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Post by elystokie on Jun 6, 2023 9:42:30 GMT
If today is an average day around 17 people will die from a drug overdose, the same with yesterday, the same tomorrow and the day after etc. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by taking the distribution of drugs out of the hands of criminals and putting it into the hands of licensed, qualified professional clinicians or pharmacists. The parents of some of these victims gather together every year on College Green, opposite Parliament, to plant a 'flower' for each death and to meet with their MP to protest against our current drug laws. I was there last year and I emailed Jo Gideon a few weeks ago to request a meeting this year, I haven't received a reply as yet. Anyone that wants to get involved is more than welcome, there's likely to be speakers from all the main political parties, there was last year anyway, only one political party declined the invitation, doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce which one. anyoneschild.org/lobby-of-parliament-june-27-2023/Anyone that wants any more info please feel free to pm me. This is some footage from the day last year -
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2023 10:42:37 GMT
If today is an average day around 17 people will die from a drug overdose, the same with yesterday, the same tomorrow and the day after etc. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by taking the distribution of drugs out of the hands of criminals and putting it into the hands of licensed, qualified professional clinicians or pharmacists. The parents of some of these victims gather together every year on College Green, opposite Parliament, to plant a 'flower' for each death and to meet with their MP to protest against our current drug laws. I was there last year and I emailed Jo Gideon a few weeks ago to request a meeting this year, I haven't received a reply as yet. Anyone that wants to get involved is more than welcome, there's likely to be speakers from all the main political parties, there was last year anyway, only one political party declined the invitation, doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce which one. anyoneschild.org/lobby-of-parliament-june-27-2023/Anyone that wants any more info please feel free to pm me. This is some footage from the day last year - Drug wars are such an easy target for all politicians. Recognizing that they only have a four-year term and a 15 second soundbite with which to convince their audience, they resort to: “drugs are bad, mmmkay”. They rarely get up and talk about why people are doing drugs, trying to address the underlying problem. Prevention would be expensive (initially) but then cost goes down as fewer drug related crimes occur, fewer hospital visits are made and more tax revenues come in from people who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to hold down a job. I feel that social programs like this are rarely a non-starter in the UK. Partisan politics gets in the way (even when both sides might even agree with it). Edit: it’s very sad that these gatherings are a thing and it’s a disgrace that Jo Gideon has ignored you thus far.
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Post by elystokie on Jun 6, 2023 13:07:02 GMT
If today is an average day around 17 people will die from a drug overdose, the same with yesterday, the same tomorrow and the day after etc. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by taking the distribution of drugs out of the hands of criminals and putting it into the hands of licensed, qualified professional clinicians or pharmacists. The parents of some of these victims gather together every year on College Green, opposite Parliament, to plant a 'flower' for each death and to meet with their MP to protest against our current drug laws. I was there last year and I emailed Jo Gideon a few weeks ago to request a meeting this year, I haven't received a reply as yet. Anyone that wants to get involved is more than welcome, there's likely to be speakers from all the main political parties, there was last year anyway, only one political party declined the invitation, doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce which one. anyoneschild.org/lobby-of-parliament-june-27-2023/Anyone that wants any more info please feel free to pm me. This is some footage from the day last year - Drug wars are such an easy target for all politicians. Recognizing that they only have a four-year term and a 15 second soundbite with which to convince their audience, they resort to: “drugs are bad, mmmkay”. They rarely get up and talk about why people are doing drugs, trying to address the underlying problem. Prevention would be expensive (initially) but then cost goes down as fewer drug related crimes occur, fewer hospital visits are made and more tax revenues come in from people who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to hold down a job. I feel that social programs like this are rarely a non-starter in the UK. Partisan politics gets in the way (even when both sides might even agree with it). Edit: it’s very sad that these gatherings are a thing and it’s a disgrace that Jo Gideon has ignored you thus far. They were trialling a similar assisted heroin program in Middlesbrough to that which has been so successful in Switzerland but I think, despite it showing similar promise, funding was withdrawn. To be fair to the politicians their hand is largely forced by sections of our media, last year several people that met their MP confirmed that it was mainly sensationalist reports and criticism from, in particular the Daily Mail, that were holding back progress. Similar points were made at a conference I attended last year called 'Drugs, the Media and the Law'. Some of the speakers there interacted directly with the press and basically said it's a waste of time giving the Daily Mail any quotes because they either misrepresent what was said or, more often, just completely fabricate it. We then base our laws and policies on these lies because the public, most of whom can't be arsed to do their own research, get taken in by it. The Daily Mail have a lot of blood on their hands imo.
