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How to stop the drugs wars (and why politicians cant make policy)

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13237193

Have a quick read through of that.
By providing honest information about the health risks of different drugs, and pricing them accordingly, governments could steer consumers towards the least harmful ones. Prohibition has failed to prevent the proliferation of designer drugs, dreamed up in laboratories. Legalisation might encourage legitimate drug companies to try to improve the stuff that people take. The resources gained from tax and saved on repression would allow governments to guarantee treatment to addicts—a way of making legalisation more politically palatable. The success of developed countries in stopping people smoking tobacco, which is similarly subject to tax and regulation, provides grounds for hope.

The problem with politicians is that they are swayed by the the need to keep the voting public happy who are for some part at least part of the mindless masses. Look at the Christian bible belt in America and it's stallwart opposition to abortion (and therefore the government being forced to make it difficult) which leads to a kind of tyranny of the majority, where a lot of people with illinformed opinions can dictate the policy on an issue that may or may not affect them (I'm sure the conciencous voters who hate drugs probably actually don't take them) and normally for the worst.

That's an inherit flaw in democracy, but democracy is still the least worst system of governance we have, don't get me wrong :). It just frustrates me when there are contentious issues like this and we can't just follow the experts, instead resorting to Mrs Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) and her ilk because they keep voting conservative and for bringing back family values.

I should start a political party called 'progressive' lol.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its what sensible people have been saying for years.

    Unfortunately I still think we are years away before we take a different approach to drugs.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think that drugs policy is something that is no way reflective of the opinions of the population. I think it's yet another example of scare stories and newspaper headlines being the politicians main source of "public opinion." They're all scared shitless of being on the front of the newspaper as being the politician who is in favour of the drug that killed little Jimmy. I was watching that debate programme on BBC1 on Sunday morning, where they were discussing this issue. And if anyone's seen it, you'll know that it's about as conservative and religious an audience as you're going to get on the whole. But even in that audience, I'd say that the balance of opinion was with the doctors arguing for legalisation. And of course the debate itself was embarassingly one-sided as it always is. I'm sick of this country being governed based on fucking Daily Mail stories.
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