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

Agreed...but how do you cope the the growing percent of angry vocal citizens that tell us that no one should go to jail or prison just
be cause they are users of drugs
They argue the drug use is a "Non Violent Offence" and they should not be imprisoned.
If the drug user is arrested for "drug related" crimes ( theft, breaking and entering, driving while intoxicated, trafficking of the drugs etc. directly related to their drug addiction or habitual drug use) then should they get special privilages and leniency or should they go to prison the same as others.
According to the data that I have read ( not my opinion ) rather what is on record and available to all, many of the drug users who are in prison are there on "Drug Related Charges" or they are repeat offenders of drug consumption and caught with drugs on them once again and or repeat violators of their mandatory rehabilitation.
Unfortunately all to many of the drug users are far from your innocent and or believed to be upstanding citizens who like to consume a little bit of drugs once in awhile and never do any harm and or cause any problems.
Most drug users do not cause any significant problems but there are "plenty " that do and when they do and when they do get caught by law enforcement or have run ins with law enforcement then should they not also be reprimanded for what they have done wrong...by way of the laws that most people believe should be enforced or at least some noteworthy reprimands and or penalties.

Being arrested solely for possession of drugs should not result in a prison sentence for the users who are simply having some fun and not causing any problems or involved in any other crimes.
However the possesion of the drug is a crime itself in most states
( although a minor crime as compared to many other more serious crimes) and the law enforcement authorities enforce the law.
Until the laws change the users are subjecting themselves to laws that are considered harsh relative to the crime.
If you could clearly and effectively seperate all cases that are only based on possesion then those people should be sent to rehabilition and not be going to prison.
But even rehabilitation is considered a harsh penality just for having some fun and getting caught doing so by way of possesion of the
drug(s)
Natually if there were no laws for possesion then even mandatory rehabilitaton and the costs involved would not be needed.
But what about the traffickers of the drugs.
It is argued someone or some entity should be allowed to legally supply the drugs so then there would be one more problem eliminated.
True enough.
So it has to be full legalisation and then, basically see what evolves in terms of how many people ( what percent) of the citizens partake in the consumption of the now legal drugs and most importantly how many become drug addicts and or how much trouble is caused by a unknown percent of people that perpetrate crimes while intoxicated or related to their drug usage.
More or less the same as alcohol related crimes...but we do not know at present what will evolve exactly concerning violations of the regulations and crimes committed by the users of the various legalised drugs....and there will be plenty of violations for sure and the need for law enforcement and convictions and sentences.
The point is: There will still be many violators of the regulations and law breaking drug users so should they do time for their crimes and be held accountable for their conduct and behaviour or should there be a degree of leniency because they are drug users and the "drug factor" is taken into consideration as to why they violated the regulations or broke the laws.
( on a side note: If drug users and drug addcits were to be given special considerations concerning law breaking you could envision people using the special considerations to deliberatly break the laws for gain and then claim innocence because they are drug addicts)
Because there will still be people accusing the government of harsh laws applied to the drug users when they are held accountable for their behaviour and conduct while they are addicted or habitually intoxicated.
There will still be plenty of people arguing that the drug users should not be in prison...even though they have broken the laws.
What to do, what to do???

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First of all, I actually agree with most of what you've got to say, IDEALLY. however, this has become a pretty pleasure oriented society, and yes the kids are going to lead the way in that respect because they don't have the maturity or self control to say, "No." Biggest reason behind that is because parents aren't teaching the kids.

But what I'm saying is this. Alcohol and cigarettes are legal, both addictive and unhealthy. Should we make liquor illegal again Tobacco??? Where does it end, is Caffeine next? How about fatty foods? Yes I agree that there should be laws and regulations keeping the kids away from the stuff, but how effective are the ones in place now concerning alcohol and tobacco? Not very considering that there are people out there that will buy both for their kids, and their kids friends, and say, "This way I know they're safe." or , "It's okay as long as I don't let any of them drive home."

My thinking is this. Step one, more parental responsibility for teaching kids the rights and wrongs of life. Step two less governmental involvement in our personal lives. As a nation, we keep giving up rights because we don't feel like being responsible for them. That's why there are more and more laws every year.
I've heard it said that someone had to do the crime before they would make a law against it. Ever heard of a law being removed from the books because people stopped breaking it? People don't stop, fact of life. If each person takes responsibility for themselves, we'll put the lawmakers out of work.