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Post by Eggybread on Jun 6, 2023 13:20:20 GMT
This country will be the last place on earth to legalise/decriminalise drugs Im afraid.
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Post by elystokie on Jun 6, 2023 15:06:04 GMT
This country will be the last place on earth to legalise/decriminalise drugs Im afraid. As things stand we'll certainly be a long way behind a lot of countries. Singapore will take some beating tho, I met a bloke from there who had to wait until his system was free of Cannabis before he could go back for, what he says was, the last time, just to pick up the rest of his belongings. A mate of his had got a 3 year jail sentence for testing positive for cannabis on his return to Singapore after sharing a joint while on holiday, it stays in the body for a long time.
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Post by Paul Spencer on Jun 6, 2023 18:16:43 GMT
This country will be the last place on earth to legalise/decriminalise drugs Im afraid. As things stand we'll certainly be a long way behind a lot of countries. Singapore will take some beating tho, I met a bloke from there who had to wait until his system was free of Cannabis before he could go back for, what he says was, the last time, just to pick up the rest of his belongings. A mate of his had got a 3 year jail sentence for testing positive for cannabis on his return to Singapore after sharing a joint while on holiday, it stays in the body for a long time. I went there in the 80's and the maximum sentence for rape, was a few years behind bars but yet you could be hanged for being in possession of a few grams of resin. Don't know what the situation is like now but jeez it was brutal then.
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Post by mtrstudent on Jun 6, 2023 18:30:11 GMT
As things stand we'll certainly be a long way behind a lot of countries. Singapore will take some beating tho, I met a bloke from there who had to wait until his system was free of Cannabis before he could go back for, what he says was, the last time, just to pick up the rest of his belongings. A mate of his had got a 3 year jail sentence for testing positive for cannabis on his return to Singapore after sharing a joint while on holiday, it stays in the body for a long time. I went there in the 80's and the maximum sentence for rape, was a few years behind bars but yet you could be hanged for being in possession of a few grams of resin. Don't know what the situation is like now but jeez it was brutal then. I read the story of someone who took a caning in Singapore. Unbelievable! The description was horrendous. "Caning" doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as the reality. Apparently you can barely tell it's human flesh after 🤢
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Post by elystokie on Jun 6, 2023 18:33:37 GMT
As things stand we'll certainly be a long way behind a lot of countries. Singapore will take some beating tho, I met a bloke from there who had to wait until his system was free of Cannabis before he could go back for, what he says was, the last time, just to pick up the rest of his belongings. A mate of his had got a 3 year jail sentence for testing positive for cannabis on his return to Singapore after sharing a joint while on holiday, it stays in the body for a long time. I went there in the 80's and the maximum sentence for rape, was a few years behind bars but yet you could be hanged for being in possession of a few grams of resin. Don't know what the situation is like now but jeez it was brutal then. Someone was hanged quite recently for importing about a pound of weed I believe. There have been questions raised regarding the actual amount possibly being 'manipulated' by the authorities, nobody will know for sure now. No idea how they justify it, probably bought in to the now comprehensively discredited reefer madness.
