Roisin - at work so will comment later!

Lots of people get their natural highs from surfing etc and then go to the pub or quite often smoke a few joints or more. More often than not the people who enjoy sports like surfing, skate kids, musicians all enjoy a smoke or more..

I also quote Bill Hicks to you in regard to your reference to music..

If you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, then go home and burn all your records, all your tapes, and all your CDs because every one of those artists who have made brilliant music and enhanced your lives? RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrEAL fucking high on drugs. The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few songs.

I also hope people who drink at home in front of their kids (which is an entirely acceptable DRUG in Irish society) are taking similar advice as you are dishing out to a smoker but the evidence would suggest not. Look around any city in the country any night of the week and you’ll see that..Are you also aware how related alcohol is with sporting events, players and ocassions..

You seem quite happy to ignore the fact that alcohol and tobacco are drugs too…and you also seem to be quite happy to ignore the effects of those drugs too pointing at soft drugs instead. This is the attitude that will get us nowhere in resolving the problems. As much as anything this shows the lack of real education about drugs, their effects and the policies we have as a socitey around them,.

Until people get real this will go on and on..

Peer pressure is entirely different from the example given by parents within the home. Parents example and what happens in the home is a kid’s strongest defence against peer pressure. I don’t think that parents can conceal drug use within the home from their kids. We all think we conceal all sorts of stuff from our kids but, as they grow, we find out that we were deluding ourselves. If you feel it, think it, say it, do it, they pick up on it and it becomes part of their make up.

If you are using drugs at home, what argument will you have when your kids come in with the unfocussed look about them and it’s not from cannabis? You may think that you can hand on an example of limited use of a certain drug to them, but even then, you will have to explain to them how it will affect their thinking, their choices, their driving etc., not to mention how to avoid getting caught.

It might be better to teach them of the natural highs to be had from outdoor pursuits, sports, volunteering, helping their siblings, staying connected to grandparents, literature, music, working and saving in order to travel etc. Kids should be a high in themselves for parents - seeing their parents getting a bit out of the heads on a regular basis is telling them that they are not enough.

Have heard similar arguments to yours about ’soft’ drug use from a lot of other people over the years. Many who continued the use have stalled in their careers or gone backwards. Many failed to maintain relationships. They don’t seem much bothered.

That is complete nonsense. Firstly I doubt rover is waving joints in front of his kids and secondly this will have no affect on their kids peers in years to come…somthing which as parents they would have very limited control over. Kids in first year of secondary school and younger are exposed to drugs on a daily basis,parents will never control that. NMy parents we4re totally anti drugs (because they knew nothing about them) but I still encountered them so that argument is nonsense.

Personally I would much prefer my kids to smoke a few doobies at the weekend than drink any alcohol. I’ve seen first hand the destruction it causes in family life and that is one of the reasons I choose not to use alcohol as my drug of choice. I have yet to see a cannabis user beat their wife, or their kids or some poor soul on the street. You do not see cannabis users puking all over the streets or figting with someone over a stupid comment passed or over who was first in the queue for chips. Many older smokers I know are at home enjoying life with their kids…and not boozing down the local.

Tom - you are right in your points about the alcohol and tobacco industry having much stronger lobbies than the pot smokers…but it extends futher than that in the case of marijuana. Manufacturers of the synthetic fibres we are so used to in todays society had a massive part to play in the criminalisation of cannabis. Hemp fibres were used in everything from rope to clothes to medicine until synthetics were developed. Powerful chemical companies lobbied the US governments (among others ) to criminalise marijuana as it would boost sales of their new chemically based products. Marijuana has been used for centuries for an astounding number of things, not just getting high. Buddah smoked it, the chinese used it as a bowel cleanser, one of the English queens used it for PMT (possibly Mary can’t remember off hand). Check out a The amount of money spent on this war on drugs also benefits many industries including gun manufacturers. Drug companies are also quite happy to have cannabis illegal as it cannot affect sales of their chemically devloped drugs..which in many cases have as many side effects as someone using coke or heroin. You dont hear about that though!

An interesting watch for people who know little about cannabis use except what they are fed by the governments is running on BBC3 recently and is being repeated regularly called “Should I smoke Dope”. Very balanced program about the current situation in the UK where the classification of dope was recently changed.
I don’t care if you agree with my way of thinking but at least make an informed decision and not believe the rubbish trotted out like..drugs are bad mmkay..The ignorance of some people about what drugs actually do and their effects is astounding and this is why proper education is needed not scare tactics.
I understand people are looking for people to blame for the current issues in the city but there is a bigger picture here and current tactics will not resolve it..something much more radical is needed and the government have a prime opportunity in Limerick to try just that..

However I feel that they will continue down their current path and we’ll be here in 20 years discussing the same issues but much worse. Police forces and governments with much more resources than this little island have failed to stop this happening in other places…people should really ask themselves WHY???

methinks too that alcohol os killing more people than weed (and i dont smoke - not even tobacco!). but maybe the weed growers have not a big lobby as the alcohol industry has!?