...A bird shits in your garden and a plant appears. The plant is just a plant until it is picked by someone, anyone in view of the law(police). Cannabis is that plant. Just one singular plant and it's villified. We can not hold it in our hands. We can not pick a plant. We are told it's wrong. So lets base an argument not on illegal or illegal. Controlled or Not. Your told not to pick or grow a plant. WTF is wrong with people for this to have happened. If it's on the planet it OK. Unless your a government minister or a religious zellot. OK so maybe I didn't make a point but your all going round in circles to. Nik MorrisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-78951812953197179022010-02-12T00:43:42.631+00:002010-02-12T00:43:42.631+00:00I am not holding myself out as the holy messiah of...I am not holding myself out as the holy messiah of drug law reform; I am only an agent of transformation.<br /><br />Steve,<br /><br />You complain that I am being unclear - yet my post was very clear earlier where I actually used the example of guns, yet it seems you didn't note it. Of course guns are not illegal. If you have a gun without a firearms certificate then it is an illegaly HELD firearm, YOU are in possession of it illegally.<br /><br />Next, you are confusing the issue talking about your control of packaging and objects. This control is only possible where you create the space (by your use of the notion of control, ie variables) to have separate values such as acceptable packaging and unacceptable packaging.<br /><br />Every law and regulation must apply to human activities in different contexts. We usually with criminal offences describe it in terms of an act - so motorring offences concerning cars are not done by cars, but are human verbs eg driving without an MOT, being in control of a motor vehicle without a license etc. We shortcut the expressions for expediency - so, what you see as 'packaging controls' for example which seek to regulate packaging of cigarette drugs are actually controls over businesses (ie people) and what they can do - we might shorten it to cigarette packaging regulations - but of course we mean people making them regs.<br /><br />With the misnmoer 'illegal drugs' we do the same process, but the outcome is quite different - you see there is no correlation between the desired and legally necessary regulation of drug related activities and the absolutist meaning of 'illegal drug'.<br /><br />There is nothing wrong with contrasting the harms of alcohol and tobacco with controlled drugs - in fact I insist that we do. I'm saying, and I do feel like I am repeating myself now, that you are letting the government off the hook by describing drugs in that way. You appear to be saying - look it's ridiculous to maintain a situation where legal drugs are equally as harmful as some illegal ones, and why don't you do something about it? That is to miss something huge - the artificial divide you want to transform by reasonned debate only exists as a quirk of ignorrance, an illegal error. No drug is illegal or could ever have so many regulations imposed upon it that it could be, even if we ignorred the flipping of subject and object in law, totally illegal. Even that most despised substance would still become legal in some contexts. The MDA includes all drugs - as soon as you complain about legal drugs you let go of the complaint you want to make - the government believe they do not need to make alcohol and tobacco controlled drugs, as they are legal - you unwittingly agree with them and ask for a new law. No need, they are breaking the law now. So, are you then insisting that alcohol and tobacco be banned too (not v popular idea)? No - you then go to the next stage where you remember that drugs which are controlled are not illegal, they are subject to regulations, and there you can bring in your book. <br /><br />I know it's inconvenient when you want to have lots of different conversations and I am throwing wet sponges at you. I do it not because I am a one trick pony - but this is the ABC of how to dismantle the barriers to everyone understanding the illegality of the current regime. Perhaps that is a leap of faith, but as I keep saying, am I wrong about this - Illegal Drugs Do Not Exist!?Sunshine Bandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08351908969557708343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-17035028682605304802010-02-11T18:46:49.208+00:002010-02-11T18:46:49.208+00:00,but if you look at blueprint for example there ar...,but if you look at blueprint for example there are lots of controls over licensed vendors and purchasers in various forms, but also controls over packaging, products, venues, advertising, etc. I don't think its confusing to talk about controls over people and controls over products/venues. <br /><br />do you apply the same logic to, say, guns? ie guns aren't illegal - just people using them illegaly? Again - Im not sure why thats useful/better, even if technically correct. <br /><br />I think your point is useful in certain arguments - but it may also be less useful at other times, even confusing when other simple points are being made. Its important not to see a perspective you are currently most interested in as inevitably the best in all scenarios. We have this issue in Transform more generally when we fixate on a single conceptualization sometimes. <br /><br />I think the contrasting approaches with controls over drugs of similar harm is important. I still don't see why legal/illegal is a bad way to highlight that inconsistency. Even if it the related activity not the product. <br /><br />I follow the logic