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Post by wannabee on Jun 6, 2023 18:47:43 GMT
The Taliban have done a far better job of cracking down on Heroin than anyone else in the last 20 years. I hope a deal can be struck to restore Aid in return for Women's Rights otherwise in desperation Farmers will start growing again no matter the consequences www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65787391.amp
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Post by Paul Spencer on Jun 6, 2023 18:55:29 GMT
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Post by Paul Spencer on Jun 6, 2023 19:02:21 GMT
The Taliban have done a far better job of cracking down on Heroin than anyone else in the last 20 years. I hope a deal can be struck to restore Aid in return for Women's Rights otherwise in desperation Farmers will start growing again no matter the consequences www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65787391.ampWhich will sadly lead to even greater use of Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
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Post by mtrstudent on Jun 6, 2023 19:05:31 GMT
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Post by Paul Spencer on Jun 6, 2023 19:23:55 GMT
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Post by fishlovesoatcakes on Jun 6, 2023 19:38:17 GMT
Absolutely disgusting and shocking. I wouldn't set foot in Singapore if you paid me.
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Post by wannabee on Jun 6, 2023 19:49:02 GMT
The Taliban have done a far better job of cracking down on Heroin than anyone else in the last 20 years. I hope a deal can be struck to restore Aid in return for Women's Rights otherwise in desperation Farmers will start growing again no matter the consequences www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65787391.ampWhich will sadly lead to even greater use of Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. I'm sure your right it's called The Law of Double Effect My point was multilayered If somehow the US were to leverage the Talibans good actions, for whatever reason, into a restoration of Aid in return for Restoration of Women's Rights in Afghanistan that would be a good outcome for Afghanistan people and God knows they've been fucked over enough by too many people
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Post by Paul Spencer on Jun 6, 2023 20:22:29 GMT
Which will sadly lead to even greater use of Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. I'm sure your right it's called The Law of Double Effect My point was multilayered If somehow the US were to leverage the Talibans good actions, for whatever reason, into a restoration of Aid in return for Restoration of Women's Rights in Afghanistan that would be a good outcome for Afghanistan people and God knows they've been fucked over enough by too many people
Oh absolutely.
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Post by metalhead on Jun 7, 2023 7:35:32 GMT
What we need is a form of soft legalisation as I've called it. It would utterly destroy an entire range of underground criminal enterprises.
You start by completely legalizing consumption. The sooner that happens, the sooner you stop criminalizing the users rather than suppliers, which appears to be the current modus operandi. In addition, you introduce laws that bring drugs especially those already easy to find and heavily available (weed, coke, etc) inline with alcohol, such as drink driving, drunken disorderly etc. The whole point is not to criminalise the consumption but the consequence of negligent behaviour which is exactly what the drink driving laws intend to do. You make it okay to consume drugs in a healthy way such as in your home or in a designated cafes, you get them away from the streets. The streets are where they and other forms of drug related crime such as burglary, prostitution and laundering fester.
I've said before that cocaine, for example, is a bit of a fighting drug so you punish those who are caught fighting after consumption accordingly which is exactly what we do for booze right? We punish people for their actions not for their consumption.
Once you've legalised consumption, you go about dismantling the dealing networks. Start by legalizing the distribution of 'soft' drugs such as weed, pills, mushrooms etc. You educate people to the dangers of specific drug consumption which is exactly what we already do for alcohol and tobacco but you bring a formerly underground market above ground.
The more dangerous drugs like crack and heroin would probably need more thought. Nobody needs a bunch of wreck heads running around on shop bought smack but whatever the alternative is, it's better than what we have which is an extreme form of human suffering. I suspect it would be some form of legalized substitutes like methadone. It would need some serious thought and extremely intelligent individuals involved rather than fly-by-night career politicians, who for the most part know fuck all.
