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war on drugs has failed - Branson

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Branson and son on TV just now has made a film on the war against drugs failure, Morgan freeman is the shows speak and Branson says decriminalisation will work in Australia. Breaking the taboo on YouTube..

Edited by in_spirit

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thanks for the link, kind of heartening to see the progress made in the last few years,

slowly but surely the conservative based retardation of society will come to an end,

(heres a link to the vid btw)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UtNF-Le2L0

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320 BILLION DOLLARS

sign the pledge and end this war

http://www.breakingthetaboo.info/

Edited by bigred82
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Anyone else feel critical mass approaching?

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Anyone else feel critical mass approaching?

 

approaching sue, i guess. not there yet though.

especially when i see like in the video, the likes of russia extolling the virtues of americas failed coca eradication, i think there's still a few years off.

but i also think there's a noticeable power shift away from the US, maybe it's due to their economy or whatever, or because the economies of other countries (particularly south america i guess) are now picking up due to increased resource investment. i.e. they're less reliant on US aid so US influence doesn't have the same clout as it used to.

edit: it's the grammar, stupid.

Edited by qualia

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also of minor cultural note, the documentary featured fran boyd, mother of deandre mccullough, who inspired the david simon series "the corner". unfortunately seems he died this year. pity. but if you haven't see the corner you should, it's quite good.

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Branson sure looks like he loves his weed.

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16:56ish - "it doesnt cost more to manufacture heroin, marijuana and cocaine than it does alcohol or tobacco. That if tomorrow you could buy heroin, cocaine and marijuana at your corner store and you could only get alcohol or tobacco on the black market then all of a sudden you would see less people committing crimes to feed their C,H,M habits and lots of people would be committing crimes to feed their tobacco and alcohol habits"

Discuss...

I dont believe this to be true. Does this statement reflect the governments real reason for the war on drugs and subsequently explains prohibition as well? That by controlling two substances, one with an extremely high addiction quality (apparently nicotine addiction cessation without relapse is harder to achieve than heroin addiction) and one that is thrust upon us as a ritual tool for social interaction in almost all facets of our free time; that they can continue to make claim that maintaining law and taxation on the sale of alcohol and tobacco products far outweighs the benefits/risk of taxing/decriminalising/regulating even some of our beloved herbs? That seems pretty short sighted to me.

I cant think of too many smokers that if they had a choice, wouldn't gladly give up tobacco in favour of herbal blends.

But of course our herbs are under threat from a different foe at the same time, the bulldog of big pharma, the TGA.

The first half of the video isnt overly objective. They seem to focus on lower class communities almost as far as racial stereotyping to some degree, and the institutionalised (prison etc) rather than the working/middle class that are managing families, jobs, lives whilst wanting an alternative to what is thrust upon us by mass media, advertising and the government.

it's hard to believe these misconceptions on drug use have existed for so long into the present day. Once people have the courage/curiousness to research and experiment for themselves and find these statements about illegal drugs to have been incredibly overstated. How do they continue to maintain control?

230 million drug users? How exactly did they arrive at that figure? That number is grossly understated imo.

Portugal...? Sounds promising. intercept users and have them screened. some people cannot handle spirits but can smoke till they pass out. other cant handle their smoke but can drink like a Pole... Augh, so backwards these days.

"What are addicts, our children. People we want to bring back into a normal life" - How does one quantify a "normal" life?

"economist predicts up to 76 billion dollars injected into the U.S economy alone" - They talk about huge "criminal" supply and trafficking networks for that support the illegal estimated $320 billion illegal drug trade...

Let's digress for a moment. They speak of these organisations as criminal and using violence as their main trade tool. Again, not very objective; does our government not deal with illegal/shady organisations on a daily basis in the energy sector? Middle Eastern "debutantes" with iron fist rules over their kingdoms are committing in some cases "crimes against humanity" in their native countries and yet our governments continue to allow trade of non renewables with these places. If these "criminal organisations" controlling the "illegal" drug trade were able to trade legit with taxes, repercussions, etc within the confines of civil law I am a firm believer the violence would cease. I picture the equivalent to "micro-breweries" popping up. Stores that sell their own specialities. Massive boosts to trade and commerce with a potential for a more green focused global outlook.

"anti tobacco advertising and regulation has been successful and they have reduced usage by over 50% over a generation" - imo this wasnt on behalf of any government sponsored campaign. The reduction (if such a study exists that isnt sponsored by a tobacco company or the government or the UN) was due to an increase in public knowledge of the effects over time much like asbestos. To call it a success is insulting. If anything anti tobacco campaigns are more effective at encouraging minors to smoke than movies, video games, peer pressure.

"When a drug is really dangerous, smart education and smart regulation can reduce use very substantially" - Again the program is focusing too much on the "mainstream" and not enough on drug use as a whole. It's almost inciting people to choose a black and white stand on the findings.

"its hard for governments to not be conservative in drug policy, they are afraid for votes, they dont want to innovate" - Does this not say it all?

I'm just chewing the fat here welcoming comment on my though processes on these topics so please dont read these at something I believe as gospel. Please post your thoughts!

They can talk about changing policy all they like. Without a globally focused movement any major reform is going to fail. When we have an institution to police the affairs of every country what hope is there of that?

Edited by Safez
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"What are addicts, our children. People we want to bring back into a normal life" - How does one quantify a "normal" life?

 

This is what I didn't like about the video. It was overly politicised, yet still treated drug use as a taboo, addiction, abnormal, etc etc.

It would've been nice if they *really* tried to break the taboo and focused a little more on softer drugs.. Maybe throw some studies in showing the

safety profiles of certain psychedelics vs alcohol & tobacco, for example.

This is still a good step in the right direction, but too little IMO.

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So does anyone else have an opinion on this subject?

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people have to understand how to treat addicts a subject i know o to well

putting someone in jail because they have a drug addiction is wrong in fact it makes it a lot worse my friend went in a drunk driver

came outa heroin addict .The only way to treat opiate addiction is with recognizing it as a medical problem as putting a heroin addic

in jail will only "warehouse" the user and the day they get out it straight back into a drug using habit . We need to break the taboo

and see it for what it is an addiction not a criminal choice . and the heath department needs to regulate better treating options

and let them be able to prescribe heroin in extreme case's . Heroin is very cheap to make and we need to sacrifice a generation

so to speak and give addicts prescribed heroin over time criminal networks will disappear making it pointless to import this will stop

younger generations getting into heroin as it is no longer a street drug its a medical problem a disease so to speak and our duty

as a society should be to help not punish ..

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"Would you refuse a diabetic insulin "

quote A Scanner Darkly

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Branson sure looks like he loves his weed.

 

Pretty sure he discusses smoking it in parts of his autobiography, though it's been a good while since I read it (though I'm sure he's "admitted" it somewhere)

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