Australian Politics Forum - Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA

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Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Oct 4^th, 2009 at 9:10pm

The immoral war on drugs is costing Australian taxpayers $4.7 billion annually.

Herald commentator, Michael Duffy compiled the figure in response to a growing interest in the economic consequences of the war on drugs launched by president Nixon in 1971

"It gets interesting when you try to do a cost-benefit analysis on the prohibition. Basically, there aren't any benefits." - (quote from the article)

Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-cost-of-the-war-on-drugs-20091002-ggiw.html

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Also today, retired Seattle police chief and spokesman for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Norm Stamper, is speaking at the
Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House

Mr. Stamper presents authoritative and compelling arguments for decriminalisation

Article:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/make-drugs-legal-says-former-us-police-chief-2009...

VIDEO:Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper on Ending the Drug War

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1MBrUMauak

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Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 41798 Gender:	Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA Reply #1 - Oct 4^th, 2009 at 9:17pm i agree, the illegality of some drugs causes more damage than those drugs themselves. i am not pro-drugs i am pro-people and pro-cops.
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eRepDart New Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 7	Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA Reply #2 - Feb 25^th, 2010 at 12:58pm money should go to charity
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Happy

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #3 - Feb 25^th, 2010 at 2:45pm

Problem is, people can have small quantities of drugs, can use them but importation, production and selling is illegal.

So our rules are half serious half joke.

Probably time to make switch, make it legal to produce, import and sell but illegal to use and anybody testing positive to drugs would be jailed.

Since first method did not work we might have a look what this one can do.

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Sprintcyclist Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 41798 Gender:	Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA Reply #4 - Feb 25^th, 2010 at 3:21pm the laws are ineffective and cost lives. same as the prohibition on alcohol was
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Annie Anthrax

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #5 - Feb 25^th, 2010 at 3:53pm

Drugs like Ice increase the likelihood that users will commit a violent or sexual crime. We need stronger laws on drugs like these - especially for manufacturers, importers and dealers. Studies show that 35% of methamphetamine users have committed a violent crime, and that half of that percentage had never been charged with violence before they started using.

I have no problem with legalising marijuana, but Ice and drugs in the same category? No way.

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fawkes

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #6 - Feb 26^th, 2010 at 10:29pm

Never mind about the war on drugs costing Australian taxpayers $4.7 billion annually... consider the even worse harm it does by introducing otherwise harmless people to the criminal element in gaols, not to mention the loss of respect for the law nationwide resulting from government failure to differentiate between truly harmful drugs and the rather benign.

People enjoy pleasure; it is one of the requirements most people have for enjoyment of life. Sex and drugs provide the most intense pleasure most people ever experience. I have a theory that one reason people are turning more to drugs now is the difficulty government and its laws place in the way of a human body finding sufficient satisfying sex. Count them up. Looking at someone you like can result in a charge of stalking. Family court provisions that can financially ruin a man in case of marriage breakup make men more wary of marriage. Meanwhile, others who would very much like to marry are prevented from doing so. Paranoia surrounding sex with bodies biologically well capable of sex but under a randomly determined legal age keeps lots of people from enjoying sex that in most cases would be utterly harmless. The idea that a married man will be satisfied sexually with just one partner for the rest of his life is a delusion. You can see evidence for these claims in the scandals over sex whipped up in the mass media, in the blossoming industry of counsellors and legal professionals surrounding divorce and family court cases, in the glut of TV sex programs continually bringing the antics of desperate housewives and the like continually into our homes, and occasionally in films such as Lolita and Samson and Delilah. Primitive cultures, and even our own culture many years ago were not surrounded by all these restrictions, but it is little surprise that people today need to look elsewhere for their pleasure.

If we could find a lawyer clever enough to bring a class action on behalf of all of us who have suffered loss of enjoyment of life, politicians past and present would have a lot to answer for.

