tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post2209801860823228128..comments2023-12-16T16:17:43.886+00:00Comments on Fr Ray Blake's Blog: Pope to drug addictsFr Ray Blakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05584140126211527252noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-52903639472783642852013-07-29T13:53:19.790+01:002013-07-29T13:53:19.790+01:00Drugs are complicated. We have methadone on prescr...Drugs are complicated. We have methadone on prescription just now and I know people who are having addiction problems with methadone. Part of me feels that it's being dished out for the benefit of others, ie so that the addict doesn't go out and steal and cause trouble, but very little is actually being done to cure the addict - they're simply addicted to another drug. We already have two legalised drugs in this country - alcohol and tobacco and between them they account for a huge number of deaths every year. Would legalising other drugs really help the addicts? I'm not sure it would - I think it's just going to become a problem in the same league as alcohol or tobacco. Anyway, interesting post.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18136359130004657909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-73663871485625191882013-07-26T12:20:20.064+01:002013-07-26T12:20:20.064+01:00I would be concerned that supplying addicts with d...I would be concerned that supplying addicts with drugs would be formal cooperation with an evil act.RJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13871618901190898384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-30192138915803075212013-07-26T08:25:09.441+01:002013-07-26T08:25:09.441+01:00Although this is a serious subject I couldn't ...Although this is a serious subject I couldn't resist a smile when I saw your headline, in which the word 'drug' appeared at first as a verb: Pope to administer opiates to addicts.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06908070025869221948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-32805482904154820972013-07-26T07:08:31.415+01:002013-07-26T07:08:31.415+01:00Taking the "prophet" out of drug supplyi...Taking the "prophet" out of drug supplying would cut off the supply from those areas of the world where fostering the drug addiction of the West is seem as a means of weakening the infidel, It is indeed a potent means of ideological warfare. Frederick Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06106669441369527118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-37707186874849192822013-07-26T06:12:34.113+01:002013-07-26T06:12:34.113+01:00In the end the stuff grows on trees. I would legal...In the end the stuff grows on trees. I would legalise posession of the lot which would put the cartels out of business as they would be available and taxed,just as tobacco is. <br /><br />I would instead criminalise causing a nuisance or danger while under influence of drugs with the offenders sent to a secure rehabilitation centre not a prison.<br /><br />I suspect if it was legal much of the allure to the young would disappear. Remember what happened to CB radio when it was legalised, it virtually vanished.Gungariushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06148025539041279321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-78057899372406288862013-07-25T21:11:21.748+01:002013-07-25T21:11:21.748+01:00I was talking to a drug addict who had just comple...I was talking to a drug addict who had just completed a short term in gaol and he said it was the best thing that ever happened to him because he came out with a list of contacts that he would never have got; he would probably have done just the same if he'd been sent to Hospital.<br /><br />Nobody really knows what to do about the problem in a civilised waynickbrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18412418782531527758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-36811402362879855722013-07-25T16:37:05.626+01:002013-07-25T16:37:05.626+01:00The Portuguese system sounds very like what I unde...The Portuguese system sounds very like what I understand to have been the system in the UK until 1971. It was very successful, I believe, with use of opiates restricted to a few hundred "therapeutic addicts" (people who had become addicted following the prescription of opiates as heavy-duty painkillers). There is an argument, at least that criminalisation of an activity perceived as undesirable as "crime" will attract criminals. This was, I believe, the case with the USA's prohibition of alcohol.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16365402242052425654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-74332545033961791692013-07-25T16:26:07.892+01:002013-07-25T16:26:07.892+01:00Frankly, I would be happy for the most draconian o...Frankly, I would be happy for the most draconian of punishments for organisers of drug distribution. <br />It is very short sight to see in terms of those on the street or involved in low level crime, what the Pope had to say about dependence is important but there are massive organisations behind each fix.<br /><br />The initial results of the Portuguese experiment are positive a reduction in drug use, whether this continues is unknown but as most crime in a city like Brighton is drug (or alcohol) related there are knock ons.Fr Ray Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05584140126211527252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-39498512083698564652013-07-25T15:42:56.874+01:002013-07-25T15:42:56.874+01:00"It takes the prophet out of it."
Peace..."It takes the prophet out of it."<br /><br />Peace be upon him... ;)<br /><br />I am in two minds about decriminalization, Fr. While it might remove the junkies from the orbit of organized crime, the signal that this would give to society would be very deleterious. We live in a world where most people's sense of right and wrong extends no further than the question "Is it legal or not?" We have seen how the decriminalization of homosexuality in the 1960's has led to the perversion of our country with recent legislation.<br /><br />If drugs were decriminalized it could well lead to increased casual use by many more people - some of whom would then go on to become addicts with all the attendant social problems that produces.<br /><br />Getting "out of your head" will always be evil no matter what the law says about it, however, I admit that not all sin can be, or should be, controlled by the criminal law.<br /><br />Perhaps it would be sensible for objective studies to be done on the outcomes of the Portuguese experiment, before other countries rush to judgment either way. Even if we did go down that route it would be objectionable in the extreme if the narcotics were subsidized by taxpayers through the NHS.Deacon Augustinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-430860508928678902013-07-25T15:02:46.361+01:002013-07-25T15:02:46.361+01:00Opting to take a drug in the first place is a choi...Opting to take a drug in the first place is a choice; a choice made easier to reject if drug-taking is criminalised.<br /><br />Wilful self-annihilation - which covers both the use of these drugs and suicide - is a sin. Drug addicts are victims to some extent; but they are also criminals and sinners. They are only enslaved to drugs because they have wittingly chosen that path.<br /><br />If you use the law to make it easier to resist the temptation to get into drugs in the first place, it stands to reason that you will have fewer drug addicts. As the law presently stands, it hammers drug dealers (at least in theory), but leaves users virtually untouched; where there is demand, someone will be willing to run the risk to supply it. Punish drug <i>use</i> and you will drive drug suppliers out of business.<br /><br />Pope Francis is bang on on this one, I believe.<br /><br />Thomas Woodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08980801293936196097noreply@blogger.com