[quote=“JoeyJoJoJnrShabadu”]
One friend suggested that the opium wars may have left a bad taste in China’s mouth but that doesn’t explain countries like Indonesia and Singapore etc etc. [/quote]
Read up some on European imperialism in Asia. Opium was used throughout SouthEast Asia as a means to subdue the population as well as bring in money for the colonial government. The first thing the Netherlands Indies administration in Indonesia did after taking Bali (1906) was to introduce opium through the Opiumregie.
[quote]The Dutch Golden Age is said to be partly financed by the trade in slaves, opium etc. In the 19th century the construction of railways and canals in the Netherlands was mostly financed by the profits from the East Indies.
In 1824 King William I founded the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM) ( Dutch Trade Company ) in order to finance the trade with the East Indies. Up to 1827 with only losses, so the King ordered that the opium trade should be the monopoly of the NHM. Within a few months the profits came available. A century later a memorial book was published in 1924 with general loss and profits figures about the opium trade. As King William I was the main shareholder of the NHM, he must have got a major part of the opium profits. Our present Queen (according to Forbes ) still keeps 10% of the shares of the ABN Amro bank, the present successor of the NHM after several bank merges.[/quote]
[quote]the foundation of Singapore as a colonial state was dependent on the opium trade. This opium was grown in India, delivered to the factories in Patna or Ghazipur (controlled by the English East India Company), packaged, shaped into balls and then sent overseas. [b]Trocki points out that two
the foundation of Singapore as a colonial state was dependent on the opium trade[/quote]
MM Lee Kuan Yew always brings this up. However, it is always to blame the white-ape imperialists. When Singapore’s government financially supports, does business with, and props up the Opium Kingpins/Military Junta in Myanmar, his PAP cronies don’t seem to get as angry. Hypocrites
Heroin is illegal in the Netherlands, as is marijuana. Yet, possession of a small amount of marijuana is “tolerated”, though not strictly legal. The Dutch do have a bizarre program where the state provides free heroin to heroin addicts, because they believe this will discourage the addicts from committing crimes to get the heroin.
I personally don’t think that people who are addicted to drugs belong in prison at all. Drugs addicts are medical cases, and should be cared for in rehabiliation programs, not locked away in prisons with real criminals. In Texas our county jails became so full of drug users (and dealers) that we had to create seperate, state-run jails to house them. Since we have no state income tax in Texas, this has raised our already phenomenally high property taxes.
I do think that drug dealers belong in prison, because the way I see it they’re the ones victimizing the addicts. But if we follow this line of reasoning to its logical end, then surely alcohol and tobacco manufacturers/sellers also belong in prison? If not, then how can we justify locking up drug dealers? One part of me wants to see people who grow and/or sell hard drugs locked up for getting people addicted, but another part of me knows this is highly illogical. If you sell ten tons of marijuana you’ll be in prison for life; if you sell ten tons of whiskey you live in a mansion and drive a Mercedes.
I do think that drug dealers belong in prison, because the way I see it they’re the ones victimizing the addicts. But if we follow this line of reasoning to its logical end, then surely alcohol and tobacco manufacturers/sellers also belong in prison? If not, then how can we justify locking up drug dealers? One part of me wants to see people who grow and/or sell hard drugs locked up for getting people addicted, but another part of me knows this is highly illogical. If you sell ten tons of marijuana you’ll be in prison for life; if you sell ten tons of whiskey you live in a mansion and drive a Mercedes.[/quote]
Alcohol is one of the worst drugs there is. Many, many people, including myself, on Forumosa can speak from experience on this. It’s both extremely addictive, extremely harmful, and extremely socially acceptable. However…
Prohibition did not work. We tried banning alcohol, but cold reality is cold reality. You cannot stop people from drinking. At least not when 90% of the people drink from time to time. So you have to make the best of a bad situation. That’s how I feel about illegal drugs… you can’t stop people from doing them, but you can provide them with medical help, and education.
when was the last time the republic of china executed someone for such a drug offense?
today’s pot ain’t your fathers. the old ditchweed stuff has been improved by enterprising dopeheads. maybe someone here in our community with first hand experience could regale us as how a nickel bag of columbia gold circa 1974 compares to some of that fuzzy purple bud chronic out there these days.
yes, the US prison industry is a profit maker for the shareholders. last i heard, the US with 5% of the world’s population has 25% of the world’s prisoners (not counting “enemy noncombatants”).
There is nothing bizzarre about it, it’s extremely pragmatic.
HG[/quote]
If the Dutch the government is going to spend the money and the effort, surely it would be better to put the heroin addicts into rehab than to give them heroin.
In fact, the Dutch have well established programs of treatment for their addicts and are engaged in serious scientific studies to find more effective remedies.
Certainly that sounds more advanced than the US response – throwing them in prison.
[quote]. . .between 1980 and 1997, drug arrests tripled in the United States. In 1997, four out of five drug arrests (79.5%) were for possession, with 44% of those arrests for marijuana offenses. Between 1980 and 1997, while the number of drug offenders entering prisons skyrocketed, the proportion of state prison space housing violent offenders declined from 55% to 47%.
Fully 76% of the increase in admissions to America’s prisons from 1978 to 1996 was attributable to non-violent offenders, much of that to persons incarcerated for drug offenses. . .[/quote] cjcj.org/pubs/poor/pp.html
Hypocrites 