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| A Timely Warning |
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Posted by FoM on June 17, 2001 at 09:32:28 PT Police point the way on drugs debate Source: The Observer 
In the London policing area of Lambeth, Commander Brian Paddick is pioneering a scheme which might help address the pervasive problem of drugs supply. Those found in possession of cannabis for personal use will have it confiscated by the police and will be warned but not prosecuted. As long as the drugs are destroyed, as the police promise, and not merely recycled, this could be a first substantive step in undermining Britain's massive drugs economy. People will not want to buy drugs in Lambeth and its 'town centre', Brixton, because they are likely to lose them. However, they will not be criminalised and hours of police time spent in processing minor offenders will be saved. If Mr Paddick, tipped as a future Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is successful, his scheme could lead to pressure for change throughout Britain. It is truly refreshing to find senior police officers moving one step ahead of our sclerotic political process rather than their customary two paces behind. But if Mr Paddick's approach appears courageous, it is partly a reflection of the pusillanimity of British politicians about drugs. A year after Dame Ruth Runciman's lengthy inquiry into our drugs laws, some of its key recommendations - particularly that cannabis be reclassified from a Class B to a Class C drug, thus meriting the treatment it will now receive in Lambeth - have been ignored. In the meantime, Britain still has a huge drugs underworld. Most efforts to control it are focused on legions of small-time users of cannabis rather than the criminal gangs behind the distribution of highly dangerous substances such as heroin and crack cocaine. We now have a golden opportunity to debate drugs in a mature way. There are at least four years to go until the next general election. The Conservatives, many of whom are always willing to make cheap political capital out of the issue, are currently hamstrung. And in David Blunkett, we have a new Home Secretary of avowedly illiberal instincts on social issues such as single mothers and gay relationships. It may be that he is able to look more easily at Britain's drugs problem and persuade sceptical middle Britain to take some first steps out of the morass. Sadly, it is all too likely that politicians will resist the opportunity to address the drugs issue seriously. If they do, they will have no one to blame but themselves for a continuance of the pitiful disconnection from the political process that young people demonstrated so powerfully by staying at home in their millions on polling day. Source: Observer, The (UK) Related Articles: Special Report: Drugs in Britain 30,000 Attend Cannabis Festival Yard Relaxes Approach To Cannabis Offences Police Take Flexible Stance With Cannabis Users Police Take Soft Line On Cannabis Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #7 posted by Neil on June 18, 2001 at 07:08:30 PT |
| Marijuana is legal in the United States. The Federal laws that regulate it in violation of the ninth and tenth Amendments in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution are ILLEGAL. To what lengths would the Founding Fathers wish us modern men and women to go in order to restore the Blessings of Liberty for which they fought, sacrificed and often died? Yes, there are illegal federal laws prohibiting using the postal service to mail marijuana into the United States but at a gram per envelope, what sort of case could be made especially if there were millions of free Americans doing it. I'm pretty sure this diffused pipeline would be the best technique for overthrowing illegal fascist authority in America without the necessity of risking the sort of collateral damage that using the techniques of McVeigh caused. It liberates Americans from the risks of cultivation and bulk shipment and sales and places everyone in the more lenient category of "possession" although if done correctly they're continuously and satisfyingly in possession of a gram. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by Randøm_ on June 18, 2001 at 06:42:58 PT |
| Indeed the US mail will bump ya up into the federal penal (or should I say penile ... bad joke) arena. It's called drug trafficking, within the states it's interstate and if from overseas, you'll be treated like a drug kingpin by the feds, being an international drug trafficker. To successfully do this there are so many precautions I'd suggest you take, but at risk of that building the curiosity ... I'll just say be safe. What you do is up to you, but please weigh the risks wisely. a past casualty of the WoD, Randøm_ [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by Anonymous on June 18, 2001 at 03:35:37 PT |
| Small amounts won't protect you. Using the US mail bumps you up into the Federal crime bracket regardless of the amount. You will be in deep trouble if they catch you. Be careful! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by Neil on June 17, 2001 at 15:52:52 PT |
