(Just a note that I have noticed this forum getting more and more political, and less and less conspiracy based. That said some of the discussions have been, mostly, reasonably well behaved and thoughtful, although I don't think anyone has convinced anyone else to switch sides either politically or environmentally, or even sexually. If this topic is a little too controversial for seabreeze so be it; lock this thread)

Richard Branson on the war on drugs and Portugal's decriminalisation approach:
http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/time-to-end-the-war-on-drugs

Personally I'm for decriminalisation, but with the caveat that not all cultures are the same and Australia might fare better or worse than Portugal.

Why I'm for it:

- The laws are there to protect the community, and they're arguably not working.
- The money would be better spent on drug prevention and education.
- Some of the allure is itself that drugs are illegal.
- Statistically alcohol is far worse than a lot of drugs.

and finally:

- The more effective the war on drugs is the greater the incentive for criminals, because the price and their profit goes up the more it succeeds (if they don't get caught). Any syndicate that is shut down is soon replaced with a more profitable one. The demand is always there. Drug cartels make serious money because it is illegal. All of this promotes corruption across the board.


I can, of course and from a lot of personal experience, understand why anyone is against lives being wrecked by drugs. I think we all agree on that. The question is what is the best way to achieve that, actually, in practice not theory. It's pretty hard to argue that criminalisation has worked.