South African Woman Jailed 25 Years For Heroin Smuggling

[Junglejumbo]

South Africa isn't the most run down of African Nations. Actually its the most prosperous in terms of wealth and education so she can't claim to be one of these naive innocents who didn't know what the hel_l they were doing.

If she was white she could have written a book about her time at the Hilton but being African nobody would bother reading her side of things, sadly.

Well, she'll have plenty of African friends in prison. She's a lucky young lady though. She'll almost certainly be out fairly soon probably after 10-12 years unless there's unspeakable upheaval in Thailand in the meantime which of course there's more than a fair chance....

[SiriusBlack1]

South Africa isn't the most run down of African Nations. Actually its the most prosperous

Yes, but South Africa still has a lot of poor, desperate people. Its income disparity is one of the world's worst, worse than Brazil. Unemployment remains high, and many of the majority black people are in a dire state.

I don't know this woman's particulars, but as I stated above, in South Africa the mules are often trapped in some way, made to repay some "debt" real or imagined, or their families are threatened. Even if this is not the case, the point I and others made about the madness of the "war against drugs" stands.

[HagenvonTronje]

What a bunch of dim-witted censorious moralists!! You actually seem to think that the mere carrying of drugs is evil, and that taking them is terrible, and that this poor woman deserves this sentence. You obviously think that prohibition is sensible and right.

The "war on drugs" is an idiocy that has created most of the criminality in the world today and cost society untold billions and untold misery. Drugs should be decriminalised and state-controlled, with support and care for addicts. That policy would be an immense improvement on the current state of affairs worldwide (except in a few enlightened European countries), costing the whole lot of us far far less in taxes and suffering.

People who support the current drastic penalisation of drug-takers and drug-traders are simply out to lunch.

You've obviously never had a spouse, son or daughter die from the evil of chemicals in humans! The animals that push drugs into people who, for whatever reason, become addicted on the road to hel_l are propagated by these people - I would not waste the bowl of rice on her - the bullet yes! Next. Get a life!

so how many spouses, sons and daughters you had that died from the evil chemicals in human? i am sorry for your loss, but is that loss alone an argument at all that don't need further explanation? does that now gives you the right to decide who should get a life or get life, or the bullet?

read here to find a few more people animals (to use your choice of words) you can chase with your bullets:

The Independent: Parents say heroin and ecstasy should be legal

BBC: 'Legalise drugs, for other parents' sake'

so there are obviously people with a different opinion than yours and you just create some drama without any deeper knowledge on the subject.

[lordsux]

I remember Colin Powell asking Thaksin why so many drug dealers were being wasted up north?!

His response "Resisting arrest!"

I rest my case.

BR>Jack

PS Every kid & liberal should watch the movie Midnight Express - maybe that will build some discipline or at least common sense. .

This post stuck out to me. What you're basically saying is that if you do get caught smuggling drugs, then it's 'common sense' to kill a prison warden and escape from the prison?

[phil2]

I read somewhere that Africans are soft targets - that they are most likely to commit the crime and because there is no rule of law in their own country, and presume that Thailand is equally lax. There is plenty of free board at the Hilton. Serves her right.

That is one huge haul of contraband - where did you say she stashed it all?!

BR>Jack

There's rule of law in your country yet westerners get caught doing the same thing here and in all other Asian countries. Not to mention shoplifting and some other petty crimes. You should visit the Hilton and see the statistics yourself. You should also post the link to your source of information.

Edited June 19, 2009 by phil2

[britainmal]

Foreigners no longer receive the dealth penalty anymore, just life. That is the maximum sentence. The women prisons' are better than the men's prisons.

[Grey11]

Thailand has gone soft. 25 years to easy on her what is wrong can't they afford the rope.

In this day and age we would hope to have evolved from the sentencing of the death penalty.

In the name of what ?, business, profits, etc. What will it cost the taxpayers to keep her in the Hilton for 25 years...ok, probably not much although in the states, on average it takes about 50k USD a year to 'care' for one inmate and many prisons are private companies.....

