DM: Switzerland considers legalising COCAINE: Politicians declare 'the war on drugs has failed'

[DCSaints_fan]

I've been clean all my life.  Never really had the urge to try

 

If I get a terminal diagnosis, all bets are off.

[China]

8 arrested for running cocaine delivery service in Southern California

 

A total of eight men were taken into custody in connection with a widescale narcotics delivery service operating in parts of the Southland. 

 

Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Street Team detectives first learned of the delivery service operating in parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties in July, authorities said in a press release. 

 

Their five-month investigation found that a “transnational drug trafficking organization” was using an elaborate system of drivers and dispatchers to supply Ventura County residents with cocaine. 

 

“Drug trafficking organizations like this…are structured to sell their drugs to as many customers and across as wide of geographical area as possible,” VCSO officials said.

 

Traffickers tend to organize their operations in similar ways, authorities said, employing a chain of command that ranges from delivery drivers all the way up to what is known as the “Cell Head.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Bang]

On 12/22/2023 at 12:14 PM, tshile said:

😂

you never fail to reveal just how little you know about something 

 

hallucinogens aren’t serious drugs 😂 sure thing. 

They are serious in that you don't want people doing them in public. it isn't addictive or harmful, and the myths of people jumping off buildings or other self-harmful nonsense are silly. it just isn't that intense. But, it can be VERY unpredictable based on the individual.

In the words of Jimi, am I experienced?
Yes, many many many many many many many times. Many many.
Never had a bad experience. Never had a scare, nothing.
If you're someplace safe where you feel secure and don't have to go anywhere for the duration, it's SO much fun.

They aren't unpredictable in that you won't get a dose that will make you murderously insane or suicidal (unless you already are), they don't create a reality that doesn't exist, you won't see anything that isn't there. Hallucinations happen on the edges, slight distortions. 

I think most people can benefit from a psychedelic experience.

 

But you can't stop people from tripping in public, and therein lies the danger. Public introduces unexpected things, and that can **** with you.. and everyone else around. 
And while my personality just means i'd laugh.. others certainly may not.

(Note, i am talking 'traditional' hallucinogens, LSD, Mushrooms. No bath salts, ex, designer things. No thanks. I prefer LSD to mushrooms. For one, i don't have to eat those nasty things, and if the acid is clean, it is VERY good. Make a fruit salad ahead of time, get some movies set up and have fun. 

 

The idea of legalizing everything is ridiculous. Some drugs like LSD might not be inherently 'dangerous' in the way heroin and cocaine are, but the effect on some people means you can't just have them walk around in public tripping. Some people ARE crazy. Some people ARE violent in nature. Get them dosed up and who knows what happens.

 

~Bang

Edited December 26, 2023 by Bang

[PeterMP]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/oregon-drug-decriminalization-failed/677678/

 

"Measure 110 did not reduce Oregon’s drug problems. The drug-overdose-death rate increased by 43 percent in 2021, its first year of implementation—and then kept rising. The latest CDC data show that in the 12 months ending in September 2023, deaths by overdose grew by 41.6 percent, versus 2.1 percent nationwide. No other state saw a higher rise in deaths. Only one state, Vermont, ranks higher in its rate of illicit drug use."

 

"Neither did decriminalization produce a flood of help-seeking. The replacement for criminal penalties, a $100 ticket for drug possession with the fine waived if the individual called a toll-free number for a health assessment, with the aim of encouraging treatment, failed completely. More than 95 percent of people ignored the ticket, for which—in keeping with the spirit of Measure 110—there was no consequence. The cost of the hotline worked out to about $7,000 per completed phone call, according to The Economist. These realities, as well as associated disorder such as open-air drug markets and a sharp rise in violent crime—while such crime was falling nationally—led Oregonians to rethink their drug policy."

 

"We were not surprised that a trivial pressure to seek treatment was ineffective. Fentanyl and meth addiction are not like depression, chronic pain, or cancer, conditions for which people are typically motivated to seek treatment. Even as it destroys a person’s life, addictive drug use by definition feels good in the short term, and most addicted people resist or are ambivalent about giving that up. Withdrawal, meanwhile, is wrenchingly difficult. As a result, most addicted people who come to treatment do so not spontaneously but through pressure from family, friends, employers, health professionals, and, yes, the law."

 

"Branding Measure 110 as a rebuke to the War on Drugs made no sense, because Oregon had never fought such a war. In 1973, it became the first state to decriminalize possession of marijuana. When federal and state mandatory-minimum sentences for drug crimes flowered in the ’80s and ’90s, Oregon went the other way, making it impossible for someone to go to prison for simple drug possession. Overall, the state had the country’s lowest rate of imprisonment for nonviolent crimes. Short local-jail sentences for drug possession were permitted, but diversion programs, including drug courts and community supervision with drug testing, were widely used. However, after Measure 110 was passed and the threat of jail time eliminated, the flow of people into these programs slowed."

 

"But the lessons from Oregon’s troubles should not be overdrawn. One thing Measure 110 got right, at least in principle, is that Oregon’s addiction-treatment system was grossly underfunded, with access to care frequently ranking at the bottom of national indicators. The mechanism that the measure created to manage new spending was clumsy and didn’t work well, but the new law acknowledges the problem and provides extensive new funding for immediate needs, including detox facilities, sobering centers, treatment facilities, and the staff to support those services."

 

(Complete legalization is likely to not solve problems and if anything lead to more problems.  Complete legalization minimizes incentives for addicts to get help which minimally doesn't diminish the number of addicts and likely increases it.  And then addicts bring a set of problems to society as they tend to make bad decisions when high and when they need to feed their addiction.  The effort should be minimize addicts/addiction which likely will acquire some punishment for some users, especially non-addict users.  And some sort of system to protect addicts and society from addicts that can't get and stay clean on their own.  If you think about addiction has a mental health issue/disease if you have somebody with significant schizophrenia that can't be treated or won't stay on drugs that treat their schizophrenia, you can't just have them walking around.  Some system has to be in place to make sure they are okay and not harming themselves or others.)

Edited March 19 by PeterMP