On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:21:14 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> Understand that I have taken (not done :-)) drugs and I’ve seen people
> get into bad states with them. 

"Two countries separated by a common language". ;-)  I've known people 
who have taken/used/done (just to cover the bases) drugs, and yeah, some 
of them have described "bad trips" to me.

> I’ve seen young and old people of both
> sexes lying unconscious in the street covered in their own vomit,
> fights, dui, families kept poor and abused, lives ruined. The list is
> endless and then we move away from alcohol. 

Indeed.  I've got a family member who served time in prison for a DUI 
offense that involved someone dying.  Pot?  Gives one the munchies (so 
I'm told).

> If you tell some people that
> something is not allowed then that will make it exciting and glamorous
> to them. Prohibition did not work in the USA and the “war on drugs” is
> IMO a waste of time and resources.

Exactly.  But don't get me started on the whole phraseology of "the war 
on 'x'", because I think the whole idea is stupid.  A war is something 
that *should* be winnable, and you can't win against a concept.

> Consider the Netherlands where pot while not legal is controlled and
> sold in coffee shops. This has not made the Dutch into a nation of pot
> heads. Most Dutch people I’ve met and worked with are quite dismissive
> of cannabis, it’s what you try when you are young.

Yep.  There's no mystery, no sense of "I'm doing something bad/wrong" or 
"I'm getting away with something I shouldn't be", and the mystique and/or 
novelty wears off as a result.

It's the same reason many kids try cigarettes when they're in High School 
(or earlier) here in the US:  They're not allowed to.  So they rebel and 
do it behind the school while nobody's watching.   Oooooo, dangerous.  
You're SUCH a bad boy.

Jim

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