Finally A Major Change in Drug Poliicy (Worldwide)

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: Sremmos80

Here's a Bloomberg article from just a few days ago showing just how much excessive alcohol consumption costs the USA:

The Centers for Disease Control has put a figure on how much it costs the American economy: $249 billion. That includes spending on health care as well as the economic toll of lost productivity, car crashes, crime, and deaths attributable to excessive alcohol consumption.

Bloomberg

$249 billion -- with a "B". To put that in perspective:

Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security

heritage.org

So American drinking habits are costing nearly 3.5 times more than all this "corporate welfare" that corporations like Walmart get.

But it doesn't end there:

The CDC has previously estimated that one in 10 deaths of working-age Americans are caused by too much drinking.

Bloomberg

So a substance that is 100% legal in all 50 states, ingrained into our culture as "acceptable", celebrated, and glamorized is killing 10 percent of us and costing us billions ever year. If that wasn't bad enough, it's apparently on the rise:

The total cost of excessive drinking to the economy is rising. The last time the CDC made a similar calculation, excess drinking was blamed for $224 billion in costs, estimated for 2006. The increase, about 2.7 percent annually from 2006 to 2010, outpaced inflation.

We're slowly drinking ourselves to death. We're throwing back a solvent that kills organic material, made from rotting fruits and vegetables, and costing us all billions and killing a tenth of our population at the same time. Well done, America.

And it's all legal.

Good thing I don't drink. A long time ago, I wrote a paper on the effects of alcohol on society. It included the % of rapes, murders, child abuse, assaults, and domestic violence that alcohol has a role in. The numbers were staggering (and nope, I won't go look them up again ). Long story short, I'd much rather people be on cannabis than alcohol. Alcohol is an abomination & I literally don't allow it around me.

I don't use any drugs for obvious reasons. But I also don't care what substances people use, as long as the person causes no harm while using them (including the abomination alcohol). So I wouldn't mind my tax dollars being used to help people defeat or reduce their addictions. We need to focus less on punishment & more on rehabilitation anyway.

Did I miss something? How is this worldwide? I'm Russian living in Australia and all I see here is laws actually being tightened. And, as far as I know, there's been no changes in Russia, which happens to be a pretty big country with something 150 million strong population. I've noticed that Westerners often forget about the countries which aren't in the news all the time, like Tajikistan, or Mongolia, or Azerbaijan, and so on. And then there's Africa, and the rest of Asia. "Worldwide" means the whole world, not the USA, or even the West.

And what is this anyway? Some rich arsehole proclaiming defiance at Western drug laws? Great, he can add his voice to the thousands already agreeing with major reforms in drug policy.

In Australia it is getting ridiculous - I have to pay hundreds, into the thousands now, just to get the medication I need, which I have to get through a private source because of so many people abusing this. The drug is called dexamphetamine, which apparently has a high recreational potential, but from my experience, you can skull a few coffees to get the same effect. Pseudoephedrine is really great for congestion, but last time I tried to get some, I called up nearly every pharmacy in my local area before I eventually found one - ONE - which sold it. This is because of people breaking in and stealing pseudo boxes to make meth. Unfortunately it's also just really good for congestion. The drug laws in Australia seem a lot like prohibiting everything with even the slightest recreational potential. It took me a long time to obtain another medication I needed, not long after moving to Brisbane, because doctors flat-out did not prescribe it, or in one case, I was told I was "too young" (I'm 25). This was Serepax, which I take occasionally. You don't get high off it, if you take enough you'll go in a black-out which can be real scary because you'll wake up the next morning with no idea what you did the night before. Yeah, not much fun. If I want to get high, I smoke some pot. Here, doctors treat you like a junkie if you happen to need certain medications. I have known people who have been forced to go into detox because their doctor's gone away on leave or they've retired or the patient is newcomer to the city and even if you say you want your medical records transferred there, they still don't care, you'll still be treated like dirt.

Alright, I love living the West, Australia does have better conditions than Russia, so I try not to criticise. But I have to say this - I have noticed that quite a lot of Westerners put far too much faith in billionaires. I mean, it just seems like whenever some rich arsehole says something, a lot of people cling onto it. It's like... people underestimate their own power. Sure some people get into protests and things, but they're generally not taken very seriously. Many people, in various countries, have for long time now been saying that this war on drugs is stupid. This guy, this billionaire, he's not saying anything new. This attitude has been around for many years now.

a reply to: Granite

A Major Change in Drug Poliicy (Worldwide) I find that quite disturbing for these reasons.


A Cashless economy provides 100% traceability to you and only you and it will lead to automatic conviction.

A cashless economy means that you will never be able to keep your money anywhere other than in a bank. Perhaps that’s why they wrote those bail in laws.

They will be able to account for every single cent the state, an employer, friends, family or anyone else gives you and for each and every cent you ever spend. Each and every 'un-unauthorized' transaction will be known at the press of the enter key and you will have some explaining to do.

It enables a lifelong 100% accurate financial transaction history from cradle to grave. It also makes it impossible for you to do a bit of work for cash in the hand. Bartering will be outlawed and become a risky proposition.

Small denomination notes are intended to be a disincentive to use cash. Ever wonder why there no bigger notes than $100 notes? Given inflation over the years since the $100 note first came out, one would expect to a see $500 or even $1,000 notes getting about.

Cashless means you cannot ever keep your money under your bed and build a little reserve for crisis times.

Legalising street drugs will be the sign they are clearing the way for a cashless economy.

Welcome to their vision splendid ...... almost realised.