Russell Brand Talks About Addiction: Does Criminalizing Drugs Prevent Use?

anyone have video of this?

im not saying to make them all legal or anything but if it kept drug addicts clean there wouldnt be so many crack heads running around.

There's always a way

Ocean front property in Kansas, anyone?

no, for those already in too deep, it just makes them want to do it more.

But it would prevent millions from going to prison due to non violent drug charges, it would end most drug violence and eradicate drug dealers.

Sure and I have a Bridge for Sale

He is absolutely right

A drug addict will continue to do drugs, whether they are legal or not.

People are people and addicts are addicts. It is like smoking or drinking. If the need is great they will find a way to obtain their drug of choice.

i agree with him a 100 precent

obviously not

Of course it does. Do people still do drugs, yes, but people still commit murder, too and that's illegal. If you look at all of the paranoid schizos and burned out stoners, they represent a valid case for drugs remaining illegal. I think illicit drug use was promoted to help dumb down America and its obviously working.

It doesn't help at all. It encourages many people to, and it enables drug dealers to use soft drugs as gateway drugs and get people hooked on things like ecstasy and heroin, which they charge exorbitant prices for. All that would go away, and most people would be safer and more careful with them, if alcohol were illegal you'd get a lot more drunk people as it's a rarer event... Also the price would go down dramatically, which would reduce the supply as they make less money, and all the gangs that thrive on drugs would melt away...

People hate to admit that there are positive effects of making drugs hard to get, namely that our children are much less likely to do them. Of course nothing compares to teaching your kids restraint, but this helps. There are negatives, especially with having weed illegal, which I'm all for changing since it wouldn't pose a large risk, but it should only be legal on private property. I honestly don't want to live in a world where every park smells like weed. I don't think many people do.

BS! Ask any teenager. They will tell you that it's easier to buy weed from the creep on their block than it is to buy booze from a convenience store. The drug pusher doesn't care how old you are. He just cares if you have money. He won't card you. He'll take the money and give you the stuff. And all you have to do is ask ONE guy. It's WAY harder to buy alcohol than it is to buy anything illegal.

Well you are comparing two things that are illegal for teenagers and saying that because alcohol is legal in general it's harder to get. That may be true in a few ways, but there are a lot of parents out there with alcohol, a lot of friends who will buy it for you, and a lot of people who will sell it to you illegally.

Anyways I was a teenager once, and it wasn't hard to get my hands on alcohol OR weed, but weed was expensive enough I didn't want to smoke it. The real benefit is that it would have been very difficult for me to get cocaine, heroine, or meth. Sure it would be possible, anything is, but all the war on drugs does is make it more difficult. That's the real benefit. I'm all for the legalization of marijuana though.

i think the rates of usage will go up if legalized

This question doesn't even make sense to me. Of course it doesn't but I don't think things would get much worse either. If somebody is going to do then they will whether it's legal or not.

Are we locking people up for having genetic diseases? Why should these people be given criminal records and put in jail for being Ill? If any institution has a policy that violates privacy, creates war, and increases poverty... should it really be continued just to make a few people feel better about themselves?

Ae there people using drugs?

Looks like you found your answer..

Usually makes it even more desirable in some cases.

It increases usage and the BM.

Education about drugs works better. Making it illegal just makes it harder to admit you are a user/abuser, because you'll probably get in trouble if you try to get help.

has not legalizing marijuana prevent people from smoking marijuana? Of course not! Sorry for being Captain Obvious here, but when you're on drugs you're addicted and when you're addicted to something you always want it, and when you always want something and the sources are limited, you can't find somebody who provides it, etc YOU FIND A WAY TO GET IT

This guy could not make a go of it with Katy Perry! Why would we ever listen to anything he says? It would be like listening to a lecture on marital fidelity from John Edwards and Jesse James!

administrative blip...........probably so............JUST LEGALIZE THEM......and TAX THE
HELL OUT OF THEM!!!! LIKE CIGARETTES.........BOOZE ?? GET IT..........LESS people to use them in the end???

Its all about choice.

No it doesn't prevent use, only the person using it can prevent its use, people like Russell Branch need to take a good long look in the mirror, if Russell Branch cannot control his own bad behavior why should society reach out to him, you Russell Branch made the conscious decision to use drugs, it is your life Russell Branch self pity and regret is your mistake and now you are an addict, no one forced you to shoot up, snort, drop any drug, you made your own bed, it is up to you and no one else to find the solution to your problem.

I don't agree with that, most druggies are pressured into it, then the dealers are sneaky and get them hooked on stronger substances. It's the same with cigarettes - lots of people get pressured into doing them in moments of weakness, no matter how much education we get about their harmful effects.

Pressured? Did someone point a gun to his head and say drop some acid, blow a line, smoke some crack? No. They made a choice, they alone are responsible for that choice.

When you're young, your friends and family play an enormous part in determining who you are. Young people are desperate to conform - those that refuse are socially excluded, if someone goes to an inner city school where if you don't do drugs you're not cool, then unless you want to live as an outcast you have to at least try it.

What you just said is why many American kids are a bunch of dumbasses, if they want to conform and be cool fine, nature has its way of weeding out the idiots.

Almost all children are like that, they conform to their social group, they wear similar xlothes, listen to similar music, do the same thing, etc., it is not stupidity, it is how you are raised and who your friends are that leads a person to do drugs.

Then I guess nature has got a lot of work to do.

Or a bit of social engineering or clever town planning could alleviate the problem a lot...

Does criminalizing drugs prevent use? Take a look a round... the answer is a resounding "NO"!

in only gives power to violent cartels and gets non-violent people in trouble