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Amadd

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #7 - Feb 27^th, 2010 at 1:25am

Laws are created against the most basal of human desires in order to usurp control. There's really no secret there.
The lawmakers don't live by those laws, but they insist that their puppet governments do so in order to set an example for what is expected of their real workers "the plebs". The governments aren't very good at taking instruction, the plebs are far better at taking instruction up thu cakehole.
We (thu plebs) are far far better at taking instruction up thu cakehole than at any other time in history.
Give yourselves a big clap and a dildo up thu cakehole. Congrats.i

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Hlysnan

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #8 - Feb 27^th, 2010 at 9:04pm

fawkes wrote on Feb 26^th, 2010 at 10:29pm:

Never mind about the war on drugs costing Australian taxpayers $4.7 billion annually... consider the even worse harm it does by introducing otherwise harmless people to the criminal element in gaols, not to mention the loss of respect for the law nationwide resulting from government failure to differentiate between truly harmful drugs and the rather benign.

Those "harmless people" deserve it for thinking that they are above the law. I have no sympathy for them. Most of the drugs that are restricted by the government cause detrimental long term effects to the body and in many cases, a decreased brain function. Do we really want this to exist in our community and have our children exposed to these substances? I think not.

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fawkes

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #9 - Feb 28^th, 2010 at 9:33pm

Hlysnan wrote on Feb 27^th, 2010 at 9:04pm:

Those "harmless people" deserve it for thinking that they are above the law. I have no sympathy for them.

Are you one of the people who believe all laws to be perfect? That they are so perfect they will not be changed tomorrow? That they must always be obeyed, no matter what good can come from disregarding them? Personally, I believe that laws are studded with numerous faults and omissions, being no better than the flawed system that invents them. Because of that, I believe it's quite reasonable for people to question the law in particular situations, if that's what you mean by people thinking themselves above the law.

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Hlysnan

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #10 - Mar 1^st, 2010 at 1:39pm

If people want to question the law, they can do it by lobbying politicians for the law to be changed. Or, if the opinion is such that is nowhere near mainstream politics, then creating a political party would be the better option. I don't accept people engaging themselves in criminal activity to be a legitimate way of "questioning the law".

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fawkes

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #11 - Mar 1^st, 2010 at 2:46pm

Hlysnan wrote on Mar 1^st, 2010 at 1:39pm:

If people want to question the law, they can do it by lobbying politicians for the law to be changed. Or, if the opinion is such that is nowhere near mainstream politics, then creating a political party would be the better option.

A fine waste of time that has proved for everyone I know. Are you able to quote me one single success story?

I think you need to read and digest what Amadd wrote above: "Laws are created against the most basal of human desires in order to usurp control. There's really no secret there. The lawmakers don't live by those laws, but they insist that their puppet governments do so in order to set an example for what is expected of their real workers"

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« Last Edit: Mar 1^st, 2010 at 2:54pm by fawkes »

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Hlysnan

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #12 - Mar 2^nd, 2010 at 8:19pm

Even though Pauline Hanson's "success" was short lived, many of her policies were adopted by the government, which had politically shifted after her dramatic entrance into politics. There is also the independent senator, Nick Xenophon, and the FF senator, Steve Fielding, who hold significant influence over the balance of power in the senate.

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fawkes

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #13 - Mar 3^rd, 2010 at 1:35pm

Hlysnan wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2010 at 8:19pm:

Even though Pauline Hanson's "success" was short lived, many of her policies were adopted by the government

If you are offering Pauline as an example of success in politics, perhaps you need to ask her for an opinion. Having every major party plus the media join up to condemn her destroyed her political career and prevented her from achieving just about everything she wanted to accomplish. The fact that "many of her policies were adopted by the government" goes a long way towards indicating that her policies were not the disastrous calamity that her enemies had portrayed.

Hlysnan wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2010 at 8:19pm:

There is also the independent senator, Nick Xenophon, and the FF senator, Steve Fielding, who hold significant influence over the balance of power in the senate.

Both of whom, I suggest, have had no effect at all on eliminating the Immoral War On Drugs that this thread started off about.

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Hlysnan

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Re: Immoral War On Drugs Costs Aust $4.7 billion PA
Reply #14 - Mar 3^rd, 2010 at 6:41pm

The point is that Hanson's presence at Canberra actually shifted the views of the government, and so she was successful. She might not have gone as far as she wanted, but she had a significant impact. Also, whether Xenophon or Fielding oppose the "immoral" war on drugs is irrelevant, because I am noting the success of individuals in changing the law.

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