but don't understand why this part of it is so important rhetorically. <br /><br />That is your failure to explain it I'm afraid - and you are talking to some very open-minded and receptive policy nerds here. What hope the general public?Steve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-26274519797550860982010-02-11T18:26:44.240+00:002010-02-11T18:26:44.240+00:00Oh HR2 - YES it is so obvious, yet government and ...Oh HR2 - YES it is so obvious, yet government and leading academics all get it wrong. I cannot understand why everyone cannot agree to use the right language, then we could move on to the next phase. You say it brings nothing, well it brings the discussion about regulation of drugs up from a policy suggestion seeking to transform prohibtion (a concept rooted in the misconceived notion of an illegal drug), to a recognition that controls over people to achieve a purpose are what we are entitled to.Sunshine Bandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08351908969557708343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-50583161430967982602010-02-11T12:14:19.520+00:002010-02-11T12:14:19.520+00:00Sunshine band is not wrong, but
this is no great r...Sunshine band is not wrong, but<br />this is no great revelation. There's no benefit in stating the obvious. <br /><br />As I type I'm sitting in a meeting about access to opioids for pain relief and opiate dependence treatment, and about systems for redressing the regulatory imbalance that leads to reduced access/availability. These drugs for medical purposes are controlled. Every one knows that this is not about the objects but about licensing and import/export, prescription, trade, sales etc. no-one needs to set this out. It's more than understood.HR2https://www.blogger.com/profile/00912954878277286954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-24264060564716210702010-02-11T10:30:52.407+00:002010-02-11T10:30:52.407+00:00I am not sure what your problem is (with the debat...I am not sure what your problem is (with the debate) exactly. I don't like the term 'controlled drug' either, we didn't choose it, it is the legal term. It is better than 'illegal drug'-'Drugs with criminalised users' is better still if a bit unweildly (IMO when talking of users' rights, that also embraces the need for trade). When we say 'controlled drug' it is as if we are lending credence to the patently false notion that drugs controlled by law are in actual fact controlled in society (using the common parlance of the word). Is this what you mean? It's true, put like that there are two oxymorons or paradoxes - that the so-called controlled drugs are subject to no actual controls other than criminal sanction which in effect means they are sold without any consumer protection to anyone (albeit illegally), there is also the problem that so-called 'legal highs' are sold with no sanction or protection whatsoever, and then the non-controlled drugs (in law, but only excluded by government - the Act does include them) such as alcohol and tobacco actually have loads of controls on them for consumers (albeit from outside the schedules to the Act thanks to government's errors of law).<br /><br />So what is a controlled drug legally speaking (let's not worry about the paradox of the word for now - as we are using the legal term, whatever it's effect on the ground)? Well, simply it is a drug which for the time being is scheduled under the law. What scheduling does, is make a drug liable to be subjected to limitations on what activities people can engage in with it. I'm only starting from the drug end of the argument and not the user end for expediency - we should always remind ourselves that it is people, not drugs that are being controlled. I see that this word also depersonalises the issue like 'illegal drug' does, but not to the same extent as a legally controlled object' implies human regulation directly linguistically - illegal object implies something inherrently evil within the object - ultimately we know it translates to human activity, but it is a way that really entrenches the prohibition status by bestowing a taboo quality to the object, instead of actually saying the reality which is that normal people cannot have this drug or you will be punished. At least with 'controlled' drugs the controlling manifests as a series of restrictions of activities (counting possession as an activity), we can see the law is all about property offences, (business) actions involving drugs such as producing, supplying, importation etc. Now the true law insists that controls are set-up to achieve a purpose (the amelioration of social harm), and that government must make regulations to achieve that. Government insist that drugs are illegal, so no regulation between peaceful use and misuse need be made. This is why controlled drugs in the accepted mindset equate directly to prohibited drugs and then it is a short jump to illegal drugs. Controlled drugs means that Government must administer them to achieve control, illegal drugs means that there is no debate. <br /><br />We should focus on the errors of law that government make with their administration of the law.<br /><br />1. The secretary of state for the home dept ("SSHD") believes that the Act permanently proscribes the enumerated activities re a controlled drug, bar medical and scientific purposes, i.e. “our policy of prohibition [is] reflected in the terms of the [Act]”. <br /><br />2) The SSHD claims a power, the SSHD does not possess, to “exempt individuals or classes of individuals from the operation of the law” by excluding de facto the “dangerous or otherwise harmful drugs” alcohol and tobacco from the Act’s control. <br /><br />3) The SSHD believes in the “illegality of certain drugs”, i.e. that some drugs or “substances” are “legal” whilst the Act makes other drugs or substances “illegal”.<br /><br />PeaceSunshine Bandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08351908969557708343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-15604253682722202752010-02-11T09:38:04.098+00:002010-02-11T09:38:04.098+00:00OK Sunshine,
