Pubdate: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 Source: Mirror, The (UK) Copyright: 2014 The Mirror Contact: http://www.mirror.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1161 Author: Carole Malone Page: 27 LEGAL DRUGS WILL DESTROY OUR KIDS My blood boils when I hear loony liberal politicians (I'm thinking Nick Clegg) and middle class do-gooders telling us that ALL drugs should be legalised. That heroin, crack cocaine and LSD should all be freely available - even to teenagers. Their argument is that if the State was in charge of the drugs industry instead of criminal gangs then the drugs wouldn't be toxic and fewer people would die. And there'll be more of that silly talk in the coming weeks thanks to a Home Office report trumpeted by Clegg - which claims punitive laws have no effect on curbing drug use. What, so do we just give up and legalise them? If we can't win the war on drugs do we just call it off? Do we do what we've done with other crimes we don't have the money or the will to police and just ignore them? One of the countries cited as an example of decriminalisation in this report was Portugal. They legalised drugs in 2001. But now we know the numbers of 15 and 16 year olds using drugs has doubled there since laws were relaxed. Which is a total no brainer. Then a bloke called Ian Birrell said on TV this week our Government spends billions of pounds on failed drugs policies. I'm sorry - unlike Portugal - our drugs policies aren't failing. Since 1996 the use of Class A drugs among 16 to 24 year olds has plummeted by 47 per cent and the use of Class B by 48 per cent. But commentators like Birrell still argue we should legalise them anyway because they're everywhere and people can take them whenever they want. Well, maybe in his world they can, but not in mine. I don't mix with people who shoot up every day or trip on LSD. Don't these lettuce-munching liberals realise millions of mums and dads all over Britain are fighting tooth and nail to keep their kids away from drugs? And even though many of these parents live on estates where gangs sell drugs openly they'll do whatever it takes to keep their kids away from them. Because they've seen what drugs can do. Unlike those middle-class liberals, they live among hordes of hopelessly addicted youngsters whose lives are over before they've even started. These parents don't want that for their kids. And they sure as hell don't want to be lectured on the "benefits" of legalisation by a bunch of jumped-up modernisers who've never even set foot on a council estate. Have we forgotten the World Health Organisation's recent 20-year study on cannabis which says this supposedly "soft" drug doubles the risk of schizophrenia and psychotic disorders, stunts intellectual development and doubles the risk of its users causing a car crash? So all those liberals who for years have been shouting that cannabis was perfectly safe were talking out of their backsides. And why is it these people always try to make those who object to legalisation look like out of touch fuddyduddies? Why do we listen when they scream that drugs laws are an abuse of our human rights? We need to be telling teenagers that smoking cannabis is like playing Russian roulette with your brain, not changing the law so they can pop down the Co-op and score an ounce. Yes, young people will always experiment with drugs but why make it easier? We need drugs laws because they make getting drugs just that bit harder. In fact, we need more than we currently have to criminalise those deadly legal highs which have killed 68 people this year. And imagine if they all legalised. The price would plummet and they'd be available to everyone including vulnerable 10- year-olds who'd buy them with their pocket money on the black market. I'm not saying kids should be given criminal records for experimenting. But every little relaxation of our drugs laws takes us one step closer to legalisation. And that would be catastrophic for generations of children whose minds will be ravaged with the full blessing of the State. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom