Cocaine culture, legalization?

national | crime and justice | opinion/analysis

Monday January 14, 2008 11:33

by Geoffrey Cooling - none

We need real and workable measures to deal with our drug problems, mandatory prison time for users is at least one option, while legalization is another. Let us at least start the debate.

It never fails to amaze me, every time an incident of savagery takes place we are treated to the same politicians uttering almost the same trite words. Hand wringing is performed, lip service is paid to voters, and a solution is never far off. A young girl was shot in the front room of a house in Coolock by gate crashers who were refused entry. It was a milestone, or at least that was what our political leaders and news media told us. It would finally bring the impetus to make real changes to the law and our society.

It was soon forgotten, the girl was soon forgotten by all but for her family, friends and neighbours. It was not the milestone that was heralded, not much changed. Perhaps if there had been changes it would have given some solace to the bereaved. Although a beautiful life had been extinguished, her death would have played a large part in making the country a safer place for her descendants. But unfortunately that was not the case, the government huffed and puffed but real changes have not taken place.

Then we were treated to savagery perhaps beyond the conception of most people. Two young children burnt in the rear seat of their mother’s car. A young lad became aggrieved and decided to teach their mother a lesson. There was at the time a huge outpouring of communal anger and grief. Our politicians again told us that enough was enough. Many people would have marched to Limerick to hang the two young hoods themselves. I know people who would have dragged themselves across broken glass to get a hand on those young lads.

But months later, it is all but forgotten and there have been no changes. Not far from where the children were so savagely attacked a young boy of five was recently shot, admittedly caught in the crossfire as it were. But still wounded during the day as he stood beside his mother and a group of women. Wounded by people who don’t care, they don’t care who they hurt, they don’t care what they have to do, and they sure as hell don’t care about a couple of politicians who pay lip service to the community and utter empty promises.

Then public anger was again stoked by the despicable murder of a young plumber, executed to facilitate the execution of a major criminal. And the young man’s terrible sin? Trying to earn a few quid, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. But even then I saw that anger receding, as it has before in so many cases and so we have gone on and on until we have arrived here. We seem to suffer with collective apathy. It was not always like this, in the eighties and early nineties, communities all around Dublin came together and fought the scourge of drugs in their areas. They did so without any assistance from the state because they believed that they must defend their communities.

In these modern times that sense of community seems to have evaporated. With our new found affluence we appear to have become insular, self-centered even. Our sense of collective responsibility has diminished; I have argued before that it appears that the sense of responsibility for self has almost completely diminished as by extension has parental responsibility. The Irish have lost their way, community ties have been broken and it appears that they are almost not repairable.

Cocaine is available in every town in Ireland; it has crossed social divides like no other drug. It is also the most profitable drug to distribute; the profits are measured in millions. The modern drug gangs are heavily involved in the distribution of this drug and jealously guard their profits. Unfortunately they also tend to use an awful lot of their product, which leads to a propensity of semi psychotic well armed rich criminals. The problem is that most affluent middle class users of cocaine do not seem to be able to see the link between their use and the mayhem on our streets. Well friends I have news for you, your 900,000 pound house in your middle class area is not going to protect you, because the scum will soon be able to afford two, with the assistance of your middle class accountant neighbour to wash his money.

We have all conspired in our downfall by our apathy and inactivity. However the buck does not stop just there, I do not often agree with McDowell, and I’m sure he does not really care if I do, but when he said the famous do a line of coke, be responsible for a murder line, I have to tell you, I nearly ran out and swore the oath of allegiance to our former glorious leader in waiting. But weeks later when he had not established legislation to hand out stiffer sentences to users, I came to my senses. The legislation that has been given to us is a standing joke, mandatory ten year sentences for possession to supply, are you having a laugh or what? The crime situation in Ireland, the viciousness, the murders, the assaults can be directly laid at the door of successive governments since the early to mid eighties.

The fact that most of the politicians we have in power today were also involved back then has to be telling about us as a race. The drug problem in Ireland was never taken seriously by any government up until the time Guerin was killed. All of a sudden it was a priority, we’ll get them off the street, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Some high profile targets were taken out and some continue to be taken out through the sterling work of the drugs units everywhere. But they then continue to run their businesses from within prison, who are we kidding here, we put such and such away, he used to bring in 25 kilos a week but now he is bringing in 40. And this is progress?

