Head shop fire on Capel St (1 Viewer)

[philbrooks]

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/firefighters-find-8364500000-in-head-shop-safe-2062798.html

 

[Rachel666]

Explain this please? As for ID's, I think there's very stringent legislation already in place for pubs and offie's so why not use exactly the same rules for head-shops. If you're caught selling to under-age customers you get a fine and a warning. One more offence and they shut you down for a period of time. Keep offending and they shut you down for good. Again, this is just prohibition coming back to bite us all on the ass. There's no easy way out of this situation now. Drugs or at least the legal alternatives will now be a part of life, and we have created a society that is unable to handle it. Nannied to death (as Chris Morris might say).

The problem isn't age though (and as far as I can tell, they are quite strict on ID). It's the fact that you can't psycho-evaluate everyone who walks into a head shop, which is scaring the "local community". Seemingly everyone's psyche could be vulnerable, so age isn't the issue.
On the one hand you have the obvious political point scoring but on the other you do have a lot of people who are upset by the notion of drugs being on their doorstep. Its not only on their doorstep but it is covered in LOUD rasta colours and has a blatant DRUG related name. It also doesn't help that head shops have moved from little back alleys and onto mainstreets. Despite the controversy over magic mushrooms they managed to keep a low profile and the local community didn't care until recently. If they had continued to exercise "commercial discretion" they could have had a bit more longevity. Their demise is not completely the media's fault, it's partially down to how insensitive and tactless many shops have become.

 

[Serpico]

Not sure what you're referring to. The only problem people should be concerned with is age. Treating these things differently to alcohol is just ridiculous scare-mongering. The facts don't back up any concern over these being some new menace to society. Actual casualties are infinitely smaller than those from alcohol, so unless your going to tackle that first, the whole thing is hypocritical. The main bleating has been coming from concerned parents, so slap the same rules on head shops as is already on off-licenses. As for the vigilante bollox, cops need to hammer any fucker who thinks they can take the law into their own hands. These shops are actively hitting the profits of Drug dealers and all the other nefarious trades that illicit drugs fund. The guards should be doing everything in their power to keep them open and protect them. Their doing a better job of putting drug dealers out of business then the law ever managed.

 

[magicbastarder]

Legalise all drugs and educate.

That's my two cents.

including prescription drugs? i.e. throw away the whole testing infrastructure that's been in place for decades to ensure the safety of drugs?

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

including prescription drugs? i.e. throw away the whole testing infrastructure that's been in place for decades to ensure the safety of drugs?

surely your not referring to pharmaceutical drugs here?

 

[magicbastarder]

i am. i'm curious as to how people would draw a distinction between pharmaceutical drugs and recreational drugs in legalising them.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

ah,i was just gonna pull you up on the apparent safety of pharms

"adverse drug reactions from drugs that are properly prescribed and properly administered cause about 106,000 deaths per year, making prescription drugs the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. Compare this to the death toll from illegal drugs -- which is about 10,000 per year"

http://www.healthiertalk.com/prescription-drugs-more-likely-kill-you-recreational-drugs-0112

 

[Lili Marlene]

ah,i was just gonna pull you up on the apparent safety of pharms

"adverse drug reactions from drugs that are properly prescribed and properly administered cause about 106,000 deaths per year, making prescription drugs the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. Compare this to the death toll from illegal drugs -- which is about 10,000 per year"

http://www.healthiertalk.com/prescription-drugs-more-likely-kill-you-recreational-drugs-0112

BAN EVERYTHING

 

[Serpico]

BAN EVERYTHING

At last a bit of common sense.

 

[Los Davos]

including prescription drugs? i.e. throw away the whole testing infrastructure that's been in place for decades to ensure the safety of drugs?

Recreational.

I didn't say anything about testing.

 

[magicbastarder]

i know, which is why i brought it up.
if you don't have to test recreational drugs, why should big pharma have to go through their mandatory testing mechanisms when they introduce a new drug?

 

[Serpico]

Mainly because people are prescribed pharmaceutical drugs and take them on trust (in their GP or in the HSE). The choice of whether to take them or not is partly taken away from you when you are looking to the experts for medical assistance. Not the case with recreational drugs. You pay your money and you take your chances. It's completely your choice to take them or not. No expert is telling you that you should. Quite the opposite.

 

[magicbastarder]

there are lots of drugs which are theoretically only available on prescription or under medical supervision which are also taken recreationally. there is no easy divide between the two.

 

[Serpico]

there are lots of drugs which are theoretically only available on prescription or under medical supervision which are also taken recreationally. there is no easy divide between the two.

Don't be ridiculous. The point is, if you take a drug for recreational purposes you do it of your own volition. If you are prescribed a drug then you are taking it on someone elses say so. Whether people take pharmaceuticals for recreational purposes is irrelevant. That's not why they test them. They test them so that doctors and hospitals can stand over their safety, not so Heath Ledger can get fucked up. As soon as they start prescribing recreational substances they should start testing them. Until then, buyer beware. As long as they keep giving pharmaceuticals to people in hospital, then they need to test them stringently.

 

[magicbastarder]

all that is true, but relatively moot.

the pharmacy companies would *love* to categorise every drug they make as a recreational drug, and see their costs plummet. then the docs would be able to tell you to take an over the counter medication.
they would have a legitimate grievance that massively psychoactive drugs were available without testing - and without supervision of supply - where they have to go through a massively expensive testing process for a drug with essentially mild effects which then can only be supplied under supervision.

i'm not saying it's impossible to do, i'm just saying that most people who are in favour of legalising recreational drugs don't consider the fact that 'it's the drugs *i* want to take' doesn't count as a category which is easy to legislate for.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

It used to be notoriously common in Ireland, specifically in Counties Tyrone and Derry, to imbibe ether.
From the 1880s up til the early 20th century it was a popular pursuit. So there.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/25291724
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1114/1224258814873.html

 

[ann post]

i was hoping there would be a lot more puns on this thread.

 

[Thebeard]

Very strange, I was about to make the exact same post this morning but got distracted. I was hoping people would be able to re-HASH a few old puns myself.

i was hoping there would be a lot more puns on this thread.

 

[ann post]

i guess they all must be burned out on legal highs.

 

[ernesto]

you're an asshole

Very strange, I was about to make the exact same post this morning but got distracted. I was hoping people would be able to re-HASH a few old puns myself.