...agreed, this fool was trying to smuggle a nasty drug for profit & fee plus airfare.....she would definitely not be classified as a humanist, so let her do her time. But what about convicted murderers & rapists who claim no innocence, spend years in prison, paroled and commit the same or worse crime and it's back to the slammer @ $50,000 a year to Mr & Mrs taxpayer.....Many people in jail for minor offenses but the budget needs to be increased every year so more people need to be arrested.........this was before the financial meltdown.....the Governor of California told voters if they didn't vote for his agenda then he would have no choice but to release 30,000 convicted criminals onto the streets without funds to pay the 50,000 dollars a year per man.....that's a savings of 1.5 billion dollars that taxpayers are responsible for.........(sorry for rambling), just my 2 cents.......nothing wrong with eliminating someone who has conscientiously ended someone else s life.......most especially, re-peat offenders..........if she pays enough to the right people she won't be in jail long

Everything is expensive in California. In Texas it only costs the taxpayers around $25,000 per year to keep a convicted criminal in prison. That is half of what it costs in California. And, that includes air conditioning almost year round. In Northern Calif. I don't think one even needs air conditions because of the cold temperature. It probably costs less than $500 a year for food for Thai prisoners. Rice is cheap. Being able to pay one's way out ain't all that bad. Politicians in the U.S. have been keeping out of jail for hundreds of years by paying the right people.

[tartempion]

Outside of politics we need Thaksin to handle this scum. Thais cant afford the jails to take care of this vermon. Didnt he do a great job with yabba dealers!

Sure, an unknow number out the +-3500 killed had nothing to do with drugs, just revenge or some issues with a neighbour.

Each province had a target to reach by a certain date, remember?

P.S. What is vermon?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vermon

No results found for vermon:

[zorro1]

Outside of politics we need Thaksin to handle this scum. Thais cant afford the jails to take care of this vermon. Didnt he do a great job with yabba dealers!

Sure, an unknow number out the +-3500 killed had nothing to do with drugs, just revenge or some issues with a neighbour.

Each province had a target to reach by a certain date, remember?

P.S. What is vermon?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vermon

No results found for vermon:

You have to expect some "collateral damage" . I suppose you could argue there are thousand of innocent people in jail or sent to the gallows over the years as well. No system is perfect

vermon was a typo

"Vermin (in some dialect regions, Varmint^[1] or Varmit) is a term applied to various animal species regarded as pests or nuisances and especially to those associated with the carrying of disease. "

Edited June 20, 2009 by zorro1

[brahmburgers]

article in Time on this http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,...1893946,00.html

excerpt from article:

The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.

The paper found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.

"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."

Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

- - - - end of excerpt - - - - -

You've obviously never had a spouse, son or daughter die from the evil of chemicals in humans! The animals that push drugs into people who, for whatever reason, become addicted on the road to hel_l are propagated by these people - I would not waste the bowl of rice on her - the bullet yes! Next. Get a life!

the same could be said for a lot of chemically laden products foisted on consumers. If you want to go around incarcerating and/or shooting every vendor who might poison you or your family members, you better have a lot of bullets. Besides tobacco and alcohol, there are chemicals sprayed on foods, debilitating chemicals in pharma products, chemical emissions in air and water from factories, formaldehyde in new mattresses (wrapped in plastic), .....the list goes on and on. I've got a new book coming out titled, FASTING FOR YOUR HEALTH AND YOUR HIGHNESS - which articulates many such man-made hazards.

[jackr]

legalize it, state controlled diamorphine for hard core users, methadone programs for the more stable clients who decided to stay away from heroin and live a normal living.

The stuff will still be out on the streets ruining lives. Users need serious prison time along with your treatment; smugglers/pushers the gallows.

[Padrino]

What a bunch of dim-witted censorious moralists!! You actually seem to think that the mere carrying of drugs is evil, and that taking them is terrible, and that this poor woman deserves this sentence. You obviously think that prohibition is sensible and right.

The "war on drugs" is an idiocy that has created most of the criminality in the world today and cost society untold billions and untold misery. Drugs should be decriminalised and state-controlled, with support and care for addicts. That policy would be an immense improvement on the current state of affairs worldwide (except in a few enlightened European countries), costing the whole lot of us far far less in taxes and suffering.

People who support the current drastic penalisation of drug-takers and drug-traders are simply out to lunch.

