I’d argue though that Portugal doesn’t have the hedonistic, self-destuctive lifestyle that Ireland has. I have a Portuguese friend and she told me that it’s considered shameful over there for an adult to even get drunk. I can’t imagine the abuse of drugs in a recreational manner was TOO much of a problem before decriminalisation, so it has had benefits for the Portguese drug addict. Ireland has a culture of young people in small towns, villages and cities getting blotto all weekend on whatever they can get their paws on. Legalising drugs would be a disaster.
How can something with no recorded fatalities be illegal? And how many deaths are there each year from alcohol?
I would have to agree with this. I think legalising certain drugs, particularly cannabis, would work in a lot of countries but Ireland is certainly not ready for it. It is acceptable, even encouraged, in Irish culture to get fucked up on whatever you can get hands on. It is probably best just to legally limit that to alcohol and not be making other substances for people to get fucked up on legal.
A&E wards would be emptier and less intimidating places if people were doing cannabis instead of alcohol.
The fact that cannabis doesn’t make you a lunatic the way booze does in the short term I don’t think makes it any better a drug. It can be abused daily with no outward negative signs. Which is dangerous. The amount of lads I know who have turned into absolute wasters from smoking every day is ridiculous.
Everything in moderation, as they say. Fact is, a huge amount of people can’t do moderation.
Trouble is we can say the same for gambling, alcohol, porn, lots of things.
FAO Fagan, it is widely agreed that the war on drugs has been a failure. Even by the US and international governments at recent conventions.
Making things illegal doesn’t work. So the question is how best to proceed? It’s obviously a very delicate issue, you cannot just legalise everything, small countries cannot go and legalise things on their own.
If cannabis were legalised a lot of criminal gangs revenue would be wiped out. There could be controls put in place on how much a single person could purchase/consume. It would prevent children/minors consuming it. It would be a massive source in revenue in tax and in savings for the gardai and customs. It would regulate the quality of cannabis sold to minimise it’s potential harm through added chemicals etc.
Irish culture treats alcohol like some kind of sacred chalice, particularly in teenage years.
Anyone who does not drink become seen as freaks particularly in that age group.
“Oh that pioneer is a dry shite”. I know lads who have never drank who are anything but dry shites.
Irish people also have this bizarre suspicion of people who are not drinking on a night out.
“That guy is not drinking, something must be up with him”. Yeah, I trust this drunken mess beside me much more.
Then on the opposite side of pioneers you have people who get messy drunk every and are seen as liginds and great craic. People going out for the weekend and declaring on Facebook etc… that it’s going to be a MAAAAAD!! night. No it’s going to be the same shit you do every weekend. Let’s drink so much on Friday night that we lose our bankcards, phone and passport, cannot function for the following two days and complain about the how long the work week has been at 1:34pm on a motherfucking Monday. Braindead stuff. Marry that up with what Thraw is saying about the Portuguese culture.
I honestly think if there was no age limit on alcohol the culture would change. Younger teenagers would not be obsessed with drinking and would not fall into the dangerous repetitive cycle of drinking every other day by the time they become adults. The cool kids in secondary school drink before everyone else because it’s illegal and that’s what makes them cool. How cool would it be if it wasn’t illegal? Those same kids would just be seen as wasters. The same way jobless wasters you see in every town in their early 20s who roll from week to week are seen. Without changing the culture changing legalising drugs and treating them like alcohol would be a disaster.
In saying all this I have 2 weddings this weekend and I’m going to drink the shit out of it for 4 days.
I’m a victim of our culture too. 
The Streets?
Get the Marlons in mate!
What are you getting at with your first question? I find myself agreeing with both Thraw and CLD on this. Just cos its worked in other countries doesn’t mean it’ll work here.
We’re an obsessive kind of society who can’t say no to things we shouldnt have. It’s not that alcohol causes all the problems mentioned by other posters, its our attitude to it that’s the problem.
You need to listen to ORIGINAL PIRATE MATERIAL mate, it’s all explained there as Gola intimates.
[quote=“SHANNONSIDER, post: 721397”]
You need to listen to ORIGINAL PIRATE MATERIAL mate, it’s all explained there as Gola intimates.[/quote]
Do you’ve a link going handy there?
Go off and find the statistics for the fatality rates due to alcohol and marijuana respectively and then you might understand what he’s getting at.
No to all.
Here you go mate, part 1 of 4. Terrific album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVme87qJXbE
+1
I feel very underclass listening to The Streets though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxF4vE67g40
If you wish to cut to the real debate, Mac, here you go. 
It’s almost a guilty pleasure now after hearing the scutter he brought out after this album which is brilliant to be fair.
[quote=“SHANNONSIDER, post: 721403”]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxF4vE67g40
If you wish to cut to the real debate, Mac, here you go. [/quote]
Well spotted SS.
Oi oi I’m mac and I’m a law abider, there’s nothing more I like than to get fired up on beer, and when the weekends here I exercise my right to get paralytic and fight.