Senator asks Department of Health for the evidence base supporting the criminalisation of personal drug possession.
Senator asks Department of Health for the evidence base supporting the criminalisation of personal drug possession.
byu/youbigfatmess inireland
by youbigfatmess
15 comments
If that’s who is leading the charge for legalisation it’s safe to say it will not happen in my life time.
British Columbia has come to a screeching halt on its three year pilot attempt of decriminalisation of small amounts of drugs after a year.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-26/british-columbia-rolls-back-drug-decriminalization-after-public-backlash
How the hell would a health professional have research into the criminalisation of drug possession. That is not their mandate.
Not a huge fan of hers but she was asking a pretty straightforward question and he could not provide an evidence based response.
Department of Healt.
Youse
When it comes to drugs policy, I start to like Ruane and then she does stuff like has utter meltdowns at invited experts like William Binchy and treats them like they’re on trial. Or posts “life hacks” on how to avoid wearing masks during COVID restrictions.
Personal yes but WHERE do they source the drugs from – surely this is the issue??
People who use drugs are part of the full circle of criminality that exists in the completely unregulated drugs world (from the unregulated labour at the source, the manufacturing, tax dodging, killings). Don’t kid yourself that you are not part of all of this if you choose drugs.
Since the law is already in place, surely the burden of evidence lies with her to prove that decimalising is the route to go. The person seeking the change should be providing the evidence.
Smoke and mirrors is their evidence base.
No professionalism, they just send in a parrot each time
Prob only gone over your time coz you weren’t getting a straight answer. Instead you had to keep asking while they danced around the answer
Dirty little secret – there is very little.
They could try this waffle 19 years ago, but we have pretty hard evidence from the likes of Portugal if talking about decriminalisation, and various countries when talking about the likes of marijuana legalisation, that this is not the case.
All they are achieving is making addicts scared to come forward and seek help, extra scared to call the authorities for something like an overdose as it occurs (and staying to try and help before the ambulance arrives), derailing their chances to reintegrate/get clean due to criminal convictions, and filling prisons to the point you can kick a homeless man to near death, knock a woman unconscious on cctv, be caught with tonnes of child porn, or rack up 100+ convictions and not have to go to prison because they have no spaces for you.
And on some level, many of them are very aware of this.
Just Google East Hastings street Vancouver to see what decriminalisation of drugs does to society
Why mention homelessness Etc? There are plenty of people in homes and employment that don’t want to be arrested for recreational drug use when they’re leading totally functional lives.
In fact, the only threat to their health would be the associated issues involved in losing their job due to an arrest.
Last time I checked the HSE don’t make our laws.
This is a blatantly stupid question.
Smoking anything is bad for you, taking cocaine does not bring health benefits, taking ecstasy isn’t going to help you.
Illegal drugs are unhealthy.
However, its up to you whether you mess yourself up with alcohol so why not leave it up to you with other substances.
Provide testing for a small fee to see if what your buying is safe(ish) , but highlight like cigarettes that it remains unhealthy.
There isn’t really a health benefits case for legalising any drugs (bar pain relief maybe) but there is a case whereby people are allowed to take personal responsibility for the damage it does to themselves without also making criminals of them for their choice once it impacts nobody else.