Oh praise be, I was reading through this thread and seriously worrying that the whole forum were fascists, finally someone posts something sensible. I often wonder how dictators and fascist regimes rise to power in the modern era, they do so off the back of self righteous, moralistic little hitlers, the sort of people who hold antiquated views on killing and incarcerating poeple who are victims of a system created and perpetuated by those that purport to care about society.

What seriously annoys me is that whenever these drug related stories come up British people post without even a thinking about our role in the Opium wars and general drug trade though Asia. I am a Brit and know full well we started something Asia has never managed to finish or deal with effectively.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Padrino

[neverdie]

499g of yummy brown sugga? dam_n wished i had 1g now :-(

Ohhhh, its all clear to me now, why I have a PM from you.

We should get real serious about this stuff, PRONTO, and elimate everyone involved from woe to go.

Yes, all these grubs should be executed, SIMPLE!

[franko1]

Thailand has gone soft. 25 years to easy on her what is wrong can't they afford the rope.

In this day and age we would hope to have evolved from the sentencing of the death penalty.

If there is 1 person we dont need in Thailand, its Taksin. I think he earned enough over the heads of Thai people. Thats known over the whole world, thats why he is persona non grata in most countries. So keep him and his lies away from this beautifull country!

[ScubaBuddha]

Thailand has gone soft. 25 years to easy on her what is wrong can't they afford the rope.

In this day and age we would hope to have evolved from the sentencing of the death penalty.

In the name of what ?, business, profits, etc. What will it cost the taxpayers to keep her in the Hilton for 25 years...ok, probably not much although in the states, on average it takes about 50k USD a year to 'care' for one inmate and many prisons are private companies.....

...agreed, this fool was trying to smuggle a nasty drug for profit & fee plus airfare.....she would definitely not be classified as a humanist, so let her do her time. But what about convicted murderers & rapists who claim no innocence, spend years in prison, paroled and commit the same or worse crime and it's back to the slammer @ $50,000 a year to Mr & Mrs taxpayer.....Many people in jail for minor offenses but the budget needs to be increased every year so more people need to be arrested.........this was before the financial meltdown.....the Governor of California told voters if they didn't vote for his agenda then he would have no choice but to release 30,000 convicted criminals onto the streets without funds to pay the 50,000 dollars a year per man.....that's a savings of 1.5 billion dollars that taxpayers are responsible for.........(sorry for rambling), just my 2 cents.......nothing wrong with eliminating someone who has conscientiously ended someone else s life.......most especially, re-peat offenders..........if she pays enough to the right people she won't be in jail long

Everything is expensive in California. In Texas it only costs the taxpayers around $25,000 per year to keep a convicted criminal in prison. That is half of what it costs in California. And, that includes air conditioning almost year round. In Northern Calif. I don't think one even needs air conditions because of the cold temperature. It probably costs less than $500 a year for food for Thai prisoners. Rice is cheap. Being able to pay one's way out ain't all that bad. Politicians in the U.S. have been keeping out of jail for hundreds of years by paying the right people.

Agreed, very expensive in Cali. Half the year it is warm to very hot in Northern California, especially in the central valley where many of the states prisons are. The rest of the year it is cool to very cold, so now your paying for heat.

You can edit your comment "Politicians in the U.S. have been keeping out of jail for hundreds of years by paying the right people." this way: "Wealthy and or influential people around the world have been keeping out of jail for hundreds of years by paying the right people." and it would be just as accurate.

[Tango7]

What a bunch of dim-witted censorious moralists!! You actually seem to think that the mere carrying of drugs is evil, and that taking them is terrible, and that this poor woman deserves this sentence. You obviously think that prohibition is sensible and right.

The "war on drugs" is an idiocy that has created most of the criminality in the world today and cost society untold billions and untold misery. Drugs should be decriminalised and state-controlled, with support and care for addicts. That policy would be an immense improvement on the current state of affairs worldwide (except in a few enlightened European countries), costing the whole lot of us far far less in taxes and suffering.

People who support the current drastic penalisation of drug-takers and drug-traders are simply out to lunch.

Could you not have said the same thing in a less demeaning manor ? "dim-witted censorious moralists"...... please !

[Thighlander]

Cambodia spends 1000 Riel per day caring for its prisoners. That's 24 cents per day (USD).