True and true again.
It is a dilemma and a paradox in some aspects and the ultimate answers is to not partake in the consumption of the intoxicants.
But like everyone says: There will always be a percent of the people who will consume what ever is available so we have to live with that reality in a huge consumer based society and consumer based economy and try to find the ways and means to accomodate that percent of the citizens that indulge in what is known to be and undserstood to be "risky behaviour"
Recreational, addicting intoxicants take center stage as one of the most significant of available consumer products concerning their supply and consumption and the need to control their supply and or regulate their consumption.
As I have pointed out many times, most of the drugs available throughout history were legal in the sense that no one applied any significant restriction on the supply of the drugs or the consumption of the drugs.
If you read the history books you can find enough evidence that the intoxicating substances created the same or similar problems for the consumers of the substances in times past.
The main big difference at present is the volume of consumption and the increased variety of available drugs and just how detrimental they are or can be and the percentages of addiction and the percentages of habitually intoxicated people.
It is far and beyond any levels of consumption known throughout history.
Someone needs to be concerned because the free supply and free consumption of the drugs can not be held in comparison to the free supply and free consumption of most other consumer products.
Intoxicating often debilitating substances will always have special considerations attached to their supply and consumption.
But the drug consumers disagree and demand easy acess to their substances of choice.
But we all understand the drugs and all that they entail well enough to know that free consumption of the intoxicants results in such a wide variety of problems and negative ramifications that there is no way that the consumption of the detrimental substances can be allowed without regulations and "some laws" at least to be attached to their supply and consumption.

Myself, I simply do not accept the selve serving arguments of the drug consumers and drug addicts that try to absolve themselves of any wrong doing and or culpability concerning thier drug consuming lifestyles and or drug enduced agendas.
Basically all I hear is excuses and total lack of accountability for their consumption of the substances and their envolvement in the risky behaviour associated with drug consumption practices and habitual intoxication.
When I hear them compare the drug consumption to a long list of other reasoned to be valid comparisons I just see that reasoning as self serving excuses to absolve themselves of any culpability or accountability concerning the problems associated with wide spread drug consumption and wide spread intoxication and everything that is entailed.
They do not like to be told what to do and or want to hear any criticism at all for the part they play in the wider scheme of things.

I am not prohibitionist but I strongly oppose the use of the drugs ( but the drug users say I am prohibitionist) because those that do not agree with their consumption of drugs and or all the various intoxicants are simply one more barrier restricting their liberal access to the drugs they lust for so much.

Anyhow the drugs should be legalised so we can get past that very contentious aspect of drug consumption and move on towards regulation of the substances and learn if that is a more beneficial and or the proven succesfull way to live with and or tolerate the percent of citizens that insist on consuming the intoxicants no matter what the consequences or ramifications.
But it wont happen without a whole lot of increased social contention no matter which way the drug issues develope.
Get ready for more problems and more social contentions.

I agree...everyone has to work towards resolving the problems..but one of the main problems is the attitude of the drugs users themselves about the part they play in the whole issue.
Yes we can save money in some respects but the money will be alloted to other programs and issues so to speak and there are studies that predict the money spent will still add up to billions of dollars used to more or less cater to the variety of issues and problems that are created by the unwarrented use of numerous non essential recreational intoxciants for thrill seeking purposes.
The non users have to carry this burden and more or less fix the problems that are perpetrated by the drug users( but not in a any really menacing way but sort of a careless and apathetic way) so that percent of the non using citizens have all the rights in the world to have their say also about what effects them and how the drug issues should be resolved...but it usually does not jive with the agenda of the drug users so there should be no suprise the issue of drug consumption remains a very contentious issue.
I know people want to have their fun but the drug consumption practice have to come with liabilities and responsibilities and the reprimands that all too often have to be enforced.
The issue that really irks many citizens is the fact that the drug consumers themselves are amongst the mass of citizens that live and work and play by the many other rules and regulations and laws.
They all agree that laws are needed in many respects and of course the laws need to be enforced because without them we would live in choas, which everyone agrees.
However when it comes to drug consumption they choose to ignore the laws (and we all know why and many of their arguments are not unreasonable and or wrong) but they want others to be held accountable for their conduct and behaviour and or risky practices and violations of any number of laws that other people can and commonly break.
They commonly use other peoples law breaking activities as justified reasoning to absolve themselves of any wrong doing related to what is deemed to be risky behaviour consuming detrimental intoxicants that have a long long history as being problematic.

** If people start to drag race up and down your steet but they never have an accident or incident but meantime everyone else agrees that such risky behaviour and practices happening amongst the many other citizens is not acceptable then whos agenda and concerns are more important??
The drag racers claiming they have all the rights in the world to drag race on the street they live on or the majority of the citizens on the street that do not want the risky potentially harmfull practice being conducted in their presence????
The druggies do not care and the intoxication is the important issue to themin the end but the intoxication is a liability to themselves and the rest of the citizens.
Ok..let them have their drugs if that is what they have to have...but please do not try to tell everyone that the problems associated with the drugs are caused by laws only and or other factors while always avoiding the issue of their personal participation in drug consuming activities that are nefarious and insidious by nature and always will be...legal or illegal