To move forward on this issue we need real action and enacted legislation. We need to debate seriously where we go from here. There are two schools of thought on this issue, basically legalize or penalize. Legalize, control and regulate, or penalize with stiffer sentences for suppliers and end users. The debate needs to occur, if you legalize and regulate you remove the large profits from the business and overnight put the drug gangs out of business. There is an argument against, however much of it tends to be emotive rather than logical. Alcohol is a hard drug that causes misery in all our communities; it costs a huge amount in lost productivity and has a huge impact on the budgets of our health services. It actively destroys families all over Ireland and is a large contributor to violent assault occurrences.

Yet knowing all of the aforementioned it is a regulated drug quite legal to supply and imbibe. Why should other hard drugs be any different? Does it make more sense to legalize and regulate, therefore controlling the substances and taking the large profit margin away. In one fell swoop, destroying the drug gang’s raison de etre overnight. Or alternatively we can continue along the failed route of penalization. If we decide on this course of action we must come up with strategies that work.
Heavy penalties for users are one option, if your average middle class user is made aware that he or she will go to prison for six months for possession of cocaine, there would be a rather rapid drop in cocaine use. While criminals would laugh at six months your average Dublin 4 resident would positively pale at the thought.

Legislation is useless without the will and courage to use it, as I have mentioned we have mandatory ten year sentences, however they are hardly ever given out to transgressors. If penalization is the route decided we need further legislation not just to reduce supply but also reduce demand. The legislation needs to be passed quickly and it needs to be rigorously enforced by our judicial system. Attacking the drugs problem from both ends is the only way to prevent a further decline towards the seeming chaos that lies before us.

Geoffrey Cooling

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Comments (9 of 9)

it's quite obvious you've neither been to prison or used cocaine.

by gurgle

Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:23

Until you do either it's quite unlikely you'll have anything useful to offer on this subject other than clichés. I'm sincerely surprised that you thought to parade these clichés on an indymedia site rather than offer them to their traditional readership in a right wing commercial newspaper or parish gazette. I'm astounded that you think "cocaine...has crossed social divides like no other drug". There is no evidence for that belief other than your fevered imagination. If any drug has done such a thing, I'd suggest canabis is the one you're looking for. This is a video which was used as criminal evidence in a case for drug posession against the model Kate Moss. The prosecution claimed it showed her suflating cocaine, which of course it did not. It merely showed her suflating something. It could have been amphetamine, baby laxative, ketamine, pcp, dmt or mdma powder. But you'd need to judge the size of the lines to guess which & watch what happened to her next - in short you'd need to understand "drug culture" which quite obviously you don't.

The Parish

by OLD

Tue Jan 15, 2008 16:05

first poster. you allso have to bare in mind logistics. If it's legalised will there be a knock on effect on hospitals if it's further legisltion does that mean creating extra prisions and so on but at the end of the day your dealing with human nature and desire, don't put to much fate in logic.

second poster if the consequences of "drug culture" was restricted to the usser it would be a great world all together and there would be a brillient argument for letting everybody do what they want. But life dosn't work like that no man is an island. one underware model in foxrock snorting crap up her nose can have unforseen consequences for the family and comunity of a dealer in crumlin. often people who deliberitly stay away from or have no connection with drugs are left picking up the peices

bring back morality the world does not work on can or can't. it works on should or shouldn't only very small children are ignorant of the concept.

It's not the governments fault that people abuse drugs. Everybody has a responsibility to themselves there family and there community. people who are ignorant of that disturb society. a moral code something as simple as don't be selfish and thats what it is, it's not rebelious, enlightened or even a right. it passifies people, it's anti community anti family completely relient on the individual's own desire and greed. families and communities should respond by reminding the individual at every turn that they are selfish they can do what they want as well

just legalise it. jeez!

by ThePowderOfNightmares

Tue Jan 15, 2008 16:35

Maybe being trapped in the meaningless 9-5 wage slavery day in day out to generate profits for our lords and masters is what drives people to want to get out of it for a while. And would you blame them?

If people are to lose interest in quick fixes (sic) like cocaine then society needs a complete restructuring from the profit driven morally bankrupt vacant meaningless treadmill it is becoming to a more people centric model.

Not going to happen. Too many vested interests like it the way it is. Get used to drugs and gun crime. it ain't going away any time soon.

