UK drug policy

[Bird on a Fire]

Is legalising/decriminalising actually politically toxic? The politicians behave as if it is, but I can’t see a significant majority getting wound up by the legalisation of marijuana say.

I think it's one of those asymmetric political footballs, like abortion or gun rights in the US. Or prohibition a century ago.

There's a small but dedicated bunch of people who make a lot of noise in opposition, and a quieter* majority that thinks it'd be nice if everyone could be a bit more sensible about that and lots of other things.

*Not a silent majority, but one that actually exists.

I get the impression in the UK it would be very unpopular with the right-wing press, who call a lot of the shots.

A quick google finds a slim majority of the UK public in favour of "decriminalisation or legalisation" of weed, which is a bit hard vs. soft brexit but clearly there are a lot of people happy with the current stupid situation.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/ar ... -towards-c
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/ ... ugs-policy

[dyqik]

Is legalising/decriminalising actually politically toxic? The politicians behave as if it is, but I can’t see a significant majority getting wound up by the legalisation of marijuana say.

I think it's one of those asymmetric political footballs, like abortion or gun rights in the US. Or prohibition a century ago.

There's a small but dedicated bunch of people who make a lot of noise in opposition, and a quieter* majority that thinks it'd be nice if everyone could be a bit more sensible about that and lots of other things.

*Not a silent majority, but one that actually exists.

I get the impression in the UK it would be very unpopular with the right-wing press, who call a lot of the shots.

A quick google finds a slim majority of the UK public in favour of "decriminalisation or legalisation" of weed, which is a bit hard vs. soft brexit but clearly there are a lot of people happy with the current stupid situation.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/ar ... -towards-c
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/ ... ugs-policy

After accounting for the influence of the press and how it can shape the views of people around things that they don't care about very much, that's pretty much what I mean.

[Bird on a Fire]

Fair dos.

Would be interesting to see if there were big swings in public opinion once serious discussion of legalisation started in the various US states and Canada where it's happened.

[dyqik]

Fair dos.

Would be interesting to see if there were big swings in public opinion once serious discussion of legalisation started in the various US states and Canada where it's happened.

There's a fairly big difference between the US and the UK, in that most of the mainstream UK press outlets are right wing and reactionary, while most of the mainstream US ones (with one glaring exception) are centrist and less reactionary/campaign driven. There's also a big difference in balance between TV news and print news.

[Gfamily]

Post-Brexit passport validity issues have nothing to do with covid.

Did they only add the remaining validity to your passport for a while? My first passport was from Jun '90 to Jun '00. The next was from April '00 to April '10, the 3rd from Sep '09 to April '20, and the most recent Jan '20 to Jan '30. So on 3 renewals twice I've lost ~3 months and the other they gave me a passport which lasted 10 years and 6 months (and 11 days!)

I don't remember my previous ones but I definitely had it on the one which I've just replaced.

Even though Dr Tiganescu had six months left before her UK passport expires, she was barred from the flight and could not head off on the week-long trip because her passport was issued more than 10 years ago.

Thread jump! This started in the International Travel thread.

[shpalman]

Post-Brexit passport validity issues have nothing to do with covid.

I don't remember my previous ones but I definitely had it on the one which I've just replaced.

Even though Dr Tiganescu had six months left before her UK passport expires, she was barred from the flight and could not head off on the week-long trip because her passport was issued more than 10 years ago.

Thread jump! This started in the International Travel thread.

Sorry I was aiming for Brexit consequences, not sure what happened there.

[El Pollo Diablo]

I've moved the post now

[shpalman]

Ah it's because that thread is locked, what with all the consequences of Brexit having been resolved.

[El Pollo Diablo]

Ohh right. Did another one ever get started?

[El Pollo Diablo]

Having check out the annals of the mod penthouse, we locked it because it was, in essence, a sh.t thread. There's still the possibility of starting a new one - would you like me to move the post into its own new thread on the topic?

[jimbob]

It became a sh.t thread because one poster refusing to accept anything bad associated with Brexit.

I believe there is a rather empty thread on the benefits of Brexit.

Personally, I'd like a new thread

[IvanV]

This 8min Wall St Jnl video reports very positively on the use of ibogaine - a natural psychedelic grown in West Africa and long used for Bwiti rituals - for disrupting opioid addiction. There is a literature, for example, and trials. A difficulty is that it is a bit dangerous to use, can cause heart attacks in unsuitable subjects. But for the desperately addicted, that can be a risk they are willing to take.

It sounds almost miraculous. Your desire to take opioids evaporates very quickly after a very short treatment. Can this be true or hype? But if it is even partly as successful as indicated, then it is apparently a very important and useful tool in the fight against opioid addiction. And why have I never heard about this before?

In the US ibogaine is illegal under federal law. But the desperate can go to Tijuana in Mexico, and some other places, where clinics offers the treatment. As the video reports, Texas has now arranged for a drug trial. Is this sensible, or have they been conned?

In Britain ibogaine is illegal because new drug proliferation provoked an "everything is illegal unless" law that all psycho-active substances are illegal, unless explicitly legalised. MHRA apparently authorised a trial by MAC plc, and they were recruiting volunteers in 2021, but I can 't find any further information about that. Nearest place you can get ibogaine treatment to UK is Netherlands.