[luvU2much500THB]

I'm amazed that people still think drug dealers smuggle drugs across borders. The drug dealers are far far away from this part of the operation.

You could gut every caught smuggler like a fish on live television and people will still be carrying drugs across the borders.

The simple fact is, the war on drugs does not work and will never work.

State control and decriminalisation is the way forward.

YES YOU dam_n RIGHT!!!!

95% of this forum readers and posters have no glue about heroin and drugs because they not take it and never took.

I took heroin for years and I´m in a State controlled methadone program 13 years now (drug free) and it´s a good thing.

No need for doing ciminal stuff anymore,no stress.

[brahmburgers]

I'm amazed that people still think drug dealers smuggle drugs across borders. The drug dealers are far far away from this part of the operation.

You could gut every caught smuggler like a fish on live television and people will still be carrying drugs across the borders.

The simple fact is, the war on drugs does not work and will never work.

State control and decriminalisation is the way forward.

YES YOU dam_n RIGHT!!!!

95% of this forum readers and posters have no glue about heroin and drugs because they not take it and never took.

I took heroin for years and I´m in a State controlled methadone program 13 years now (drug free) and it´s a good thing.

No need for doing ciminal stuff anymore,no stress.

I agree that the people making drug laws should have a better idea of what they're dealing with. Similarly, it would not seem fair if the people who never smoked tobacco or never drank any alcoholic drinks were to make harsh laws on such things. Current laws are draconian, and they punish people having relatively benign substances (pot and hemp, for example) with similarly severe punishments as the harder stuff - while simultaneously allowing the most harmful group of drugs (alcoholic drinks) to be peddled and ingested with no legal repercussions.

Speaking of hemp: It's currently illegal to grow in Thailand. Main reason: US lawmakers continue to be anal retentive about hemp, stemming from ridiculous laws enacted decades ago. In case readers don't know, hemp contains nearly no THC (you could smoke a garbage pail full of hemp and all you'd get is a headache), but the plant parts are amazingly useful. Just two of many examples: Volvo uses hemp hurd in the construction of their car seats. A nutritious Canadian snack is made from hemp seed. Even Thailand's queen is open minded in regard to the myriad benefits of hemp. Yet it's criminalized in Thailand - because Thailand's leaders cannot stray from following the American dictate that hemp is an illegal drug subject to harsh penalties.

P.S. Hemp is legally grown in China, Australia, Canada, and many other countries. If Thai farmers were allowed to farm hemp - the benefits would be many. Plus, it grows hardy on crappy soil.

Edited June 21, 2009 by brahmburgers

[zorro1]

yes Hemp Is already used as a pain relief drug in many parts of the world and theoretically is already legal in OZ maybe a slap on the wrist and small fine if they could be bothered. I don't think most question this however inevitably all posts on TV regarding heroin always end up drawing comparisons to the lowest denominator being pot. The 2 are light years apart and shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence or the same thread IMO

[brahmburgers]

yes Hemp Is already used as a pain relief drug in many parts of the world and theoretically is already legal in OZ maybe a slap on the wrist and small fine if they could be bothered. I don't think most question this however inevitably all posts on TV regarding heroin always end up drawing comparisons to the lowest denominator being pot. The 2 are light years apart and shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence or the same thread IMO

well, people like you and me have the knowledge to know they're quite different. However, the sage leaders who craft the laws don't know, or else they purposefully want to screw up vulnerable peoples' lives. What I and a few other posters are asserting is heroin has bad effects on soceity, but it's not the devil that it's made out to be by some. Let the punishment fit the crime.

The young African woman did a very stupid thing, but it was first offense. Do you condone a society that locks someone up for 25 years for doing something stupid?

On the other side of the coin, there's a cop murderer out there, who is the son of a powerful politician, who gets promoted to high gov't positions. Is there something wrong with this picture?

[zorro1]

I don't know if there is a comparison to smuggling heroin. It would be the same Sentence in the USA as well so not just Thailand. What the prosecutors work on is the avg death through overdose/ Kilo of commercial grade which in effect makes the carrier part of mass murder/manslaughter and i do believe the figure is in the 100'S per kilo of pure grade uncut smack. You kill one person one time and there is no discount for 1st offense. Also she may have made a dozen runs previously undetected . Many developing countries go with the death sentence on all drugs because IMO they don't have the man power or technology to search every one that arrives so the hard time is a strong deterrent. customs at BKK is a bit of a joke...

