Boards assembly on drug use

I'm on the fence at the moment with legalize / non legalize/ decriminalize debate.

Its not my thing, I've smoked weed in the past in my younger days but if someone wants to take drugs and or abuse alcohol - ultimately we cant stop them. One friend of mine is a recovering alcoholic sober for 4 years and another is clean and sober for 20 odd, nearly overdosing twice so I'm not preaching here from a high horse.

In an ideal world you take drug of choice , get high or whatever sensation you are aiming for - and then revert back to 'normal' all without having a negative affect on your environment or yourself. We all know this isn't always the case.

The consumption of alcohol and its abuse is a legacy issue that may never be solved. Prohibition doesn't work. Restricted opening hours doesn't work, minimum pricing doesn't work simply on the basis that alcohol is readily available.

I think tobacco will eventually fade away , its being replaced by vapes now but it remains to be seen how long that fad will last.

Should you be punished for taking drug of choice and harming no one (but possibly yourself)? - I would say no.

Do I want to see a scenario where people are high as a kite/ coked of their heads/( Insert your own euphemism) as I'm doing the shopping in Tesco?

I would also say no, and that is the ' technically not bothering me' scenario.

Insert scenario of your choice - In the pub/ cinema/ sporting event/ behind the wheel of a car/ operating a machine and suddenly the legalization or decriminalization isn't as straightforward as it seems.

"nightmare of a drug" obviously the millions of people who enjoy using it worldwide wouldn't agree with you. It would be a good idea because it would reduce/eliminate criminal involvement, it could be produced more safely and generate tax for governments, which could be used to treat the tiny minority of people who develop problems with cocaine. As it is, the state gets ZERO for any coke-related hospital admission. It would also free up precious police time and resources. Why not try it for 2/3 years, if the pros don't outweigh the cons by then, we can always revert to this current "successful" policy.

Going to your Tesco scenario, I've definitely been in a shop with someone who was on something, or a combination of things

It's pretty head wrecking, not gonna lie

But, do you think legalisation would increase or decrease the number of druggies in the shop?

I don't think it would have any effect personally, there'll still be the same number of addicts in the system as before

Only difference is they're less likely to die of an OD because they can only buy a certain amount from the pharmacy and it won't be cut with builders lime. And maybe they might have a better chance to get into a program to kick the addiction

^ OxyContin was branded heroin.

I’ve no interest in any other drug apart from cannabis so haven’t really looked into it.

That was an interesting read. Why would cocaine be made medically available for anyone?

No no, crimes which involve a non-consenting victim such as murder, rape, robbery etc should always be illegal. When a person takes coke, they DO consent, big difference. Also, people get enjoyment from cocaine, nobody enjoys being murdered, raped or robbed.

It’s the smell again. Get rid of the smell and you get rid of the prejudice. Simple.

Well seeing as ye are asking...

I wouldn't mind the opportunity to grow 1 (only one) plant - hydroponically - and not just for 'research purposes' but for pain reduction.

Not for sale - just for my own use - but I don't want my name splashed all over the news - 1 plant worth €xxx

And then the other side of the coin:

I had a nice neighbour that passed away.

I didn't know that his son was a heroin addict and was using methadone on prescription.

I saw an ambulance outside his house one night and ran over thinking it was my elderly neighbour but no - it was a friend of the son - dead on the floor in the sitting room - sickening when it comes to your locality.

A family relative got jail time for bringing money from one city to another - visited him in jail - he's off it now and doing well.

His sister got into drug debt over cocaine and we had to help her out - in fairness she's after getting a good job and will pay back but the damn stuff is everywhere - on every street corner....

I'm mostly of the opinion that if you can grow it, legalise it. Although here in the west we do to seem to have a knack for taking substances that originally had spiritual and medicinal uses and turning it into junk to be sold.

Stop criminalising people for substance abuse.

This will always lead to a disproportionate negative effect on the poorest sections of society. It doesn't stop crime it doesn't stop abuse so its only function is to punish.

That's a fair point. I guess I was trying to demonstrate a scenario where something was once illegal and taboo but is now legal and frowned upon may end up becoming more accepted in everyday life. You cant be drunk in a public place but you'd want to be causing a nuisance to others or incapacitated for the guards to step in - that and the cells would be jammed every weekend up and down the country.

Right now you cant take drugs, would or could the same metric be measured if you are high? Possibly.

I agree most if not all businesses would ban drug use on its premises - I dare say they would have no choice - take the smoking ban, it is there in businesses for Health and Safety ( don't sue us) primarily. I just think that it could become more normalized over the years. Those that didn't ban drug use would just be inviting trouble ( cannabis use accepted perhaps ).

That being said the lunchtime pint if you are entertaining a customer for work for example is virtually gone, so maybe the novelty would wear off?

I think it goes back to my original point , if you could somehow take your drug of choice and magically not negatively affect your environment then have at it.

At the moment, due to 100 years of prohibition and misinformation, cannabis is viewed by a sizeable percentage of the Irish population as an illegal drug, in the same category as heroin and cocaine. Evil. End of story.

Then you have people, like yourself, who see the Irish relationship with alcohol and the damage it can do to families and the healthcare system and think we are going to have a repeat of the same problems with cannabis. I believe, and I’m joined in my belief by some people who are dealing with the situation every day, you are wrong.

People, since the dawn of civilisation, have always sought out an escape from reality. That is never going to change. But in the future, people can decide for themselves and without breaking any law, to choose cannabis over alcohol for their escape route.

Alcohol is a poison. You use it to kill germs. If you water it down enough, it is drinkable but your body has a real problem with it. That’s why we have hangovers. I wake up after an edible - an ounce of cake, and feel absolutely fine. I’ve also had a great night’s sleep. That never used to happen when I drank.

Alcohol and cannabis do not mix. You can get ‘whiteouts’ which are basically blackouts with lots of vomit. Not nice.

So I’ve given up drinking, apart from a pint or two, every few weeks. I now drink 0.0 mostly, in the pub with friends and nobody is any the wiser that we’ve had some cake. We do laugh a lot though.

So nobody in the pub has a problem with us. There’s no telltale smell so they don’t know.

That’s why I believe it will be socially acceptable in the future. And I would never condone anyone driving or operating heavy machinery while under the influence. I’ll leave that to reality.

Seems to me to make sense to at least decriminalise cannabis as it is from what I have seen less harmful than alcohol and tobacco. Heard a Garda on the radio a few weeks back talking about how great their drug testing kits were now and if I remember correctly saying they could detect cannabis in a sample at a road side stop from a driver having used the cannabis about a week before the test. The garda sounded like they thought it was great to be able to get a positive test so long after the driver had used the controlled substance. I remember reading a few years back that traces of cannabis can be found in our bodies as much as a month after consumption. I don't think cannabis would still be influencing a drivers ability to drive that long after consumption but will someone consuming cannabis and avoiding driving for a considerable amount of time still be subject to prosecution for trace amounts found in their system on a random road side test even if it is decriminalised?

On the question on drug use, I have seen articles that have suggested overall drug use has actually dropped in places where a more liberal approach to drugs have been in pace for some time so I can see it being highly likely that legalising some drugs could actually help reduce overall consumption. The argument that some drugs act as a gateway to others to me is a good reason to allow people use some of the less harmful ones with careful quality control so they are less likely to go to unregulated sources where they will get lower quality and access to more harmful substances that an illegal supplier has no reason to not sell. Decriminalised and legalised drugs may do less damage as they can be legislated to comply with quality standards and suppliers can be regulated to not supply more harmful drugs.