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Post by elystokie on Jun 7, 2023 8:06:05 GMT
Absolutely disgusting and shocking. I wouldn't set foot in Singapore if you paid me. I went when Stoke played there in the Asia cup thing, nice enough but I won't be returning, I don't think I realised just how barbaric their justice system was. I doubt I'll be taking any flights that connect through any of the Arab States any time soon either, a medical cannabis patient from the USA got ill while doing some work there, as is the routine there he was drug tested by the hospital, obviously tested positive for the cannabis he'd taken back in the USA and ended up in jail. He got out after the Embassy intervened apparently but I imagine it was an ordeal. As a UK medical cannabis patient, should I fall ill while passing through one of their airports I could be in big trouble 😕
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Post by elystokie on Jun 7, 2023 9:21:23 GMT
If today is an average day around 17 people will die from a drug overdose, the same with yesterday, the same tomorrow and the day after etc. Many of these deaths could have been prevented by taking the distribution of drugs out of the hands of criminals and putting it into the hands of licensed, qualified professional clinicians or pharmacists. The parents of some of these victims gather together every year on College Green, opposite Parliament, to plant a 'flower' for each death and to meet with their MP to protest against our current drug laws. I was there last year and I emailed Jo Gideon a few weeks ago to request a meeting this year, I haven't received a reply as yet. Anyone that wants to get involved is more than welcome, there's likely to be speakers from all the main political parties, there was last year anyway, only one political party declined the invitation, doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce which one. anyoneschild.org/lobby-of-parliament-june-27-2023/Anyone that wants any more info please feel free to pm me. This is some footage from the day last year - Drug wars are such an easy target for all politicians. Recognizing that they only have a four-year term and a 15 second soundbite with which to convince their audience, they resort to: “drugs are bad, mmmkay”. They rarely get up and talk about why people are doing drugs, trying to address the underlying problem. Prevention would be expensive (initially) but then cost goes down as fewer drug related crimes occur, fewer hospital visits are made and more tax revenues come in from people who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to hold down a job. I feel that social programs like this are rarely a non-starter in the UK. Partisan politics gets in the way (even when both sides might even agree with it). Edit: it’s very sad that these gatherings are a thing and it’s a disgrace that Jo Gideon has ignored you thus far. After a reminder email from me this morning she actually replied! Her diary is full on that particular day with parliamentary business apparently. As I can't meet with her I've asked if she can arrange a meeting with Jack Brereton (I fear if I meet with Gullis it's unlikely to end well for either of us 😀) as he seems to have strong views on the matter. I've also asked if she'd be prepared to discuss the drug laws at one of her MP's surgeries locally, assuming she holds them. Can't see me getting a reply but you never know.
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Post by marylandstoke on Jun 7, 2023 12:01:08 GMT
This country will be the last place on earth to legalise/decriminalise drugs Im afraid. As things stand we'll certainly be a long way behind a lot of countries. Singapore will take some beating tho, I met a bloke from there who had to wait until his system was free of Cannabis before he could go back for, what he says was, the last time, just to pick up the rest of his belongings. A mate of his had got a 3 year jail sentence for testing positive for cannabis on his return to Singapore after sharing a joint while on holiday, it stays in the body for a long time. 28 days is the ‘usual’ for a urine test I believe.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2023 12:06:54 GMT
Drug wars are such an easy target for all politicians. Recognizing that they only have a four-year term and a 15 second soundbite with which to convince their audience, they resort to: “drugs are bad, mmmkay”. They rarely get up and talk about why people are doing drugs, trying to address the underlying problem. Prevention would be expensive (initially) but then cost goes down as fewer drug related crimes occur, fewer hospital visits are made and more tax revenues come in from people who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to hold down a job. I feel that social programs like this are rarely a non-starter in the UK. Partisan politics gets in the way (even when both sides might even agree with it). Edit: it’s very sad that these gatherings are a thing and it’s a disgrace that Jo Gideon has ignored you thus far. After a reminder email from me this morning she actually replied! Her diary is full on that particular day with parliamentary business apparently. As I can't meet with her I've asked if she can arrange a meeting with Jack Brereton (I fear if I meet with Gullis it's unlikely to end well for either of us 😀) as he seems to have strong views on the matter. I've also asked if she'd be prepared to discuss the drug laws at one of her MP's surgeries locally, assuming she holds them. Can't see me getting a reply but you never know. Good job on pushing it and having suggestions on how to meet others even if she is too busy. I would suggest just to keep emailing. Once per week, then once every 2-3 days. Then once a day from different email accts. That’s how I eventually got to speak with Bill Cash 😂 To be fair to them, they must get a lot of emails.