Any sensible voices suggesting legalisation of hard drugs (because prohibition doesn't work), and taxing them and selling them from pharmacies ('cos johnny is better off buying his drugs from the local pharmacy than the local criminal, of consistent concentration and quality and not cut with who knows what) and using the money (from taxes, law enforcement savings / savings on petty crime / insurance etc etc) to build infrastructure and drug programs if people need them are poo pooed.

Alas, nobody has the balls to grasp this nettle. And Millions more taxpayers money will be wasted on ineffective enforcement. More will die in drug turf wars. More young people will die because they don't know what their drug concentration is from one fix to the next. And epidemic levels of petty crime (for drug money) will continue to make Dublin one of europes most dangerous cities to walk around in.

These drug profits will be re-invested in building up the illegal network and corrupting both our enforcement and our government (not hard!!) to further facilitate the trade. It is the pattern across the globe where prohibition is taken as the only possible approach.

Drug Treatment facilities will continue to be hopelessly inadequate of course under Ms Harneys daft neo-liberal ideology driven systematic rundown of the health service. Well, there's no profit in helping junkies, is there?.

Drug taking is a choice but it has consequences. every drug user knows this. So why not let people make this choice but in a safer environment where the government makes profits from this free choice and uses them to benefit the citizens themselves , not a cabal of criminals to the detriment of our society.

Also, as we face into the dark unpleasant arsehole of recession, think of the potential tourism boom!

Katy french died because she did not know what concentration of cocaine she was stuffing up her pretty nose and because she treated snorting a particularly pure variety that was doing the rounds like snorting the marvel milk substitute that people here are normally used to getting. Not a good idea. We could address this and prevent further deaths. But not by pushing it further underground with big talk and sabre rattling.

So here's an alternative:

Legalise it and take away the criminals livelihood,

Support the poor third world coca farmers directly with a large government fairtrade contract

Protect our vulnerable users by supplying reasonably priced cocaine of consistent concentration and quality.

Use the tax to create better drug rehab programs / sports facilities / libraries / parks / public transport / housing / whatever

Think of the Tourism boom!

It's the difference between turning a blind eye to illegal street prostitution, where poor unfortunates get abused (and sometimes killed) with no recourse to law, and allowing legalised brothels who pay taxes, arrange regular medical check ups, and have a large bouncer on the door.

These things (drugs / prostitution) will never go away but you can accomodate human nature and make it safer. Surely that is the more humane approach. Isn't it?

But no, we prefer denial and hypocrisy don't we readers?

lee waffle more bongo

by bobbybongo - blakblok

Wed Jan 16, 2008 03:52

the problem with drugs is supply

if all the wreck head smackheads had a steady supply like the average guy has tea bag there wouldnt really be a social drug problem

bag

decriminalize not legalize

stop wafflin'

Drugs per se

by wine tippler, sometimes

Wed Jan 16, 2008 08:21

Are cocaine and cannabis good for the body and mind per se? A lot of people, doctors and teachers included, seem to think these drugs have bad effects. I've heard it said that cannabis consumption lessens learning motivation; that cocaine regularly taken has effects on the body.

If this is so then the argument that market liberalisation will solve the drug-related crime is bypassing the argument that such drug taking is in itself a physical and mental problem.

What do decriminalisers say about that?

Personally I drink a glass of wine or two with a good meal, sometimes beer instead. I can claim that red wine is supposed to aid digestion and benefit the heart, as many health experts say in print. As for beer, well it tastes good with food though I haven't read anything written in its favour by the dieticians and other pop health experts.

Beer is full of vitamin B. in moderation it's not bad for you.

by yoga by weekday & party by weekend

Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:08

Most things in moderation aren't bad for you, & that's the rub. Yep, there are a few things which even in moderation aren't going to do you any good - smoking crystal meth for example. But rather than explain self-discipline, moderation, budgeting, &c., to people when they're young along with instilling a respect for psychotropic or altering substances & experiences - we happily continue with a binge culture which leaves two choices. - you do or you don't. & that culture lumps all drugs together. So we have to go back to the jargon - "problem drug user". It's worth noting especially in Irish terms, that very few people take cocaine alone. It's not really in the nature of the drug. It's moreish & more often than not encourages binge drinking & because of its effects on the lungs (it opens them) the user ironically ends up smoking more cigarettes. - that's bad. But if we explore 19th century fiction we see numerous cocaine users simply taking time out to enjoy highly lucid thought & solve a cryptic crossword or write that monograph for the royal academy - (I am thinking of Sherlock Holmes) I suppose of Conan Doyle was alive today his character would have taken time out to pop some viagra & spend the night non-stop shagging Mrs Hudson in a display of much-needed gratitude for allowing him practise his revolver target practise indoors for nigh on 40 years. Now if you don't mind, drug debates bore me, they're full of cliché, short on experience, heavy on miserable examples & saturated in hypocrisy. So I'm not going to contribute anymore. But enjoy your wine & beer, your cigs or smoke, your uppers or downers - in moderation.

