Island to ban legal drug imports

Quote - "As for alcohol you are quite right it does cause more problems but it
is legal and is a point that has been discussed before, if it was
invented today it would be banned. That is something we have to live
with."

The reason alcohol is legal is because it is taxable same as ciggerettes.
The government makes so much from them that they wont ban it because they would loose stupid amounts of money.
If legal highs were taxed you could make back the money spent on treatment for addicts and have double that spare.

Following the previous posts from Charli I think she should take a look at this link and then ask "is the chance worth it"

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Legal-Highs-Hester-Stewart-Died-Taking-GBL-Mum-Maryon-Angry-Home-Office-Not-Banning-Drugs-Faster/Article/200912415506784?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15506784_Legal_Highs%3A_Hester_Stewart_Died_Taking_GBL_Mum_Maryon_Angry_Home_Office_Not_Banning_Drugs_Faster

The first known death from a drug popular with clubbers has emerged the day the government banned it.
Toxicologists in London found that a 25-year-old man died hours after taking GBL on its own while out clubbing.
Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, they said the man was found unconscious by his partner who had tried to resuscitate him.
The drug is among a list of so-called "legal highs" banned on Wednesday amid growing evidence of their harm.
The report in the journal details how the man had been previously fit and healthy - but had returned home from a night out in 2008 "acting strangely".
When the ambulance arrived, the crew continued attempts to resuscitate the man. There were further attempts to revive him when he reached hospital, but he died from a prolonged cardiac arrest.
Writing before the ban came into force, the team said that the man's post-mortem revealed the presence of GBL in his body - but no sign of alcohol or any other drug.
Once in the body, chemical reactions turn GBL into another drug, GHB, which has been banned since 2003.
The post-mortem found that the quantity of GBL in the man's body was consistent with the amount seen in previous fatal overdoses involving GHB.
Student death
Dr Paul Dargan, of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London, wrote: "There are numerous reported fatalities related to GHB ingestion.

Student Hester Stewart died after taking GBL and alcohol

"However, although there has been media coverage of potential GBL-related fatalities in the UK, there have only been three previous reports of GBL-related fatality, two in Germany and one in the USA.
"We report here the first case of a fatality related to isolated GBL toxicity in the UK, which we feel supports the case for classifying GBL similar to that of GHB."
GBL is used in the chemical industry and appears in cleaning products, solvents and paints.
The doctors wrote that medical records showed that there had been recent increases in the number of patients suffering overdoses caused by GBL - almost certainly caused by the fact that GHB had been made a controlled drug in 2003.
The Home Office decision to ban GBL and other "legal highs" came after a recommendation from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and a campaign by the family of 21-year-old Hester Stewart.
The Brighton medical student died in April after taking GBL and drinking alcohol. Her parents lobbied the government to ban the drug saying they could not understand why it was banned for personal use in the US and Canada, but not in the UK. (from BBC)

Alcohol and smoking causes deaths 100's of them, dont see them geting banned

Can't afford the revenue loss,can they.
Ban alchohol and fags.legalise pot.Still some people will react badly etc BUT Less hospitalisation,less fights,less hassle.

bug1 wrote:Can't afford the revenue loss,can they.
Ban alchohol and fags.legalise pot.Still some people will react badly etc BUT Less hospitalisation,less fights,less hassle.

Simple Me and Bug 1 what exceedingly poorly thought out posts. Think rationally about what you have written.

Bug 1 I do agree with your sentiment about less hospitalisation, fights etc and Simple me I would love to see cig's banned but stop and think how you would ban two of the biggest money spinners in the world. How many breweries, vineyards, distilleries are there with how many people making an honest living in those industries. What about the spin off industries of bottle making, cork and cap supply, close them down would put a strain on the job market and the financial market. Balance how many drink responsibly and socially against the idiots.

It is easy to shout "ban alcohol and fags" this forum has stated many times before they are too entrenched to ban they can only be controlled, but new menaces can be banned.

Plimmerton

You should be called Mr Kipling, an exceedingly bad post.

Forget pot, forget any other illegal high, there's hundreds of people in town pissed out of their heads tonight having "a good time".

Would you rather be amongst them or amongst a crowd of "stoned" people? I know my preference...........

Techno' so what are you asking would I rather be with potheads or piss heads. That has to be another topic.

Above we were talking about banning booze and fags and all I have pointed out is why we can not ban either only control them but we can ban new products that have the potential to cause problems such as legal highs.

So please explain how the post is bad, unless of course not agreeing with you constitutes a bad post? Perhaps you can explain how we would go about banning booze and cig's or do you work on the basis if one bad product is legal then all bad products should be legal.

Why couldn't booze and/or fags be banned? It obviously wouldn't work, but then again it doesn't work with any single substance that is banned.
How can a man who was in charge of the company that has imported more booze and fags into the island than any other (and is therefore responsible for more drug related deaths than any other) end up as a Jurat, sitting in judgement of people accused of importing far less harmful substances?

Oh yeah, that's right, because what he did was perfectly legal. Because people like you think it's impossible for it to be made illegal.

I think I explained why they can't be banned. Okay, how do you make it illegal? You have already made it quite clear that you, like myself, think it would not work so in effect you defeat you're argument.

So explain hyperthetically how you can take products that are accepted by nearly all walks of life in mainstream society and ban it. I said earlier there would not be a will because of the sheer scale of production for just alcohol. Banning alcohol would probably cause more damage to the financial structure in communities than having to treat alcohol related incidents.

To answer your question on the importer, easy, he imported legal substances, he adjudicates on illegal substances. We are looking at what is legal and illegal not what is morally right and wrong. as a Jurat he does not make the rules just applies a laymans knowledge to the evidence presented.