In a spirit of robust science, let...OK Sunshine,<br />In a spirit of robust science, let's explore faulty product.<br />I just visited the Drug Equality Alliance website. What exactly is a 'controlled drug'? You have fallen into the very same trap that you say Transform has. 'Controlled drug' makes no more sense than illegal or legal drug, either intellectually or in reality.<br />Rather than laying it on thick from your 'holier than thou' pedastal, why not engage in some mutually respectful and truly transformational debate. <br />The irony here is that I have said that I am willing to give this some thought, and you choose now to go onto the offensive. Not smart Sunshine. Peace, DannyDanny Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139449664223847222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-84329265851424264332010-02-10T18:14:11.656+00:002010-02-10T18:14:11.656+00:00OK, so you are not called 'Transform' for ...OK, so you are not called 'Transform' for nothing you say. Transformation (as i discovered on a personal development course) is something which ideally is perpetual.<br /><br />I'd do a product recall if I were you for 'Illegal Drugs - The problem is Prohibition - the solution is control and regulation'. Faulty word system - don't cling on to 'achievements', forget about them: we are now, and we are nowhere - trust me, I went outside and looked.Sunshine Bandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08351908969557708343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-7491681005909762732010-02-10T13:20:17.015+00:002010-02-10T13:20:17.015+00:00One other thing you are wrong about. Our campaign...One other thing you are wrong about. Our campaign is not a waste of time. <br />You may have some disagreements with our conceptual framework, but we have made a singularly useful contribution to ending the war on drug users, suppliers and producers.<br />By all means bore us with your ideas, but you'll spread more sunshine if you nuance your statements.<br />: )Danny Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10139449664223847222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-24279713764691344112010-02-09T19:32:39.208+00:002010-02-09T19:32:39.208+00:00Sunshine Band,
You're not wrong. Apart from y...Sunshine Band,<br />You're not wrong. Apart from your capitalised USERS. This is about producers/growers and suppliers too. <br />Ultimately the test is, will it serve our campaign better to articulate the position in this way?<br />I'll be thinking about this stuff again. You are right to keep nagging away if you believe it to be the better position. Our campaign is not set in stone. We are not called Transform for nothing...<br />It took two years of nagging from a former colleague for Transform to take on the international dimension of drug control...<br />I can't promise anything more than a repeat visit to your thesis, but visit it again I will.<br />Thank you for taking the time to post Sunshine.Danny Kushlicknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-27255792093836454052010-02-08T13:59:07.090+00:002010-02-08T13:59:07.090+00:00The semantics between "control" and &qu...The semantics between "control" and "illegality", might be a pointer... relevant to the effort exercised by the government, the judicial system, and the stock market.<br /> After objective consideration, it has to be "control", after all, cannabis or tobacco, or poppies...a plant is a plant,... the law can regulate the circumstances of human behaviour, but surely not the existence of plants.<br /> The proportionate responses to the levels of harm caused by different recreational drugs is completely out of balance, and given the harms caused by tobacco, there seems to be sound logic in aiming to curb advertising and sale of tobacco.<br /> Constantly classing some drugs as "illegal" is maybe part of the problem...<br /> Pedantic, but given that both cannabis and poppies are now cultivated, refined, and sold "legally" here in the UK, shouldn`t the terminology of criminal prosecution now be amended to "possession of an unlicensed or untaxed substance"...<br /> After all, selling "untaxed tobacco" is "illegal".., whilst the tobacco itself is not.<br /> Would there not be some sense, given the health-care costs to the nation, in taxing the producers to oblivion, and at the same time, using the reality of severe prison terms for those who breach the rules of distribution and sale...landskerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468667004994686779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-66650065357645560952010-02-06T14:14:53.842+00:002010-02-06T14:14:53.842+00:00Superb comment from Sunshine band. I get it and I...Superb comment from Sunshine band. I get it and I fully agree with it. The concept of the media having to grasp the notion and the use of language in this manner gives me hope. Illegal and Legal give you different sides to the same coin. It makes no sense. Drugs are controlled. That's it! There's no other side to the coin on that score.<br />Nik Morris<br />You could tone it down a bit though. Not every one's as bright. lolAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com