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Post by elystokie on Jun 7, 2023 12:13:40 GMT
As things stand we'll certainly be a long way behind a lot of countries. Singapore will take some beating tho, I met a bloke from there who had to wait until his system was free of Cannabis before he could go back for, what he says was, the last time, just to pick up the rest of his belongings. A mate of his had got a 3 year jail sentence for testing positive for cannabis on his return to Singapore after sharing a joint while on holiday, it stays in the body for a long time. 28 days is the ‘usual’ for a urine test I believe. Yeh, it's around that for heavy users, I think it can stay in the body for up to around 77 days and can be detected in hair follicles up to about 90 days. Amazing really, the body starts to eliminate alcohol within about 30 to 90 minutes (going by the sobriety tag data) and it's completely gone after around 12 hours in the vast majority of cases and yet that same body is quite prepared to tolerate the presence of Cannabis for long periods of time. It's almost as if it doesn't know what it's doing 🤷🏻 😄
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Post by elystokie on Jun 8, 2023 12:09:56 GMT
www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/06/end-war-drugs-and-promote-policies-rooted-human-rights-un-experts"As the UN system Common Position on drug policy has emphasised, drug use and dependency should not be treated as a criminal matter, but rather as a health issue to be addressed through rights-based measures including public health education, the provision of mental hygiene treatment, care and support, rehabilitation and transition/reintegration programmes. Moreover, the threat of imprisonment should not be used as a coercive tool to incentivise people into drug treatment. Drug treatment should always be voluntary, based on informed consent, and left exclusively to health professionals. To this end, all compulsory drug treatment centres should be closed."
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Post by Northy on Jun 8, 2023 15:12:15 GMT
The Taliban have done a far better job of cracking down on Heroin than anyone else in the last 20 years. I hope a deal can be struck to restore Aid in return for Women's Rights otherwise in desperation Farmers will start growing again no matter the consequences www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65787391.ampI watched that story online, they were just destroying the crop with big sticks. The old farmer asking how am I supposed to get money to feed his family, the ground looks so void of nutrition for good crops to grow. Maybe aid ought to be in the form of farm machinery and training on ground management and stuff like that ?
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Post by wannabee on Jun 8, 2023 16:16:54 GMT
The Taliban have done a far better job of cracking down on Heroin than anyone else in the last 20 years. I hope a deal can be struck to restore Aid in return for Women's Rights otherwise in desperation Farmers will start growing again no matter the consequences www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65787391.ampI watched that story online, they were just destroying the crop with big sticks. The old farmer asking how am I supposed to get money to feed his family, the ground looks so void of nutrition for good crops to grow. Maybe aid ought to be in the form of farm machinery and training on ground management and stuff like that ? I mean the Taliban are a bunch of assholes but there is a duty on the West to try and improve the situation and will obviously not be perfect The Country is a basket case financially I like with your suggestion of giving the means rather than money its like the story "Give a man a Fish and you feed him, give him a Fishing Rod and you feed him for life" If they could set up some kind of Barter System of rewards for improvements e.g. Women's Rights etc this might improve the dire situation a byproduct being reducing the number of Refugees fleeing the Country
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Post by Gawa on Jun 8, 2023 17:34:22 GMT
This country will be the last place on earth to legalise/decriminalise drugs Im afraid. And Northern Ireland will be another decade after the rest of the UK at least. We've only recently got abortion lol.
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Post by Gawa on Jun 8, 2023 17:41:45 GMT
I watched that story online, they were just destroying the crop with big sticks. The old farmer asking how am I supposed to get money to feed his family, the ground looks so void of nutrition for good crops to grow. Maybe aid ought to be in the form of farm machinery and training on ground management and stuff like that ? I mean the Taliban are a bunch of assholes but there is a duty on the West to try and improve the situation and will obviously not be perfect The Country is a basket case financially I like with your suggestion of giving the means rather than money its like the story "Give a man a Fish and you feed him, give him a Fishing Rod and you feed him for life" If they could set up some kind of Barter System of rewards for improvements e.g. Women's Rights etc this might improve the dire situation a byproduct being reducing the number of Refugees fleeing the Country Feel really sorry for the farmers tbh. Apparently they're lucky if they make a quarter of the money from wheat of what they do from poppy's. Unfortunately though for addicts this will probably just drive up prices, result in more products on the market which are contaminated with other chemicals which are more dangerous and also maybe lead addicts into taking other drugs which are more serious. At the same time the heroin trade will just start up elsewhere in another area suffering from poverty. And I don't blame the growers at all. Their survival and their family is much more important to them than some heroin addict in Glasgow, and rightly so. War on drugs doesn't work. And cutting down a crop in a small area of the world isn't going to solve it either.
