This part cried out to me
"I agree with you on the reform thing as do my parents (both of whom work for the drug squad in the UK) the realizm of it is though, reform costs a lot more than tightening the current penalities, its not going to happen any time soon."
True Drug Reform in the long run would actually be less expensive than tightening penalties. Do you have any idea how many people in America are in jail for possesion of very small amounts of hard drugs or for Marijuana? The costs for those prisoners is staggering...
I do believe the over 21 to under 18 law is reasonable for hard drugs... But Pot ? Sorry but I don't know of one person who has been able to say "Man that pot shit really fucked up my life" lol
And I agree witht he already being in prison for drug offense statement you made (they broke the law) but if you look on the books there are some damn ridicilous acts that are violating the law in some U.S. cities that date back to the early 1900's lol ... You see them posted time to time as being humourous but they really are laws. Maybe one day we will be able to say it was funyn when pot was illegal.
I guess bottom line my biggest problem is that the U.S. laws tend to group bottom end users and addicts in with the same group of people who deal kilos of hard drugs and transfer tons of marijuana.
The difference between the two is staggering, as should be the penalties. In our current system - This is not the case with our laws and if passed this would narrow the gap between the two even further. It is saying breaking the law is breaking the law it doesn't matter hwo bad you break the law.
Do you know what that type of thinking will cause in hardcore drug addicts? This is the type of thinking it will cause...
"If i'm going to jail for life for a gram of heroin if I get caught again and I am still going to use heroin... Why not just start selling the shit to support my habit since I will get the same penalty"
Therein lies just one of the many problems with this legislation