Coalition will not renew National Cannabis Prevention and Information

[Bazza]

I hope they do their new job properly. Ice is toxic and nothing but bad news. Problem is that no one will believe them because of the way they lied about canna.

[Sir PsychoHashy]

I hope they do their new job properly. Ice is toxic and nothing but bad news. Problem is that no one will believe them because of the way they lied about canna.

 

Couldn't agree more.  Part of the problem is that they approach issues like this from a political perspective, rather than a societal one, it's simply an opportunity to convince some people to vote for them, and quite often they will find ways to slip in benefits to their behind the scenes friends as an added bonus.  Meanwhile nothing constructive happens.

 

Massive bullshit lies and shock tactics convince a section of the public that it's being addressed seriously and aggressively, but where it matters those tactics backfire badly.  A teen faced with a decision about any drug (or risky activity for that matter) compares the over the top imagery and rhetoric to what they see happening with their peers and see a massive disconnect between the message and the reality, and have no intelligent choice but to discount the bullshit as being bullshit, so therefore the entire message is bullshit and the drug can't be bad.

 

Even the term "ice epidemic" isn't helpful, as the percentage of the population using it is very small (though probably growing), great for scaring the upper and middle classes though.  Meanwhile the poor bastards who do get caught up in it are left feeling ostracized from every part of society except the other addicts, and have no real or effective help available, absolutely fucking brilliant.

 

Addiction is a truly horrible thing, but at least we can trust our pollies to find ways to make it worse.

[justanidea]

Couldn't agree more.  Part of the problem is that they approach issues like this from a political perspective, rather than a societal one, it's simply an opportunity to convince some people to vote for them, and quite often they will find ways to slip in benefits to their behind the scenes friends as an added bonus.  Meanwhile nothing constructive happens.

 

Massive bullshit lies and shock tactics convince a section of the public that it's being addressed seriously and aggressively, but where it matters those tactics backfire badly.  A teen faced with a decision about any drug (or risky activity for that matter) compares the over the top imagery and rhetoric to what they see happening with their peers and see a massive disconnect between the message and the reality, and have no intelligent choice but to discount the bullshit as being bullshit, so therefore the entire message is bullshit and the drug can't be bad.

 

Even the term "ice epidemic" isn't helpful, as the percentage of the population using it is very small (though probably growing), great for scaring the upper and middle classes though.  Meanwhile the poor bastards who do get caught up in it are left feeling ostracized from every part of society except the other addicts, and have no real or effective help available, absolutely fucking brilliant.

 

Addiction is a truly horrible thing, but at least we can trust our pollies to find ways to make it worse.

 

Perfectly said! To often the public let politicians play with drugs policy as a political tool with no real desire to actually help but, rather to just look like they're being tough on it. Which is the single most stupid thing they could and are doing for this issue. No drug should be illegal as it doesn't help anyone from user to society more broadly and it's all a crock of shit and hysteria mixed into one which gives us what we have. Drugs would be so much safer in a regulated setting and these politicians know this.