The War On Drugs

[Guest]

Out of interest what would the limit for alcohol be FIF?

I've been known (though not so much these) to have downed ten pints and 12 double vodkas in a night before I move onto the heavy stuff.

Would that be too much?

 

 

Certainly.

 

I'd suggest an amount where you facility to think rationally and reasonably wouldn't be affected. An amount where you don't have false courage. An amount where ugly women are still ugly women etc...

 

You may argue that for you that would be long after the amount you suggest above but would it be when you first started out drinking?

[Guest MattP]

Not at all, first time I got drunk I was 15 in the Red Cow in Kirby. Had four pints and had to be carried out to a very unhappy father.

How I'd love to go back to that, getting drunk on a tenner.

[Wymsey]

Not at all, first time I got drunk I was 15 in the Red Cow in Kirby. Had four pints and had to be carried out to a very unhappy father.

How I'd love to go back to that, getting drunk on a tenner.

Not keen on that pub now.

 

Prices are too dear personally.

[Guest MattP]

Not been in for years now, used to go in at lunch when I worked on Scudamore Rd.

Wasn't uncommon for the lads to sink 5 pints in an hour then head back to the office. Good times, used to set you right up for the weekend.

[Captain...]

The whole debate is a minefield of contradictions because alcohol is legal and other drugs aren't, you look at the neck nominate challenges going round, that is not a society ready for more ways to legally get you fvcked up. [No, it's a society which still doesn't have a grasp of alcohol as a drug but won't consider allowing access to less disastrous chemicals like THC.]

You know [statement of opinion. You think.] if more drugs were legal some people would experiment with ever increasing cocktails of various drugs, the education argument is also blown out of the water when you see some of our best and brightest (students) getting absolutely smashed in more creative ways, including illegal drugs [citation needed, do you make a habit of hanging out on campuses?], if they were legal and more easily available then this could escalate. [Or you could look at stats from places like the Netherlands and Portugal where the exact opposite has happened.]

I'm pretty sure I would have tried a lot more drugs when I was younger had they been easier to get, and I didn't trust nor want to give money to criminals. As shown when magic mushrooms were legal for a while, had a good few weeks because it felt reliable and regulated, I really regret going to the closing down sale though... [And don't you regret never having the chance to develop an educated opinion for yourself?]

But with legalisation you can control, regulate and educate people and people will do it any way, keeping the nasty shit like heroin, crack and meth illegal would mean that kids wouldn't associate with drug dealers who might try and push the more harmful drugs, if they could just get a baggie from boots. [Now we're talking, legalising cannabis would certainly help. It would also be prudent to adopt a Portugal-style approach to class A's, treating it as a medical instead of a criminal issue.]

At the moment how many people lose their life in drug related incidents? What are the main causes? Could legalising certain drugs prevent that? [Yes, see Portugal.] How would legalisation work? [see USA, The Netherlands] What restrictions would you have in place? [Pretty much the same ones we have now - no sale to under-18s, maybe implement a maximum purchase per customer, though in reality this would just mean people journeying from shop to shop to pick up like they do in The Netherlands right now.] How would issues like mental health be handled? [Much better with people who are currently seen as criminals losing the stigma that prevents them from seeking medical help. Likewise their friends and family would be more likely to step in and get them help if they didn't think they were giving them a criminal record.]

Too many questions at the moment. [Questions which other countries have been brave enough to try answering instead of demonising their scientists and now provide us with a series of blueprints to work from to get it right.]

Some fair responses, but I wouldn't compare Portugal and the Netherlands to the UK when it comes to alcohol consumption and attitudes, I've never met a Dutch heavy drinker, I currently work for a Dutch company and they look at me funny for having 2 pints with dinner, they don't have the English drinking culture, neither do the Portuguese who have a culture of drinking for the flavour and not alcohol content.

It is still prevalent in British culture to get smashed and even now that is a mix of alcohol and drugs for a lot of people, increasing ease of supply would exacerbate things of that I am sure, even if only in the short term, the consequences could be severe, if you can't handle alcohol then adding a whole load more variables to the mix will make things worse.

If we are talking purely about weed, legalising mild strains of it could be a start, for those that enjoy the effects of it but don't want to get fvcked up, but possession of strong variants would still be illegal, that would be where I would start, with control over where it can be consumed and go from there.

[Carl the Llama]

Some fair responses, but I wouldn't compare Portugal and the Netherlands to the UK when it comes to alcohol consumption and attitudes, I've never met a Dutch heavy drinker, I currently work for a Dutch company and they look at me funny for having 2 pints with dinner, they don't have the English drinking culture, neither do the Portuguese who have a culture of drinking for the flavour and not alcohol content.

It is still prevalent in British culture to get smashed and even now that is a mix of alcohol and drugs for a lot of people, increasing ease of supply would exacerbate things of that I am sure, even if only in the short term, the consequences could be severe, if you can't handle alcohol then adding a whole load more variables to the mix will make things worse.

If we are talking purely about weed, legalising mild strains of it could be a start, for those that enjoy the effects of it but don't want to get fvcked up, but possession of strong variants would still be illegal, that would be where I would start, with control over where it can be consumed and go from there.

I strongly disagree.  A spliff or two before and then during an evening of heavy drinking is one of the best ways to pre-emptively counteract the nausea and vomiting of the following day (another spliff or two in the morning doesn't hurt either).  

 

It is important to remember to spliff up first though.  If you leave it until your head's already swimming in alcohol before lighting the first smoke of the day then what will happen is your mind will spin off into the stratosphere and you'll find yourself incapacitated on a bench for the next half hour or so as you desperately try to reign in the dizziness.  Educate yourselves

[James.]

Carl the Llama smokes weed???? Well he kept that one quiet.

[Steven]

Revealed: British ministers tried to block EU moves to clean up air quality

29,000 deaths a year in the UK are thought to be caused by air pollution, Public Health England estimates.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/26/uk-tried-to-block-tougher-eu-car-emissions-tests

 

Stinking hypocrites.