Police crackdown on middle class

[Giles]

If I want to take drugs, then that is my right. It's my body and I can do with it as I wish.

I know I'm right about this, and my rightness transcends mere laws.

Giles..

 

[Fong]

First google result.

http://cocaine.org/dopamine/nucleus-accumbens.html

From a fanatically pro-drug (they think 'Brave New World' is the ideal) website no less.

I am sorry but all that said was that mice will choose cocaine, even mice lacking the Dopamine transporter gene.

I don't really see how that proves your earlier statement of:

Cocaine acts on parts of the brain which deals with memories and emotions.. this is the part of the brain that was central during our evolution, creating instincts and so on. So cocaine creates a physical dependance, and that's a biological fact.

How does that study prove this point exactly?

Place Preference just means that a mouse will choose to head towards 'markers' that it has been conditioned to know will provide that drug.....bit like when your dog goes mental when you get the lead out, that is a conditioned response because whenever you get the lead the dog gets to out.

Same thing here, put a mark the mouse will recognise and distinguish from other marks and then everytime you place the mouse in that environment, you give it a doss of Cocaine, then when you place it in a more neutrally marked place, you do not give it cocaine.

Then place it in a spot where it can head to either a neutral place or a cocaine marked place and see where it goes.

All the report that you linked said was that certain mice lacking a certain gene were still heading towards the coke.

Doesn't really explain how you came to the conclusion that Cocaine produces a physical addiction.

 

[Blagsta]

First google result.

http://cocaine.org/dopamine/nucleus-accumbens.html

From a fanatically pro-drug (they think 'Brave New World' is the ideal) website no less.

And that backs up your point...how exactly?

 

[MatthewEdwards]

Sting operations

Sting was always the weakest member of The Police.

Entrapment?

http://www.freebeagles.org/articles/entrapment.html

 

[treelover]

Off topic, then how on earth can you speak authoritatively or even argue about the many issues you raise or challenge.

I don't own a TV, don't read newspapers and don't listen to the radio.

 

[TeeJay]

The following is quoted from the Drugscope page about cocaine and crack: http://www.drugscope.org.uk/druginfo/drugsearch/ds_results.asp?file=\wip\11\1\1\cocaine_crack.html

EFFECTS/ RISKS

Cocaine and crack are strong but short acting stimulant drugs. They tend to make users feel more alert and energetic. Many users say they feel very confident and physically strong and believe they have great mental capacities. Common physical effects include dry mouth, sweating, loss of appetite and increased heart and pulse rate. At higher dose levels users may feel very anxious and panicky. The effects from snorting cocaine start quickly but only last for up to 30 minutes without repeating the dose. The effects come on even quicker when smoking crack but are even more short lived.

Large doses or quickly repeating doses over a period of hours can lead to extreme anxiety, paranoia and even hallucinations. These effects usually disappear as the drug is eliminated from the body. The after-effects of cocaine and crack use may include fatigue and depression as people come down from the high. Excessive doses can cause death from respiratory or heart failure but this is rare.

Cocaine may be adulterated with other substances and this may make it particularly dangerous to inject.

There is some debate as to whether tolerance or withdrawal symptoms occur with regular use of cocaine or crack. While it is true cocaine and crack are not physically addictive like heroin, it is misleading to define and therefore measure the existence of physical addiction using withdrawal symptoms associated with heroin. Each drug has it own unique physical effects, which in the case of cocaine amnd crack are very powerful. A chronic user of cocaine or crack will become very tolerant to the drug and their body also very used to the drug keeping them awake and functional. Once the user stops, which can prove very difficult for a regular or chronic user, they will very quickly start to feel tired, panicky, exhausted and unable to sleep, often causing extreme emotional and physical distress. This can manifest itself in symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting, the shakes, insomnia, anorexia and sweating, which for some can prove unbearable. Many chronic users are well aware of these symptoms and, in an attempt to avoid them as well as ensuing fatigue, are very reluctant to stop its use.

As far as crack is concerned, claims have been made that, unlike cocaine, it is instantly addictive making occasional or intermittent use impossible. Certainly, crack appears to induce an intense craving in some users which can rapidly develop into a 'binge' pattern of drug use. However, studies of people who have ever used crack show that nowhere near all go on to daily, dependent use and that when this happens it usually takes a few months. To become a dependent user of cocaine hydrochloride would usually take longer.

For both crack and cocaine, dependency is not inevitable. Whether people become dependent, and if so how quickly it happens, will vary depending on the individual user's mental state and circumstances. The fact that cocaine and crack are expensive means that people who become dependent may spend vast amounts of money. Those who are not wealthy may find themselves involved in crime or prostitution to fund a habit.

With everyday use restlessness, nausea, hyperactivity, insomnia and weight loss may develop. Some regular users become very 'wired' and paranoid. Lack of sleep and weight loss may lead to exhaustion and being very run down.

Repeated snorting of cocaine damages the membranes which line the nose. Repeated smoking of crack may cause breathing problems and partial loss of voice. Long term injecting may result in abscesses and infection with the added risk of hepatitis and HIV if injecting equipment is shared.

Pregnant women who heavily use cocaine or crack may experience complications and find that their babies are adversely effected. Much has been made in the American press of so called 'crack babies' and although some babies of crack using mothers may be irritable, difficult to comfort and feed poorly the extent to which this happens has often been exaggerated.

 

[spliffie]

Who said crack down "only on the middle class"?

The point is that up to now practically all the 'cracking down' has been directed against the working class, and actually the 'underclass'. That is why the war on drugs failed so far.

Now they're saying want to enforce the law for everyone.. this includes middle class people who never see the 'downside' to their drug taking because they're never confronted with it.

The question should be:
1/ why it took so long..
2/ and why the police are not going even further

Oh dear.

Do you really believe that swathes of people are going to stop snorting charlie because of this ridiculous scheme?

All this will mean is people are more careful about who they buy drugs from - a slight inconvienence at most. Considering the fact that every dealer i've known has been through mutual friends who know the guy personally (likewise for most drug users), so this really isn't going to deter anything.

I had to laugh at your "stupidity" comments about taking cocaine. A real display of complete ignorance. Most people who do coke have no problem with dependency and that's a fact.