The role of the Law vs the Police

[pipeman]

I sometimes hear the words from polititions when talking about drug law reform to the tune of "the softening/decriminalisation of drugs would send the wrong message to the community". Does this mean that some laws are largely symbolic? This logic can be used to justify laws which are clearly ineffective, as are most laws against drugs.

 

With this being the case it is then the responsibility of the police to determine the degree to which different laws are policed and enforced. So really, the policies/attitudes of the police are often more important than what the actual laws are in terms of how it effects the average citizen/victim.

 

So what say does the public have in terms of selection criteria for police officers and their senior leaders/management? Virtually none, and that is a big problem IMO. In countries where significant cannabis law reform has been achieved such as Holland and Canada there has been grass roots support from the police community. A lot of the time this support exists not because the police agree with drug use, but because they can see through personal experience that the war on drugs is a waste of resources that does more harm than good. And in fact the health dangers of many drugs could be more effectively controlled if drugs were decriminalised. So common sense suggests that even if you are against drugs, you should support decriminalisation.

 

Its a pipedream I know, but if we could somehow influence the culture of the police force over time this would be of more benefit than lobbying the polititions for law reform IMO.

Edited November 8, 2006 by pipeman

[everest]

it's the politions that need to influence the police at first i think , thats what happened in the uk . they bring the debate into the open and can challenge with the argument .... waste of time , waste of money .... lets decriminilize the soft drug , because it's insane to put millions of people through the courts ... for them to pay the fines & re - offend again . sensless imo .

 

i think it was david blunkett ? the blind mp for sheffield that spelt it out for the cops .... perhaps we need to put our faith in to trying to make the government follow the uk's lead , don't know how thats going to happen though , every cunts bent in oz including the cops

 

ev

[Budman2012]

Yeh , You have a decent point Pipeman ...

But I think Ev is right ... supposedly the police are regulated by government , and even more supposedly , the government is regulated by the people ...

This being the case ... as long as people beleive it to be truth .. we will never get anywhere .. and sorry to be a downer (No not a foreign Minister!) ... but We are stuck with this shit ... our Freedoms will become less and less over the coming years ... you don't have to be able to be Phsychic to know this ...

It's Either a Genocidal war or conforming to the "Rules" ... The Classic Sci-fi Writers had the gist ... We are in for some serious reform in the coming years .. and theres not a damn thing anyone can do unless Voilence comes into the equation ... if there is , I'd like to know how that would be ...

If anyone thinks I'm exaggerating ... Then please feel free to correct me and point out what exactly can be done in these dire times ...

 

Now george bush is gonna be no longer in total Power of the American War machine ... maybe It won't go to shit so quickly now ... But who knows .. that crazy cunt could decide to launch Nukes before he goes .. just to show us all that America is the boss

 

Well Ha! , He's not gonna be the leader of the New World Order now .. fucken Scumbag .. worthless peice of genetical mutation ..

 

Ahem .. o.k. that feels better now ...

 

Budman

 

(Fuck The Corporate War Pigs!)

[Indycar]

We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled for the next National Drug Summit (i think thats the name of it) on December the 12th. I did hear NSW Premier Lemma is going to push for a crackdown on this ice the kids are into nowadays. That could go either way for us potheads, i'd guess. Either MJ may have it's benefits seen and let off the hook a bit, or it may just get bundled up with the rest of it again and continue this useless "War on Drugs".

[Gruntus]

Drugs are bad m'kay..

 

When it comes to methamphetamines I've found that cannabis usually gets roped in one way or another. In SA the new saliva-based testing units were designed to detect meths & cannabis (tho' they never call it cannabis - still preferring that leftover from the WR Hearst smear campaigns of the 20's - MARIJUANA!). I still regularly hear mention of cannabis use as a "gateway drug" in relation to ice or heroin - another memorable take from cannabis' long and grisly history of prohibition. Perhaps this is just Adelaide tho' - a one paper town with a conservative majority...

 

Once again the only hope any of us has is to be loud & proud.

 

OT - noticed that Marc Emery has a list of all canabis scumbag politicians for the US elections here. Maybe we need to start compiling something like that through OzStonerz..

[Ruen]

Iagree with budmans status a majority of the australian public dont want cannabis to be legalized even if it is out of their own ignorance.

 

 

i cant wait for the day that we have "ascended" all knowing politicians then we wouldnt have these problems because atleast theyd understand