Comments on: Social harm and drugs: Is something missing?

By: MikeE

MikeE — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:15:35 +0000

@Aburijal No, Aburijal - the biggest reason youth use drugs, is because they enjoy them.

By: MikeE

MikeE — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:05:46 +0000

@Paul Walker Yeah, those are teh cost of drug harm, they are the costs of prohibition harm, which are different. And again, they don't measure the benifits of drugs, i.e. fun, getting laid, funding the property industry, etc.

By: Aburijal

Aburijal — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:02:27 +0000

Drugs is affecting the youth, the biggest reason of drugs being used by the youth is the poorness they live in and for others the lack of supervising

By: newsupermusic - richard niki fuchs

newsupermusic - richard niki fuchs — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:36:52 +0000

the problem? people are talking about drugs – however never about the underlying reasons and problems, why people are using drugs/drinking a lot of alcohol… just for example? i know a man, his brother died in a dreadful accident, his father died by suicide and and and… what´s now? he is drinking a lot of alcohol… not any wonder… or another case: i know a 27 old young man who has been one of the best soccer players in his country at the age of 17 years old (not in new zealand – in another country) and then he had an accident – so he had to stop playing soccer – he is a morphium junkie now… i asked him why… he just said – he wish to be happy and he just wish to have a happy feeling… or michael jackson – who died not long ago – see comment on one of my websites – http://www.newsupermusic/newsupermusic and as long – as the underlying problems not get solved or it is not possible to solve the underlying problems – which are leading to the problem, that people are using drugs or alcoholics, all those discussions are very superficial nearly all the time and not leading to any positive results in my opinion! what i wish to say is, people wish to be happy and if they have problems or if they are not happy, then many people are beginning, to use drugs or to drink alcohol, to be happy/more happy or to forget their problems! and a discussion without all those aspects is a total nonsense in my opinion, most of the time – in my opinion – leading “to nothing”… newsupermusic – richard niki fuchs, herbststrasse 71-75/12/2, at-1160 wien, austria, europe.

By: Rebecca Dalton

Rebecca Dalton — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:01:31 +0000

I would like to see how much harm a kilo of coke does.

By: Kimble

Kimble — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:59:36 +0000

I think there IS a social cost of dope, the fact that it drains motivation from young people and destines them to a life on the dole (I grew up in West Auckland) means that others have to support them through the benefit system.

I struggle to come up with enough ideas for social benefits to offset that.

Of course I accept that it is possible that the nohoperism and loserdom came before the dope smoking. But I have amassed enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that otherwise intelligent, motivated young people can be made complacent with their lives very early in adulthood and live to regret it not very long after. They try to catch up, but its hard and the other option is easier.

Anyway, WTF is BERL going on about with premature death in relation to dope? Heroin yes, P yes, but marijuana? Are they serious?

By: Blair Anderson

Blair Anderson — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:48:59 +0000

Malfeasance!

By: Wine of Month Club

Wine of Month Club — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:48:12 +0000

Harm as in harm to the economy because so many less bags of potato chips were purchased? It’s a strange metric especially because it isn’t explained at all….yes the cops need to stop the flow of drugs but let’s be realistic about the costs on both sides!

By: Tongan Ninja

Tongan Ninja — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:27:42 +0000

I find it hard to belive that any harm can be associated with Marijuana. The only way I can see them being able to say they saved New Zealand from X amount of $ in social harm is the cost of the time of the enforcement, surveilance, court costs and imprisonment costs. All these people don’t work for free. I have been recommending a DVD to everyone I know. It’s called “The Union: The Business Behind Getting High.” Please watch and learn.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:55:50 +0000

90% of the “harm” figure for cannabis (table 6.2) comes from the full cost of production, as handwaved up by taking a percentage of the street price, because it could otherwise have been used to produce something “useful”, and the cost of the associated criminal activity and prosecutions, because it is illegal. Sigh.