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IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
1. Rebranding Europe’s far right
Europe’s new far right have claimed the progressive causes of the left, writes Sasha Polakow-Suransky, by depicting Muslim immigrants as the primary threat to gay rights, women’s equality and protecting Jews from anti-semitism. It’s part of their rebranding, and it’s very effective.
(The Guardian, approx 38 mins reading time)
These parties have built a coherent ideology and steadily chipped away at the establishment parties’ hold on power by pursuing a new and devastatingly effective electoral strategy. They have made a very public break with the symbols of the old right’s past, distancing themselves from skinheads, neo-Nazis and homophobes. They have also deftly co-opted the causes, policies and rhetoric of their opponents. They have sought to outflank the left when it comes to defending a strong welfare state and protecting social benefits that they claim are threatened by an influx of freeloading migrants.
2. The untold story of the Bastille Day attacker
In July 2016, a horrific attack took place on Bastille Day in Nice. This story tells the strange but true story of the attacker.
(GQ, approx 36 mins reading time)
At 10:32, Lahouaiej Bouhlel pulled onto the Promenade’s wide southern thoroughfare. He rode along with the traffic for 1,000 feet or so until, across from the children’s hospital that would soon receive the crushed and mutilated, he drove up onto the broad sidewalk, filled now with revelers and families. He had extinguished his headlights. Soon came the crack of exploding seaside benches, and the dull thud of bodies spinning off the front edges of the truck. Its driver grinned.
The alt-right has started to create its own media world, one which it says readers can trust. Buzzfeed describes it as the ‘upside down’ like in Stranger Things – a parallel universe with its own ‘alternative facts’.
(Buzzfeed, approx 15 mins reading time)
If you live in the mainstream media world, the New Media Upside Down can be hard to find — the only real crossover between the two worlds is on Twitter, where its leaders lambaste mainstream news reports often with the aim of discrediting them. It’s (reasonably) young and hungry, and has risen with Trump all the way to the White House — where Steve Bannon, who helped construct this upside-down media world while running Breitbart News, now holds sway as senior counselor to the president himself.
There are people who believe disaster is coming to civilisation… and there are the rich who are preparing for that disaster in a very intense way – like Reddit’s CEO, who has had laser eye surgery to improve his odds of surviving the world’s end.
(The New Yorker, approx 43 mins reading time)
Antonio García Martínez, a forty-year-old former Facebook product manager living in San Francisco, bought five wooded acres on an island in the Pacific Northwest and brought in generators, solar panels, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. “When society loses a healthy founding myth, it descends into chaos,” he told me. The author of “Chaos Monkeys,” an acerbic Silicon Valley memoir, García Martínez wanted a refuge that would be far from cities but not entirely isolated. “All these dudes think that one guy alone could somehow withstand the roving mob,” he said. “No, you’re going to need to form a local militia. You just need so many things to actually ride out the apocalypse.”
Rick Perlstein is a lecturer, and last year he asked a student of his why he voted for Trump. His answer is interesting reading.
(Mother Jones, approx 10mins reading time)
But while Peter’s analysis is at odds with much of the data, his overall story does fit a national pattern. Trump voters report experiencing greater-than-average levels of economic anxiety, even though they tend have better-than-average incomes. And they are inclined to blame economic instability on the federal government—even, sometimes, when it flows from private corporations. Peter wrote about the sense of salvation his neighbors felt when a Walmart came to town: “Now there were enough jobs, even part-time jobs…But Walmart constantly got attacked by unions nationally and with federal regulations; someone lost their job, or their job became part-time.”
6. Stalked, then diagnosed with cancer
American sports presenter Erin Andrews was stalked in 2008, a case that was brought to court last year. But what people didn’t realise that was that she was also secretly fighting cervical cancer.
(MMQB, approx 14 mins reading time)
Andrews did not tell colleagues of her diagnosis. She worked that Sunday’s game, then flew home to L.A. She missed the Monday and Tuesday tapings of Dancing with the Stars; ABC said she took time off to support boyfriend (now fiancé) Jarret Stoll and his grieving family. (Stoll’s 17-year-old nephew had been killed in a car accident that weekend.) That, in part, was true. But Andrews was mostly dealing with her diagnosis.
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
In 2003, Laura Hillenbrand wrote about her experience of a sudden and strange illness that knocked her sideways.
(The New Yorker, approx mins reading time)
Sometimes I’d look at words or pictures but see only meaningless shapes. I’d stare at clocks and not understand what the positions of the hands meant. Words from different parts of a page appeared to be grouped together in bizarre sentences: “Endangered Condors Charged in Shotgun Killing.” In conversation, I’d think of one word but say something completely unrelated: “hotel” became “plankton”; “cup” came out “elastic.” I couldn’t hang on to a thought long enough to carry it through a sentence. When I tried to cross the street, the motion of the cars became so disorienting that I couldn’t move. I was at a sensory distance from the world, as if I were wrapped in clear plastic.
