Cannabis haul! This is a Joke, Wake Up Smell the Beans

[JCSkinner]

I spoke of Ardoyne specifically and you said you grew up 'there'. Now I've presented you with the facts of drug use in Ardoyne going back years, you clarify you grew up elsewhere.
Well, West Belfast is a very big place, but there was always plenty of drug use prevalent anywhere I've been throughout the entire area for decades.
I knew people going back nearly two decades who would take cabs across to the Falls to score drugs when there was none in North Belfast they could find.
I can't comment on how observant you are. But drug use, especially cannabis use, has been prevalent in West Belfast for a long time.
A quarter of all adults in the North have taken cannabis, rising to 40% of those under 35, and with higher prevalence in poorer areas.
You mightn't have known what was going on around you, but there is little doubt it was going on all around you.

[femmefatale]

I spoke of Ardoyne specifically and you said you grew up 'there'. Now I've presented you with the facts of drug use in Ardoyne going back years, you clarify you grew up elsewhere.
Well, West Belfast is a very big place, but there was always plenty of drug use prevalent anywhere I've been throughout the entire area for decades.
I knew people going back nearly two decades who would take cabs across to the Falls to score drugs when there was none in North Belfast they could find.
I can't comment on how observant you are. But drug use, especially cannabis use, has been prevalent in West Belfast for a long time.
A quarter of all adults in the North have taken cannabis, rising to 40% of those under 35, and with higher prevalence in poorer areas.
You mightn't have known what was going on around you, but there is little doubt it was going on all around you.

As I said, I thought you were referring to life in working class nationalist/republican areas of Belfast generally. They are pretty similar after all.

I did not personally witness drugs being sold/consumed. As I said before, we must have been moving in different circles and/or consorting with a different class, sorry, kind of person.

[Left sceptical]

You are extremely quick to accuse others of lying! I grew up in West, not North, Belfast. I thought you were referring to working class republican areas in Belfast generally. I never once heard it suggested that the IRA were involved in bringing drugs into the area. That's all. Oh, I also never saw drug use/peddling there. I have seen signs of it in recent years.

I'm pretty sure that even during this decade THEY were involved in supplying drugs destined for the South. Speed and soapbar arrived in Kerry and Limerick, think it came from Armagh..

If you want some evidence of their involvement going back decades, have a read of Howards Marks' Mr. Nice!!

[myksav]

And you are such an open-minded person yourself!

I am reading this thread to try and understand the arguments in favour of decriminalization. Instinctively I feel that cannabis isn't a socially desirable thing. My posts probably reflect that. If anything, I am giving you girls and guys the opportunity to try and disprove my notions. How generous of me!

For an experiment, ignore your instinct and notions and look at the situation with logic. Throw in a bit of logical examination of alcohol usage and effects on the human body and mind. Compare the two.

Get a subscription to the Lancet and read the reports on both. That will give you a fair place to make any arguments pro/con about cannabis.

[myksav]

This is why I want it banned!! Otherwise, it'll be casually pushed on unsuspecting innocents like myself!

Hey, just do what I do in similar situations, say "no, thanks". Don't worry, most smokers don't try forcing anyone else to have a smoke, unlike drinkers. For some reason, cannabis seems to make a refusal perfectly acceptable to the offerer.

[JCSkinner]

As I said, I thought you were referring to life in working class nationalist/republican areas of Belfast generally. They are pretty similar after all.

I did not personally witness drugs being sold/consumed. As I said before, we must have been moving in different circles and/or consorting with a different class, sorry, kind of person.

There isn't more than one class of person in republican areas. Apart from the Shinner elite, everyone's on a pretty similar (low) income for the most part.
As for a different kind of person, I think now we're seeing your true prejudices coming to the fore. You simply consider yourself better than your fellow human beings. I'm only aware of one kind of people - homo sapiens sapiens.

[reknaw]

Hey, just do what I do in similar situations, say "no, thanks". Don't worry, most smokers don't try forcing anyone else to have a smoke, unlike drinkers. For some reason, cannabis seems to make a refusal perfectly acceptable to the offerer.

What a laudably sensible approach! In fact, very very few smokers would press anyone to have a toke, the supply situation being what it is. Indeed, it's more a case of hanging on to what you have and, even when they share a joint with other accustomed smokers, there is a strong tendency among many to "Bogart the joint".

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6yMj0JGLWs"]YouTube - The Fraternity Of Man-Don't Bogart Me[/ame]

[iartaoiseach]

Hey, just do what I do in similar situations, say "no, thanks". Don't worry, most smokers don't try forcing anyone else to have a smoke, unlike drinkers. For some reason, cannabis seems to make a refusal perfectly acceptable to the offerer.

too true. I am amazed that there are so many 'pushers' out there throwing out free weed etc. I would imagine they'd be on the bread line before too long judging by the current prices. definitely the holiday home in spain would be under threat.
I am also amazed at the lack of willpower of their 'victims'. as me mammy once said they're easily led.

[cactusflower]

For anyone interested in the wider picture of the current push for drug legalisation, this article is an eyeful:

The Hidden Soros Agenda: Drugs, Money, the Media, and Political Power

George Soros (billionaire hedge fund operator) has virtually bought up the Democratic Party and bought the US Presidential election. He has also funded hundreds of NGOs and media organisations. His agenda is to turn the planet over to unregulated capitalism with a trade in class A drugs. He was involved in most of the so-called "colour revolutions" or putches, that have installed oligarchic "democracies".
The article doesn't touch on his connections with US Intelligence agencies, long embroiled in the drugs trade.

He's been Obama's main funder, since the beginning of his political career when he ran for the Senate.

[reknaw]

If there ever was a day when I really could use a good big spliff to be able to see the surreal humour in something utterly absurd, naturally my dealer is unavailable. It's almost enough to make me turn to Femmefatale's drug of choice, but I doubt if I'll ever be quite that desperate.

As a BUFFALO, who might have been a BIFFO if I had been born about 2 km from where that historic event actually occurred, I am truly disappointed that the only Taoiseach ever to have come from our constituency is such a total failure in every respect.

Someone on another thread has posted a link showing him unveiling his "drugs strategy" and drawing attention to the text on the panel behind him.

As all of his other strategies have been, this one too looks like another case of "when in a deep hole, keep on digging."

Taoiseach unveils drugs strategy - The Irish Times - Thu, Sep 10, 2009