This is a subject that always breeds stong feelings one way or another.Drugs have been a part of my life for more than 15 years now and it is a topic I have many contrasting thought on.

Personal freedom and responsibility are very important to me I believed all the rhetoric we were taught at school about freedom of speech and this country standing for the rights of the individual but then also there are the collective rights to take into account afterall democracy is about the will of the people as represented by the majority so we also have a responsibility to each other and the collective good of society as a whole

First of all although it says Inverness next to city in my profile I was born in England and therefore am English and proudly so,I say this so my next statement is not taken as a cross border attack.No government in this country will dare to upset the sensibilties of 'middle England'.Neither Labour or the Tories despite pre-electoral promises will legalize cannabis if they think that middle England would have an apopletic fit over their Times at the very thought of a cannabis den opening up on the high street next to Oxfam.The good Mr. and Mrs upper-middle class suburbia will have the final say on this matter and while they worry about the evils of cannabis harming young 'Laurence and Lucinda' and their school chums then the main parties will pander to the electorate.

But is this blanket ban on all drugs working? - well no,quite honestly the situation as it stands is worsening daily.Drugs are everywhere from inner-cities to rural back of beyond.

Will legalisation work? -
I don't see how because I can go out just now and get an ounce of weed for £40 and unless the government will supply it for cheaper then the exsisting dealers netwo
rks have no reason to stop.Some users might pay the government tax duty just to keep away from the dealers door and stay on the right side of the law but most will carry on getting it where they always have.

Should it be legal for medicinal purposes? -
To deny it to sufferers for,well I haven't heard a good reason why seems not only pointless but needlessly callous.If it gives real or even percieved relief to people why hold it back.In the face of the medical professions endorsement the government still don' seem to act - maybe fearing that once this doors open it can't be shut.

Does cannabis lead on to harder drugs? -
On it's own, no but in the present climate young kids have to go to older people who may influence them or by seeing older people take other drugs breed familiarity with these other which drugs takes the fear of these drugs away but also when told that cannabis is bad and then finding the effect not dangerous but pleasant can lead to a 'if they lied about dope then they lied about speed'reasoning.I know for both these situations lessened the fear of harder drugs for me when I was young.Also young impressionable teenagers tend to look up to their elders and when these elders are telling their drug anecdotes the young ones inevitably take note and adopt and act in a similar fashion with their mates - thinking it cool.That which is dangerous will always be cool to teenagers and that is fact.Also the drugs culture may appear glamourous and give them a certain standing amonst their peers if they are seen to be part of it.

Is de-criminalisation the answer? -
This will help say the student who get's caught with a half-ounce of weed as he/she will no longer have to worry about the possibility of a criminal record blighting his/her future.It won't stop the yo
ungest from getting sucked in because nothing will really change.

Are other drugs harmful? -
All drugs no matter what they are are harmful,it's just a question of degree.
* * I am a car valetter and not a pharmicologist or doctor so what I write about the following drugs is not cold hard fact but what I've learn't,seen and experienced in my time drug taking * *
* * These are my own opinions and are in no way the complete story * *

LSD - Lsd is a powerful hallucinagenic that taken by someone who has mental or emotional problems can cause severe distress and confusion,paranoia late into life and even the most mentally stable can take a bad trip which is never a good experience - this I know and although I freely attest to having no mental/emotional scars from many acid trips know people who have been affected for a long time after just taking one.

Speed - Amphetamines while not immediately dangerous in moderate doses can cause mental and phsyical problems over the long term in some people.I used speed regularly over many years and once again have suffered no ill affects that I know of none the less I became restless and down,moody and lost a lot of weight.Though not fiercely addictive when you get used to waking in the morning and having a line of speed to start your day,making you feel alive and alert and ready for anything it is harder to feel naturally good when you don't have it.Adjusting back was hard but then it is much in the mind and if you want to give up you will,likewise if you don't you won't.It can cause liver and kidney problems and paranioa and really can't be good in the short term let alone the long.

Ecstasy - I have taken ecstasy
on some occaisions though in no way could it be said to be regular occurance.It always made me feel sick so I never did it anywhere as much as speed and only once felt the classic loved-up sensation,that being my 21st birthday party and my first E may account for that.Never being able to recapture that feeling soon gave up trying.I have seen people in very bad ways with this drug and I am inclined to believe that it is dangerous.People seem to take bad reaction to it and physically shut down.Due to it's newness as a drug the long term effects aren't well known so I pesonally rate it as an even more dangerous drug in a list of basically/dangerou bad drugs.