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Gardai are also warning of a liquid substance thats is known to be sold in public houses ,supermarkets and off licences around the country that has been known to cause addiction, extreme violence and death in some people.!!!..
common oppinion: ‘shut up you hippie. Taking drugs means ur stupid and deserve to die . dats why dere illiegal…glug glug glug.’
Is it just illegal drugs that mean people are stupid or is it prescription ones aswell.? If its just illegal ones then it must be the government that makes people stupid by making them illegal in the first place.
You’ve no idea what’s in any of these Powders or pills, or indeed what kind of an arse/stomach etc carried them to these shores.
That’s why drugs should be legalized, so we know it’s top quality pharmaceutical grade Ecstasy that we are taking.
Never mind it being legalised just don’t be stupid enough to take it in the first place
Surely it’s more stupid to make knee jerk reactionary comments about a subject you have no direct experience or knowledge of?
people who take drugs in combination with other drugs are asking for trouble.
Who died? Where did they die? What age were they? Did the receive medical attention? Very little information here.
hard core drugs should never be legalised. there will always be a black market. weed however can be grown by anyone and they know exactly what they are getting when they grow their own plants.
Are you implying that it’s less stupid to take an ecstasy pill which you have no idea what the contents of it are than to make a “knee jerk” comment? I count the first as potentially life threatening, the second not so much.
Potentially.. That’s a nice vague weasel word there..
Taking ecstasy is about as *potentially* dangerous as crossing the road. For every one bad story you hear thousands more just go out, feel happy, hug people, gurn their chops off, and then have deep and meaningful conversations about their feelings on the comedown.
This is why legalisation is important. Without the added fillers that lead to the potential danger, the drug itself is quite safe. Make it legal, then you can have quality control and you remove the majority of the potential danger.
You were dismissing legalisation, and advocating the just say no approach. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results – how long have we had the “just say no” campaign? and how effective has it been?
Perhaps it’s time to ditch the black and white thinking and realise that there’s quite frankly, better ways of dealing with the situation?
Ecstasy doesn’t kill people. The campaign to “just say no” kills people.
Prohibition kills people.
I respect peoples attempts to back up whst they feel is right through logic and reasoning…sort of…more so than people just coming out with ridiculous statements. Obviously people have died from taking ecstasy tablets before, and this wont be the last time someone does unfortunately.
Yes, people have died. But how many of those deaths were directly attributable to MDMA toxicity?
We have dehydration and drowning from not replacing body salts (inadequate education), getting batches cut with dodgy fillers (quality control), and doing stupid things (that could be attributed to drink too, as well as general stupidity).
Legalisation and education would reduce at least some of those deaths from happening wouldn’t it?
Besides, if the fatalities are what makes up your mind, surely alcohol and cigarettes should be outright banned – then sugar, and any processed foods.
Should always go to a reputable dealer
Reputable dealer… What ffu(king planet are you in.. A dealer only wants your money he couldn’t give a shit about you.
Death is bad business
oh yaboy dats right people dying means repeat customers afteral. ur on the ball. u shud go on talk to joe, or read the indo.
Death may be bad business and no repeat business from dead customers…but in the dealers eyes they are collateral damage, acceptable losses etc… Do you honestly believe any dealer gives a rats a** about any of his addicts/users… If you do then your taking too much sh*t and deluding yourself…
You must know alot of dealers to know that every one of them is without concience..but lets say your right all the more reason to legalise it and take the business away from them….
These are the same tablets that were in Belfast a few months ago. If you going to be taken any of this crap get a drug kit online so as to be sure your not poisoning yourself.
These deaths could be easily prevented, if only our government used scientific evidence to create sensible drug policies. MDMA the active ingredient found in ecstasy is in fact a fairly safe drug to consume, it’s only when it’s prohibited and driven underground that it becomes a real danger to society.
FOOL YOU NO DRUGS ARE SAFE -YOU ARE ONLY FOOLING YOURSELF.
Calm down there James, I said fairly safe, not harmless.
Hi James. May I remind you that many people use drugs to help keep them alive. Or relieve painful symptoms. These drugs are regulated of course and available from pharmacies throughout the country. Which makes a nonsense of your post. Cheers C
Only a fool would blame the government for their own stupidity and lack of self control. Grow up and try living in the real world and not some drug induced euphoric state. Too many people expect somebody else to take responsibility for their own actions.