[HagenvonTronje]

I don't know if there is a comparison to smuggling heroin. It would be the same Sentence in the USA as well so not just Thailand. What the prosecutors work on is the avg death through overdose/ Kilo of commercial grade which in effect makes the carrier part of mass murder/manslaughter and i do believe the figure is in the 100'S per kilo of pure grade uncut smack.

why is a drug mule responsible for someone taking an overdose? the drug mules doesn't force anybody to buy and take drugs.

clean pure medical grade H wouldn't actually cause so much problems for the health of an user. that it is cut and mixed with other chemicals is the main problem and with non-sterile needles for example.

decriminalisation and a controlled sale, like good clean stuff that users can by in a pharmacy and not some dirty smack in a shaddy corner, that could reduce the number of death.

[jackspratt]

You have to expect some "collateral damage" . I suppose you could argue there are thousand of innocent people in jail or sent to the gallows over the years as well. No system is perfect

So if you, or a close relative, or someone you love, gets caught up in the next "War on Drugs", the headstone can read:

" RIP

Don't Grieve for Me - I Was Collateral Damage.

After All - No System is Perfect "

I am sure we will all understand.

Edited June 21, 2009 by jackspratt

[2long]

In this day and age we would hope to have evolved from the sentencing of the death penalty.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hate this kind of spineless attitude. Plenty of people in the wolrd deserve to die, particularly scum-sucking drug dealers. She was a stupid slut and got off easy as far as I'm concerned. The world needs more death penalty. Put it on tv, I'll watch it!

[LP-BKK]

What a bunch of dim-witted censorious moralists!! You actually seem to think that the mere carrying of drugs is evil, and that taking them is terrible, and that this poor woman deserves this sentence. You obviously think that prohibition is sensible and right.

The "war on drugs" is an idiocy that has created most of the criminality in the world today and cost society untold billions and untold misery. Drugs should be decriminalised and state-controlled, with support and care for addicts. That policy would be an immense improvement on the current state of affairs worldwide (except in a few enlightened European countries), costing the whole lot of us far far less in taxes and suffering.

People who support the current drastic penalisation of drug-takers and drug-traders are simply out to lunch.

I completely agree, there are too many neoconservatives on this forum in need a serrious reality check. Just think of the drug wars taking place in Mexico right now - If Cocaine was made legal the killings would stop straight away. And there would also be no one standing on street corners in the US and Europe pushing it to the vulnerable.

[Sisaketmike]

South African woman jailed 25 years for heroin smuggling

BANGKOK: -- The Criminal Court Thursday sentenced a South African woman to 25 years in jail and fine of Bt1 million after convicting her in attempting to smuggle 499 grammes of heroin out of the kingdom to China.

Pendu Montando Evidence, 25, was arrested at the Suvarnabhumi International airport on November 16 last year before boarding a flight of Thai Air Asia to Shenzhen. Authorities found 48 bags of heroin hidden on her.

-- The Nation 2009-06-18

Original story:

South African Woman Arrested Trying To Smuggle Out 3 Million Baht Of Heroin

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/South-Africa...ug-t223336.html

Hi,

I'm actually from Europe, but I decided to live in Thailand. I'm working with all needed documents like a work permit and a proper visa. It's my seventh year in this country.

A lot of my friends died OD. Aids, Hep. C, or other unneeeded stuff. Because I know what I'm talking about I wouldn't let that bitch out of jail any more. 500 grams streched with Strychnin or other shit would have killed at least some people. One Gram is good for more than 15 shots, now we're talking about a crime. Do your own Math, or look at friends who are addicted to H. A bullet would be better, cause she didn't care about others life. And I guess you all know the Nigerian connection who bring all shit to Thailand, and afterwards those bastards become English teacher? No MERCY for all of them.

[luvU2much500THB]

South African woman jailed 25 years for heroin smuggling

BANGKOK: -- The Criminal Court Thursday sentenced a South African woman to 25 years in jail and fine of Bt1 million after convicting her in attempting to smuggle 499 grammes of heroin out of the kingdom to China.

