RTE's Crimeline

[warmcome]

About a fortnight ago, I was watching crimeline and became shocked and horrified.
They revealed CCTV footage from a headshop 'fire'. It showed two masked individuals enter the shop,
force staff and customers into the back of the shop (this particular shop had no fire exit through the back).
They then proceded to pour petrol all over the shop and then ignited it before exiting the shop.
Thankfully, the brave victims were able to run through the flames to safety, however at least one recieved some burns.

OK, who did'nt/does'nt like these shops? Who were the masked individuals? Concerned parents? Frustrated Gardai?
I suggest they were hired arsonists/social filth working for traditional/future drug providers.

So now, the visible fact of drug popularity has been some what thwarted-most of the shops are
closed since the ban. But what is going on underground now and by whom? Personally, I enjoy Cannabis,
but even if you've never used drugs or hate all of them (including two of the worst- alcohol and tobacco)
you must realise that the mis-informed Gardai and government have empowered/ played into the hands of the
most dangerous people.

[bhoywonder]

im all for legalising drugs. i just don't think that the headshop was the best way of doing it. but you're spot on.

[nicegirlsarenice]

My philosophy is that doing something good is always good, forget about trying to get clever and analyse long-term things that might never happen. If you're doing as you suggest it's like giving in.

What you're suggesting is a kind of supposedly "good" corruption, that you would appease these headshop bastards and their drugs to try to hit the drug dealers, but I don't believe it works like that.

It's appeasing one thing for some alleged other reason, that can get this really messed up in the long-term. The headshops should have been closed either way.

[warmcome]

My philosophy is that doing something good is always good, forget about trying to get clever and analyse long-term things that might never happen. If you're doing as you suggest it's like giving in.

What you're suggesting is a kind of supposedly "good" corruption, that you would appease these headshop bastards and their drugs to try to hit the drug dealers, but I don't believe it works like that.

It's appeasing one thing for some alleged other reason, that can get this really messed up in the long-term. The headshops should have been closed either way.

You too are misinformed. The misuse of drugs act 1971, has failed every day of its existance, because
everyone who wants drugs can get them. The issue is, how can we reduce any harm and prevent
the criminal element from organising/profiting from this inevitable, worldwide situation.

[carlos marvado]

im all for legalising drugs. i just don't think that the headshop was the best way of doing it. but you're spot on.

Some high ranking police officials, in the US and also here have also suggested this. While I am personally totally against drugs, I think it probably would be better for society if the availability of drugs was regulated and controlled and taken out of the hands of criminal gangs. Apart from the actual damage that drugs do to peoples' lives (the same also applies to alcohol and tobacco), the criminal control of the supply side also leads to other forms of serious crime. The prohibition era in the US is a good example regarding alcohol. Plenty of drug enforcement professionals and a few politicians are honest enough to admit, that the war on drugs has probably been lost. The real issue at this stage is, do governments continue with the current policies of trying to stop illegal drug shipments and their distribution and sale in an attempt to contain the problem or do they adopt a policy such as the cafe system in the Netherlands or supply substances through HSE health centers along the lines of the methadone substitute program to registered users. A related issue would be the age that people would have to be to purchase these substances if they were legalised.

On the other hand, even if certain drugs were to be legalised and distribution channels opened by the state for adult users to purchase them, this alone would not make the criminal element redundant. The people who targeted those headshops could well have been drug gangs rather than "concerned parents". So what would be to stop them targeting the HSE or whoever was charged with legally supplying drugs in the future?

Some of the Muslim states do have some pretty effective measures in dealing with drug criminals and disincentivising the trade..........but I doubt that such measures would be acceptable here.

[aml]

OK, who did'nt/does'nt like these shops? Who were the masked individuals? Concerned parents? Frustrated Gardai?
I suggest they were hired arsonists/social filth working for traditional/future drug providers.

So now, the visible fact of drug popularity has been some what thwarted-most of the shops are
closed since the ban. But what is going on underground now and by whom? Personally, I enjoy Cannabis,
but even if you've never used drugs or hate all of them (including two of the worst- alcohol and tobacco)
you must realise that the mis-informed Gardai and government have empowered/ played into the hands of the
most dangerous people.

The masked men were probably low rent drug dealers concerned that their profits had been eaten away by the head shops.

[Mymisters]

I thought the govenments thinking on head shops was all wrong.
Friends of mine hadn't bought drugs off they're dealer in over a year as they were getting it through the head shops.
What they should have done was regulate the head shops better and control what does and doesn't get allowed out.
They also could have raised some much needed money by putting a tax on the products.

Now what's going to happen is people are going to go back to the dealers and the illegal market, and the ones that didn't use dealers before as they were visiting head shops will start to miss that high and look for it elsewhere.
Who wins then except the criminal gangs.

Typical government short-sightedness