Government create the environment for the black market to thrive. Anyone looking to make money on the sale of doggy goods will water down, or bulk up with other substances. People are going to take drugs for the rest of mankind’s existence in one form or another, If the government made paracetamol Illegal then there would be a blackmarket open up in that area, and next we’d have this article repeated but for paracetamol and not ecstasy.
PLEASE do remind me ,the drugs you describe are normally called-MEDICINES-
A remember a so called safe medicine called Thalidomide.
Look it up if you’re not familiar with it.
Charlie I don’t think James was referring to prescription drugs…
see if drugs were legalized people could actually get good stuff thats not full of dirt.
people will always take the stuff so why not legalize it, tax it and
make people get a license to use.
obviously people would still take advantage of this but isnt it better to take something that’s not gonna kill them.
And receive the correct information about them.
Blanket legalization’s not the answer, can you imagine the kind of damage the likes of Phizer would do with these drugs if they were allowed market them etc? but it’s clear the current way is not working either.
IMO the best solution would be:
1. Legalize marijuana for private production and personal use.
2. License (on tender) one drug company to produce the other drugs. They won’t get any profits. They get paid a flat amount each year by the state, out of the sales, for running the company. No marketing is allowed, sale is only to those over 21 and we can have xyz restrictions in place (say an ID card you have to have to buy them with that will lock out after certain amount of purchases, require people to submit to treatment alongside getting certain drugs etc)
3. Decriminalize ALL drug USE regardless of where the drugs they are consuming come from. Grown adults should be allowed take their own risks
4. Focus all the power of the state on those selling to teenagers and adolescents outside the legal system. Life sentence on first offense, that means life, and forfeiture of all property to the state.
5. Use the profits from the licenced company to fund a new comprehensive drug treatment and prevention service including information campaigns, rehab, safe injection sites, the works..effectively making the problem self funding.
Some people might be more willing to try ‘softer’ (bad term I know) stuff like X if the states regulating the contents, but so what if they do? It’s their choice. The state regulating the contents and dosage will make bad reactions far less lilkley (nothing will ever eliminate them, by their nature they will always harm some people, people with preexisting heart problems will always react badly to a drug that raises your heartrate like ecstasy).
As for the harder stuff, I don’t know about you, but I’m no more willing to try heroin no matter who’s the one selling it.
We’d end up with less overdoses, less bad reactions from toxic ingredients, police time and talent won’t be wasted any more on chasing down grown adults who’ve a right to put into their own bodies what they choose…addiction services with the funding would be VASTLY improved…it’s win win win.
Great ideas. We could also create a mandatory drug education scheme, a half day or full day course on the effects and dangers of using various drugs, which an adult would have to complete before they can purchase.
At the moment the message seems to be ”just say no”.
I remember we had a different guy and it was a way more effective lesson. He came in and explained how amazing drugs xyz can make you feel, but then brilliantly explained how the hook works, that at first you’re taking them to feel good…then eventually you have to take higher and higher doses to get the same good feeling…then eventually you’re talking them just to feel normal and function…then it takes higher doses to even get that…then you do too much damage and you die.
That’s a better way of pitching it. I’ve seen how this works in fitness even, if you tell people they ”CAN’T ” have xyz food it just makes them want it more, if you tell them ”you can have it, you’re a grown adult you can have whatever you like, but understand it means xyz effect…so thats the choice it’s up to you” it works better, once you try to deny people something there is an automatic reflex to try to get it.
No Jonathan that ‘s what happens when governments do silly things like outlaw substances, most of which are far less harmful than alcohol,and allow criminals to exploit undeniable aspects of the human condition namely people having a good time by adding poisons to these drugs.Did you know pure ecstasy is completely safe?? No sympathy for them?? If you were aware of how much drug use actually goes on you’d realise driving is more dangerous (referring to cannabis/mushrooms/ecstasy etc.) so your attitude to someone who dies tomorrow in a car crash would be no sympathy for them? Idiot.
so your saying its the government fault? ha ha and you call me the idiot. how do you reckon driving is more dangerous? why would i have sympathy for someone who goes out taking these stupid drugs and dies? and as for stalking my fb acc, you sad little man, get a life.
Driving kills more people…a lot more.
What’s frustrating is the amount of police that have this circular logic mindset…we have to keep them criminalized because they fund crime and result in deaths…but they only do those things because they were criminalized in the first place this is not like legalizing murder where it would still exist, the criminalization took a moderate, manageable problem and made it into a much bigger problem.
Jonathan we are getting a lot of –thumbs down- we must be UPSETTING – them ,
Well it oft said ” THE TRUTH HURTS”.so do drugs.
that’s what happens when you do silly things and take drugs. no sympathy for them. its their families i fell sorry for.
Unfortunately this is what happens when these substances are illegal and unregulated. Pure MDMA has been shown scientifically to be relatively harmless. Legalised and controlled ecstasy pills would contain no rat poison or other such bulking agent which was the actual cause of these deaths.
