We Need a New Legal System

[williat]

The law seem to be complex because it allows for broad interpretation and wide principles - every one is given a chance....well pick your lawyer

If the law was black and white - a lot o' good men would be hang.

I agree, I think it would need to be incorporated into a new Canadian legal system, not stolen from the British.

When ALL drugs were decriminalized in portugal...

Drug use among ALL age groups DECLINED.

HIV infections among all age groups DECLINED.

Deaths from drug use DECLINED.

And the number of those recieving treatment went THROUGH THE ROOF.

I believe it, people weren't thrown in jail for having drug issues they were given help. Makes sense really. Although what would this cost the taxpayers in support those treatment programs.

Do tell... lament... opine... while away the time in Dylan-esque dirges... indeed in 1960 it worked and a generation changed how they saw 'the system'.

But on this board we tend to talk about specifics. Let's focus on how to bring about change.

I, for one, am looking for a way to have people demand performance statistics for public services. Not sexy, not dreamy, not your mushroom-fueled utopia but if people only paid attention to a boring statistic or two, lives would be improved.

I too feel numbers speak louder than words.

I don't buy into that thinking just make it legal and the problem will go away...shit lets make murder legal, or rape, or for that matter all laws maybe there will be a large drop in our crime rates....does'nt mean it is going to make being a citizen any fun, but we will have low crime rates...I thought having laws was to protect the citizens...how is making crack, herion or any drug legal protecting us.

Look at the Netherlands, not much of an issue there, at least it provides an example that drugs can become legalized successfully, and their model shows that prostitution can also be regulated effectively. When you give an example like legalizing murder it sounds like your are laughing at the thought, but remember what legalizing drugs eliminates...legalizing murder wouldn't alleviate the "shady" side of murder, it would still be murder. Legalizing drugs & regulating drugs & taxing drugs, while also taking the "shady" side of the drug world out of the fold (i.e. Cartels). You provide people with a safe product at an affordable price that people get the choice to spend their money on. I mean we do it with alcohol and tobacco, it's common knowledge cigarretts cause lung cancer, which kills people, but its still legal, shit the only requirement is you have to be 18 or 19 in some places. Education is vital.

Youre emloying the broken "conventional wisdom" of the failed war on drugs.

Drug use went down because instead of throwing people in jail they helped them get treatment. Incarceration is an absolutely horrible way to treat drug addiction, and it almost never works. This is countries like the US and Canada that spend zillions on the failed war on drugs generally have among the highest rates of drug use.

If you decriminalize that activity and bring it out into the open then a lot of the problems go away and a lot people get treatment for their problems.

How does criminalization of those things help us? It creates a massive cash engine thats used to fuel organized crime, human trafficing, sexual slavery, extortion etc. It results in some of the highest rates of drug use on earth. Throwing recreational drug users in jail does the exact opposite of protecting us and instead it often makes them into more dangerous criminals by exposing them to a network of real criminals.

I agree with what you are saying in principle, however, if someone stole a TV because they were high I would still toss them in jail for their stupidity, but not because they were stoned.

In my books dependency is a form a slavery.

I sort of see what you're saying here. The rest of your post mostly just sounded like conspiracy theory.

Maybe it is time to consider Universal Judicial Care and place all lawyers on government retainers.

HAHA....

I am sure a dozen legal brains - or those that think have one - would disagree with you. However, it is strange when a non-violent criminal can get many years for white collar crime and a sex offender can get a few months.

What was that woman's name - from Calgary - she shot her husband in the back - six times and basically walked on self defence?

Bring back the lash

Borg

It's sad to say but I think most people would agree with this.