| On a recent visit to Amsterdam, the real land of the free, I purchased a small amount of marijuana at one of the many coffee shops, cleaned it, pressed it within a small plastic bag to the similar size and weight of a credit card and mailed to myself in the United States via regular mail. I took no precautions concerning scent concealment although I'm sure it would be easy enough to do and it arrived to me in California without any problem. My modest usage stretched the small amount through to a month of enjoyment. I can easily envision having an agent in Amsterdam regularly sending similar small packets on a regular basis. Metering supply to meet my own personal demand, I would never have too much on hand to be prosecuted for in the event the government chose to be offended by my indifference to the laws they've erected in direct violation of the ninth and tenth amendments to the United States Constitution. Also, I would be bypassing local black marketeers with unreliable supplies and unreliable discretion and very unreliable personal character. Currently, the problem of marijuana supply in America is caused by bulk shipment with too few people holding too much of the commodity. Users tend to buy too much for fear of a drought of supply. Smoking marijuana is fine but the worst aspect of it is when you involunatarily lose a source of its supply. More who want to smoke it would smoke it if they knew they had a reliable, discreet and honest broker. The pipeline of pot into the United States should be diffuse rather than concentrated. Small postal pipelines from very many Dutch brokers rather than the chaos that now exists. We're behind fascist enemy lines trying to organize resistance to those who have betrayed our constitution in the name of something evil and mostly undefinable. Free persons in The Netherlands hear our plea and adopt individual American patriots by serving as their individual suppliers of small packets of marijuana. It is in this way that we topple the fascist heirarchy by making their illegal laws irrelevant. There is no need for you to metaphorically land at Omaha beach or capture the Bridge at Arnhem or defeat the fascists during their great final offensive in the Ardenne Forest at the Battle of the Bulge. You Dutch have it much easier. You can defeat the American Fascists simply by taking a few minutes out of your weekly schedule to place a small amount of pressed marijuana into an envelope and mailing it to your adopted resistance fighter in the United States. Pairing Dutch resistors with American resistors? Does anyone have any suggestions? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Anonymous on June 17, 2001 at 13:01:41 PT |
| Spot on, Doug. The new policy of giving warnings instead of sticking marijuana users with a criminal record was put into place by then Home Secretary Jack Straw - whose son had just been busted with weed. If the War On Drugs was prosectued against the wealthy and powerful to the same extent as it is against the poor and weak, it would end tomorrow. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Doug on June 17, 2001 at 12:06:15 PT |
| As long as the drugs are destroyed, as the police promise, and not merely recycled, this could be a first substantive step in undermining Britain's massive drugs economy. Yeah, right. This is well intentioned (and we all know what the road to Hell is paved with) but it won't work. It will do nothing to stop the illegal market in drugs, because the buying and selling of said drugs is illegal. Perhaps one could grow them, but that is still illegal. What this will do is prevent the sons and daughters of the middle and upper classes of England from having a criminal record that may harm them in their future advancement in society. But perhaps this action will cause people to think more widely about the harms of the Drug War, and to realize that radical -- that is, dealing with root causes -- action must be taken to eliminate the harms endemic to the War on Drugs. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by Robbie on June 17, 2001 at 12:06:13 PT |
I like this article. I agree with the drug law reform nature of the sentiment, and the writer's insistence that politicians are way out of step. However, this next statement bears some scrutiny: As long as the drugs are destroyed, as the police promise, and not merely recycled, this could be a first substantive step in undermining Britain's massive drugs economy. Do what? How does this writer think that "destroying" drugs, on the spot, will somehow lessen the drug trade, or change the dealers attitudes about Brixton? Does this person think that seized drugs are eventually sent back to the street? Now, I know there are some bad apples who will remove drugs from the property rooom and try to re-sell them, but that can't be the majority of police. Drugs are, either, warehoused in a property room until they're destroyed, or destroyed outright. Destroying them will not curtail their distribution and use. People will not want to buy drugs in Lambeth and its 'town centre', Brixton, because they are likely to lose them. Remember, only users lose drugs. Cops just take them away. [ Post Comment ] |
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