After the Drug Wars
Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy, February 2016

(PDF, 140 pages)


http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/publications/reports/pdf/LSE-IDEAS-After-the-Drug-Wars.pdf





Ending the Drug Wars
Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy, May 2014

(84 pages, PDF)


https://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/publications/reports/pdf/LSE-IDEAS-DRUGS-REPORT-FINAL-WEB.pdf

It would be truly amazing if intelligent people doing well researched analysis of the current abolitionist policies were listened to but it seems that narrow minded, prejudiced viewpoints always win out. It makes me depressed to think about it

Things do change - for the better or for the worse - but they don't seem to have much to do with logic. The entheogenic revolution is a real possibility for civilization as it now stands but it's largely blocked by blockheads. I feel a rant coming on about the mindlessness of mass media, the stupidity of the political classes and the true horrors of the drug pushing pharmaceutical companies.

i demand drug war crime tribunals at the hague.
if they exceed the nuremburg trials, ill be pleased.

then we hunt down every last perp, dog and helicopter, globally.

dont close guantanimo .........
expand it into high rise prisons like the NYC skyline!

To be honest, I don’t care for any entheogenic revolution. I have been working with psychedelics (I don’t believe in the term entheogen, I am not a spiritual person) for nearly 25 years. The law has never stopped me doing anything.

The serious issue is the amount of damage done to mankind as a whole by prohibition and a lack of recognition of the root causes of drug problems in those that suffer them. Thousands of people are not being slaughtered yearly in Mexico because of psychedelics. Of the hundreds of thousands of people locked up worldwide for production, sale, possession and consumption of drugs, very few are there for psychedelics. We have very much larger issues to deal with than our tiny minority who wish to make changes to our cognition and view of reality.

I do not subscribe to the utopian view that psychedelics will change the world for the better. I have known hundreds of people who have delved and got very little. To most they are just another substance to play with, they will go merrily on their way to being regular members of society, holding down jobs in factories, offices and on the land. Not questioning much. Watching TV and going down the pub at the weekends. There is nothing wrong with that.

As I said, our issues lie more with other drugs. We need to get a hold of our many issues with drugs such as heroin, cocaine, cannabis, etc, etc. What I believe is needed is a pragmatic approach that accepts that some people will take any of the vast array of psychoactive substances. Most drug use is not problematic, or only problematic in the short term. Some will have major issues, some will be be left with not much of a life as a result, some will die.

What are the root causes of problematic drug use? How can we ease the suffering? How can we remove control of supply from criminals who do not care for users of their products, or the world they live in? Why is life so bad for many that many feel they need a cocoon to hide from reality in? Why is life so bad that a large percentage of our population suffer from mental health issues that make day-to-day life difficult, or even impossible?

As far as I can see the root causes are unlikely to be dealt with in our lifetimes, or at all. Humans just aren’t that nice that they care about anyone. We are inherently selfish, we can at the very least take a pragmatic view of substance use and accept what is plainly obvious. People take drugs. They can be controlled and the world’s population can be safer if we move away from the current free-for-all and non-regulation we have at the moment.

We are seeing change currently. I don’t see much movement soon, but we are edging toward it with wider acceptance of cannabis.

^ and that also

well said d*l*b...........

Excellent post, d*l*b*.

We ARE chugging along forward. When I was a young pup, smoking the weeds, we'd pontificate and ruminate in the possible future in which my pals and I might live. To be honest, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would one day be able to purchase pot above counter in a store. Now I can.

I'm having coffee this morning at my n'hood hippy cafe, and looking out the window I see two "green cross" establishments. One where you pay a small cover over to share and partake of marijuana products-a cannabis "cafe". The other is a recreational dispensary.

This time last year, we had no idea how this would play out, now, my state is loading up with new taxable revenue, there's an entire new industry growing from the ground up- farm to shelf, that's a lot of different job producing entities being involved. But they write a really good measure here in Oregon that ensured those of us who carried and waved that flag for SOOOO many years are able to reap the profits for the industry they built.

As said above it's not psychedelics causing this:


I know many of you don't live in such a wonderful home state like my beautiful beloved soggy ass Oregon (there's a reason we love our beer, weed and women here) but if we can do it here, y'all can do it down south too.