Cocaine - I loved this one but it's price and availability hereabouts made it rare.The rush while superb is short-lived and leaves you wanting more.It can be highly addictive especially for those with weakened will power and the long term effects are like all drugs physical,emotional and mental.Like speed it makes you alert and alive but the hit being cleaner and better obviously makes it far harder to live without leaving a deeper sense of loss and depression and a greater need for more.Both bad/dangerous and expensive in excess this can be a highly addictive drug

Heroin - Nasty evil and filthy I smoked it once but being of a mature age was wise enough to never do it again.Highly addictive through smoking this drug kills and when injected becomes the whole world to it's user.I have seen too many people ruined or killed by this one.Every bit as bad as people say and then some.

These are the more common drugs out there but there are more besides - crack and valium - and though some might be class B - like speed or dubbed recreational like ecstasy they all can very quickly lead to a life of potential crime and addiction,any drug can be addictive,including cannabis.Just because they aren't said to be physically a
ddictive like heroin psychologicol addictions are every bit as real and hard to fight.There is little to recommend any of them and innocent experimentation can lead to a drug fuelled lifestyle without the user even noticing.These aren't the warnings of a do-gooder but of someone who spent too many years of his life on these past-times and although I never became heavily dependant or committed any crime to get my speed(bar selling it) I still wasted much more time that I should have spent living.

Do you still take drugs today? -
I do smoke cannabis occaisionally and will buy quality grass if it comes along but no,for all intents and purposes I've given up drugs having lost as good as 8years on them.At 19 already a seasoned drug taker I was getting somewhere in life by 21 I was at college doing an engineering degree,driving a nice car and with a girl I'd reckoned on spending the rest of my days with.By 23 I was in a one bedroomed flat on the dole selling speed barely able to hold onto the girl who left later that year - and no wonder I got round to thinking about her only once my speed was sorted for the day,I started to get back on track about 26 and meeting an old flame now with a friend I was woking with regained and lost her 'miss right no.2' so spent my millenium eiher drunk or speeding/coked out of all recognition finally 2yrs ago I said that's it and gave up all bar the smoke which has since faded to near nothing including the drink.What have I to show for this well now I'm 31 with no money to speak of,no references - plenty of highers but they don't count outside college and I'm in far too much debt for that.No woman,very little prospects of meeting another in my present situation and really it's all because I was too busy flying high to make a life for myself.This if you're lucky enough as I was to come out the other side in tact and not in jail is what happens with a
life of drugs

Are drugs harmful to society? -
Drugs that ruin people lives are harmful to society because inevitably the mess spills over and affects more than the individual user concerned.Whether it's the families or the victims that suffer,somebody somewhere will suffer.There is no one set answer as in all lifes questions because there are people living day to day lives working and contributing to society who regularly use drugs and dealers who have morals and ethics and sell to only their friends and those that want but for everyone of these there are ruthless,greedy and violent criminals who pray on the addicted and the whole thing perpetuates.The fact I still smoke cannabis occaisionally and the bit I buy helps keep the wheel turning.

Is there an answer? -
To the harder drugs,I would imagine only the only answer is to give people an alternative for a real future which is a discussion beyond the realms of this one.As far as cannabis is concerned I just can't see legalisation either making a difference or even happening for years to come.My suggestion for cannabis and what I'd like to see though still not a perfect solution is for those who want to smoke it to be able to grow their own.If that could happen it would take it,hopefully to a large degree out of the dealers hands.There would be those that couldn't be bothered and those that didn't have the space etc but hopefully it would create a more friendly,nieghbourly atmosphere around the whole area of obtainng it and help in some way to wrest it away from career professionals who deal in all drugs then perhaps the police could concentrate on the smack dealers and the like.


I believe if the government does become involved in cannabis I fear they're motive wil be to 'control and tax' which in my mind will do nothing to discourage the black market,I mean why would it?

> If anything it'd thrive as well if not better and if legalistion does re-occur I hope they actually think about what they are doing instead of how to limit access and how to best tax it and win voters.