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Post by elystokie on Jun 8, 2023 18:24:43 GMT
I mean the Taliban are a bunch of assholes but there is a duty on the West to try and improve the situation and will obviously not be perfect The Country is a basket case financially I like with your suggestion of giving the means rather than money its like the story "Give a man a Fish and you feed him, give him a Fishing Rod and you feed him for life" If they could set up some kind of Barter System of rewards for improvements e.g. Women's Rights etc this might improve the dire situation a byproduct being reducing the number of Refugees fleeing the Country Feel really sorry for the farmers tbh. Apparently they're lucky if they make a quarter of the money from wheat of what they do from poppy's. Unfortunately though for addicts this will probably just drive up prices, result in more products on the market which are contaminated with other chemicals which are more dangerous and also maybe lead addicts into taking other drugs which are more serious. At the same time the heroin trade will just start up elsewhere in another area suffering from poverty. And I don't blame the growers at all. Their survival and their family is much more important to them than some heroin addict in Glasgow, and rightly so. War on drugs doesn't work. And cutting down a crop in a small area of the world isn't going to solve it either. Absolutely correct. One point of order that's often overlooked tho if I may? There isn't and never has there been a "War on drugs" - you can't go to war against an inanimate object. As I'm sure you know, it's a transferred epithet, like a "disabled toilet" isn't actually disabled. It's actually a War on 'peoples access to' drugs. Suits the headlines better tho.
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Post by musik on Jun 11, 2023 16:57:50 GMT
Ending?
Naah ... Beginning rather, if you ask the Swedish politicians.
Tonight we'll have the big Political party leader debate on TV. I assume the drug politics and the new laws will be touched at least, even though energy, nato, crime will be issues in focus.
New drug laws here says they will definitely increase the punishment further. 5 mins ago they said on TV, if you have smoked a joint and paid for it, you will send the seller to prison without any doubt for 6 months immediately, no matter what since that's the new minimum level, The text messaging between all(!) people will be controlled by the state in co-operation with the tele operators and give them evidence from now on.
Wow! We have to build 1000 new prisons then for a start.
One said they hugely admire and inspiration comes from Singapore, Phillipines and places like that.
Shops that sell candy with some sort of cannabis related component will be closed.
Reasons are the politicians are sick and tired of all the gang related shootings now! They also said Stockholm is worst in Europe! Their goal is a Drug Free Generation. The old sweatshirt from the 70ies with that text will come handy.
🤠
I will watch the Politicians debate. Then Wallander ...
Edith: the debate is on Tuesday evening instead.
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Post by Chewbacca the Wookie on Jun 11, 2023 17:06:52 GMT
Ending? Naah ... Beginning rather, if you ask the Swedish politicians. Tonight we'll have the big Political party leader debate on TV. I assume the drug politics and the new laws will be touched at least, even though energy, nato, crime will be issues in focus. New drug laws here says they will definitely increase the punishment further. 5 mins ago they said on TV, if you have smoked a joint and paid for it, you will send the seller to prison without any doubt for 6 months immediately, no matter what since that's the new minimum level, The text messaging between all(!) people will be controlled by the state in co-operation with the tele operators and give them evidence from now on. Wow! We have to build 1000 new prisons then for a start. One said they hugely admire and inspiration comes from Singapore, Phillepenes and places like that. Shops that sell candy with some sort of cannabis related component will be closed. Reasons are the politicians are sick and tired of all the gang related shootings now! They also said Stockholm is worst in Europe! Their goal is a Drug Free Generation. The old sweatshirt will come handy. 🤠 I will watch the Politicians debate. Then Wallander ... What’s crime like in Sweden? Going up?
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