If the drug consumption related issues were not of any real significance or of any noteworthy concerns then drugs would never have been deemed illegal...rather they would have been simply regulated the same as most other products being provided to consumers.
So they have make a mistake believing they could bring people to thier senses and have them understand the substances are detrimental and have their harmfull aspects and all that is known about the drugs.
Now it is time to try other approaches because some aspects are not working ( failing is the argument ) the way they had hoped and the citizens are getting agitated and want the problems resolved.
But which way will be the best way is yet to be seen while trying to appease a variety of needs and opinions and a variety of concerns.
It will be a ongoing struggle but the one factor that remains consistent is the fact that the consumption of the drugs is the primary problem and always will be.
It is the choice(s) made by each individual drug consumer that creates the base of the problem and there is no argument against that simple fact.
Where does the problems start?
If you take away any restriction and or laws and just let the cards fall where they may then there is no doubt that there will still be plenty of problems and even the drug users themselves would want there to be rules and regulations and laws and the enforcement of the laws to protect them also from totally dishonest and unscrupulous individuals and or groups and or companies that would love to have you addicted to their drugs with out any restrictions at all as this is the factual but sad legacy of unrestricted unregulated drug supply and consumption
So be carefull what you wish for.
When rules and laws and restrictions are applied then they cause a different scope of problems to which the drug users argue are the source of the various problems that evolve.
Kind of a catch 22 scenario because either way the drug consumption itself is the primary source of the problem while everything else has to more or less try to conform around the drug consuming practices.

Without the consumption there is no market to supply.
But I do not expect the whole issue to be that simple..never is and never will be.

If you partake then you are included within the source of the problem.

If you do not partake then you can not be deemed to be involved in the primary source of the problems.

If you apply laws and or regulations to the substances then you can be accused of creating some of the problems.

It is now and always will be a convoluted issue that will never be completely resolved unless people stop consuming and choose not to participate..but that will never happen so the drug consuming merry go round keeps on spinning faster and faster.

Ah yes..in theory...but what if it did not evolve that way and the retail price of the drugs was kept high ( for a wide range of reasons and or possibilities) making the illegal business of supplying "black market drugs" to the public for "Less" than the legal retail price a very profitable and sustainable illegal business.
The drug users and drug consumers of the world have historically proven themselves to be "non conforming" to the laws concerning their drug consumption ........so if the price of legal marijuana was maintained at the price levels at present what do you think would happen.
I know what would happen: The drug cartels would continue supplying the drugs to anyone that would be willing to "save some money" and buy the EXACT same thing for less than the legal retail price ...AND a notable percent of the said to be otherwise law abiding drug consuming Citizens "would" buy the same product from the "Black Market" suppliers.
If you think that will not develope then you are mistaken.
The extent of that Black market supply problem is the question.
if you think all the drug consuming citizens will continue paying a higher price verses the same product for a lower price and abide by the laws 100 % then drug consumption history will easily prove you wrong.
Also there is the issue of who will be supplying all the under age consumers because as far as everyone understands there will be a age limit attached to the consumption of the drugs.
The statistics that I have read over the years have stated that anywhere from 10 % of the users to as much as 25% of the users are under tha age of 19 years old.
I dont know if those figures are accurate but if the underage users are "age restricted" from getting their drugs legally I dont think a person has to be a rocket scientist to understand where they will "continue " to obtain their drugs from.
I also predict that any loss of drug revenues that occures because of legal adult consumers buying the legal version could be partly recovered by way of stepping up their focus on the underage percent of drug users.....not good!

In the future (if) the cost of legal marijuana to the adult retail public was so cheap ( and it can be) then that would take the incentive away from any illegal suppliers.
But you would be surprised at just how low the price could be before the drug cartels or any illegal supplier finally decide to fade away from the business because it is now not profitable or lucrative enough to participate...and then they would more than likely step up their efforts to supply the known harder and far more addictive and dangerous drugs....not good!

The key to legalistion of the drugs is the final retail consumer price of the drugs.
The drug cartels and illegal drug supply networks will not simply dissapear because the product they supply eventually becomes legal to buy.
They will still be supplying the products but in a different manner under different circumstances and the prices will be different.
Another consideration is this: What is to stop them from forming legal companies as required and then they worm their way into being one of the legal entities that supply the drugs.
How is the government going to know exactly who is behind the scenes supplying the now legalised drug.
The ruthless murdering cartel leaders become the suppliers of the drug legally????
These cartels have grown immensly influential in a variety of ways and when ( Their) drugs are legalised you can be assured they will find various ways and means to continue supplying their particular product to the world wide markets.
Ultimately the real key to eliminating the nefarious aspects of drug consumption is to stop the consumption completely...but that is not going to happen.
The money is huge and with it the nefarious aspects of its supply and consumption will always be attached to the consumption of drugs..especially the ones consumed for recreational intoxicating purposes.