taking drugs is quite like a dangerous adventure sport...

by Glug

Wed Jan 16, 2008 15:40

Personally I like scuba diving. It can be very dangerous if you are not responsible but safe if you are. It's perfectly legal now (and somewhat addictive!) but what if we banned that.?

Then

you would have to go out on the sly and pay some shady guy to sell you the gear and take you out diving in secret. Also, they might try and introduce you to HANGLIDING too!

If you bought dodgy dive gear and nearly drowned, you would have nowhere to go to complain

people would learn how to scuba dive from their dumb friends / dodgy cowboys, hence not do it right and get themselves killed.

dodgy cowboy dive outfits would be profitable and such people would flourish and become rich in the dive market.

Larger infrastructure such as compression chambers needed to help divers who have the bends would no longer be properly funded or budgeted for due to illegal status

divers would have to spend more and more to pay for their habit

All in all, a worse situation for all divers and a social problem.

Now Compare to how dangerous sports like diving are currently run.
Look at our social attitudes to diving vs taking drugs.
Both are potentially very life threatening if you're careless.
there are some lessons to be learned from this.

To Gurgle

Thu Jan 17, 2008 14:51

Have you ever heard the saying do not assume, to assume is to make an ass of me and you.
If you asked questions instead of making assumptions and sweeping statements of facts I would not have to tell you that,

I have been to prison, I took a course of action knowing the risks and responsibilities and spent some time in a high security prison for that action.

I grew up in Dolphin's barn during the hieght of the heroin scourge during the mid eighties and I believe that I am very aware and knowledgeable of the drug culture.

I may have right wing views on crime and justice however i have decidedly liberal or left wing views on a lot of other issues such as gay rights, divorce etc etc. It is slightly harder than you think to put somebody in a box you choose for them when it comes to political opinion.

And next time you choose to make sweeping statements and a fool of your self, leave your real name, have the strength of your convictions at least man and stop hiding behind a nick name.

what about mental health?

by molly

Wed Jan 30, 2008 19:24

i am baffed at what side of the fence to be on when it comes to legalization of cocaine. i can see both sides of the argument. i understand the drug culture that comes along with it as i was a part of it myself for some time before i left it all behind and got into psychiatric nursing.... which leads me to my question... what about peoples mental health?

nobody out there can tell me that cocaine does not have an effect on mental health.. it does. ranging from depresion, to psychosis to the old faithful schizophrenia..... sure before i started doing this work i would have been quite ambivalent about it all, i would have said mental illness due to drug use is out there, i may have even seen a few people go through it.....its not like that. it goes beyond a few people, way beyond that. its frightening the amount of people who are admitted to acute psychiatric wards with illnesses which are induced by drugs.... cocaine included, and yes certainly alcohol too.... so much time, resources, and energy are put into helping people to try and regain some form of quality of life (im talking from a nurses point of view here people, dont assume im speaking about the wonderful health system thats in place) from all the current street drugs out there, not just cocaine.

with the already huge numbers of drug induced admissions onto our acute wards it scares me to think what would happen if it were legalized?... i guess the point im trying to make is theres so many lifes destroyed by the use of drugs, i know were talking about cocaine here, but i reckon if thats off the market something else will take its place. people dont like to conform. legalize it and the fun is gone.... not for this generation of users im sure but for the next generation. and then what happens? does the cycle continue?... im sure it will, its not so long ago it was cannabis that was under the spotlight....

anyway, getting back to my point......with the lives that are destroyed in so many ways and from so many perspectives, is it worth the risk? the risk of an increase in mental illness, the risk of more lives being destroyed? and if it is worth the risk to who? to families who have been bereved? to users themselves who now have an enduring mental illness... one that is permenant? to the nurses or other care workers? do we sacrifice these people for the "greater good"?

i for one dont know.

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Cocaine culture, legalization?

Comments (9 of 9)