Pendu Montando Evidence, 25, was arrested at the Suvarnabhumi International airport on November 16 last year before boarding a flight of Thai Air Asia to Shenzhen. Authorities found 48 bags of heroin hidden on her.

-- The Nation 2009-06-18

Original story:

South African Woman Arrested Trying To Smuggle Out 3 Million Baht Of Heroin

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/South-Africa...ug-t223336.html

Hi,

I'm actually from Europe, but I decided to live in Thailand. I'm working with all needed documents like a work permit and a proper visa. It's my seventh year in this country.

A lot of my friends died OD. Aids, Hep. C, or other unneeeded stuff. Because I know what I'm talking about I wouldn't let that bitch out of jail any more. 500 grams streched with Strychnin or other shit would have killed at least some people. One Gram is good for more than 15 shots, now we're talking about a crime. Do your own Math, or look at friends who are addicted to H. A bullet would be better, cause she didn't care about others life. And I guess you all know the Nigerian connection who bring all shit to Thailand, and afterwards those bastards become English teacher? No MERCY for all of them.

Streched with Strychnin? For an extra "kick"?

Milk-Powder ,Paracetamol, Acetylsalicylacid or Ascorbinacid (Vitamin C) ok but STRYCHNIN?

Isn´t that rat poison? That could kill human beings also if injected.

[brahmburgers]

I don't know if there is a comparison to smuggling heroin. It would be the same Sentence in the USA as well so not just Thailand. What the prosecutors work on is the avg death through overdose/ Kilo of commercial grade which in effect makes the carrier part of mass murder/manslaughter and i do believe the figure is in the 100'S per kilo of pure grade uncut smack. You kill one person one time and there is no discount for 1st offense.

Statistics like that are bunk. A kilo of H might put 1,000 users on the floor of their dingy apartments and back alleys, in a drug-induced daze for a couple hours apiece. You want to play with statistics? Take a shot of Mekong whiskey in the gut of a Thai bus driver. Same driver plunges over a cliff and kills 52 innocents. How many deaths per liter of whiskey from that scenario? You want to get the paddy wagons and round up every person who's involved with peddling alcoholic beverages? You'll need a lot of wagons and jail space.

Streched with Strychnin? For an extra "kick"? Milk-Powder ,Paracetamol, Acetylsalicylacid or Ascorbinacid (Vitamin C) ok but STRYCHNIN? Isn´t that rat poison? That could kill human beings also if injected.

If people are rabid enough in their anti-drug crusade, they can assert anything. How about cutting H with ricin, or arsenic? any takers? Seems like it wouldn't do much good if you're looking for repeat customers, if you send them all to painful deaths.

[aussiejosh]

The plain and simple fact is, after 70 years of this intense war on drugs (Thinking of the Anslinger days in the US when the DEA was formed) IS NOT GOING TO END, YOUR NOT GOING TO WIN. (Not the opium wars in China although you could argue that or many other previous societies attempts to criminalize substances...)

The is no money generation within this system. Well not that I can see, if it is supposedly working like it is working (which I doubt but I'll get to that) then where is the money being created? The idea is, you seize the substance, arrest the 'bad guy'. Prosecutes him, and jail him. Who just paid for all of that? And its not like they are going to go out and sell the product in order to recover the expense, perhaps some money was seized, but really how often can that outweigh the cost of a huge operation? Thousands of man hours, assets being used, informants being paid, surveillance ect ect. So other than the officers being paid and their money going into the economy how DOES THIS BENEFIT ANYONE?

If you decriminalize the substance, use tax revenue to educated and treat, then you are going to see less numbers of users, reformed people getting back to 'normal' lives and WOW there is actual money creation in this process! ZOMGZ much better than any other previous policy.

Its not rocket science gentlemen, the current system is obviously failing. The evidence for this system being better is mounting. Again I cite Portugals example (decriminalizing all substances in 2001). So whats the fear?

Perhaps the fear is how wrong you have been for so long. How many people have died or had their lives wasted? 'HOW could we have been so wrong?'

And yet these are still popular and supported policies. Especially by the look of opinions in here. It makes me sad our society hasn't grown up a little. At least in here. AND THE WAR ON DRUGS IS LOST.

Edited June 22, 2009 by aussiejosh