Ye hash, MDMA etc are harmless, next you’ll be telling us pure cocaine and heroine are harmless
there is no justifying taking these drugs. if people can’t enjoy themselves drinking or smoking and feel they need these to have a good time, its sad.
Drink and smoking kills WAYYYYYYYYYY more people than narcotics Jonathan..by a factor of millions…so that’s not a very logical position.
Nicotine and alcohol are also drugs Jonathan. Fluich, don’t put words in my mouth please; I’m fully capable of doing that myself.
@ Fluich it
Pure Heroin would actually be more beneficial than the junk addicts take here. Injecting, the impurities cause a lot of the disease & ill heath we see from it. Varying strength of street junk causes a lot of the overdoses. Treated by a doctor using pure diamorphine could eradicate the heroin epidemic in a generation, the people who join the bandwagon of the press, the politicians & establishment heads who use it as a fear tool need to find out the facts before they regurgitate the nonsense & damaging mantras about subjects they basically know nothing about.
LOL.. Jonathan.. so your saying people should be content with taking certain drugs and not others. Suppose you have loads of sympathy for a person who goes out drinks stupid amounts of alcohol and kills themselves with alcohol poisoning, or maybe you have sympathy for the bloke that goes out drinks all night and comes home to beat his wife and kids. Sure, he’s only having a good time on substances deemed Legal by this country.
If tomorrow they made extacy legal would your point of view change. ?
So do pharmaceutical drugs , legal drugs kill far more people than illegal drugs!
im saying people know what they are getting when they go out for a pint and a smoke. they don’t know what they are getting with estacy. you can control how much you drink, but you can’t control what dealers have put into these pills
Just in time for the Life festival tomorrow. Don’t be surprised if there are more deaths over the weekend.
Meanwhile there has been no further action taken against public houses, newsagents and supermarkets across the country for selling deadly chemicals (alcohol, tobacco)on a daily basis which cause more deaths and social problems than all illegal drugs combined.
@Jonathan
Haha just saw your facebook account with your post off the smokes for 6 months.So you smoked? An act which is completely pointless and far beyond a ‘silly’ thing to do.At least there is some merit to alcohols consciousness altering properties but there is nothing to be gained from smoking.You’re a hypocritical idiot
Stalking my fb acc, you sad little man, get a life. you have issues, go get help.
They do that a lot on here. Few months ago someone refused to beleive me was me, which was flattering in an odd way, but it was still disturbing
Its not stalking if you make the information publicly available. Learn how to use Facebook if you don’t want people commenting it.
Well first Jimbo facebook randomly changes the settings all the time so people don’t realize whats public and not since they last tweaked their settings so thats a bit naive.
Second you should argue with someone based on the merits of your argument, when you need to go on their FB for ammunition to use against them it becomes an adhominum attack, which means you are starting to play the man instead of the ball, and then the argument you’re making looses all credibility, esp when it leads you to jump to really stupid conclusions which I’ve seen happen on here a lot.
Naïve is not keeping your online privacy settings up to date, its very easy to do.
Regardless…base your points on arguments not ad hominum attacks. You should never need to resort to it, if you do, you ought question the validity or your own argument.
I don’t care if it’s unpopular to say that, I suppose calling someone names will always get a cheap laugh and a few thumbs up but that does not make it right, or the persons argument any more valid.
Ryan, maybe poor sad jimbo should take some of these drugs that hes so in favour off, he obviously has issues if he needs to resort to stalking my fb acc to try back up his argument, which was? all drugs should be legal. good lad jim, you’l go far in this world. ha ha
Actually it was johnny on your fb page, not me.
PMA again for sure. Thanks prohibition!
Legalise & regulate!
It’s just like methanol contaminated moonshine during prohibition times.
Not Ecstasy, a different chemical. Possibly PMMA (para-Methoxy-N-methylamphetamine) or PMA, they are far more toxic than MDMA.
Safrole, a key chemical used to manufacture ecstasy (MDMA) is banned without a license. Large quantities of Safrole have been confiscated in raids the last few years, pure Safrole is now hard to get e.g.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/safrole-oil-storage-site-raided
As a result, illegal drug manufacturers are turning to a different starting chemical, Anethole. They are now making PMMA or MDMA contaminated with PMMA. This is killing people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para-Methoxy-N-methylamphetamine
Facts have no place in this debate. Drugz r bad, mkay.
Really good batch of pills come around, full of proper mdma which is safe pretty much. Then few months later, a replica batch but probably made with pma and not mdma come around, people think there still the good ones, drop to many – end result. An end to prohibition would STOP these unnecessary events. If you look at Holland, 0 ZERO NIL deaths, why? Because they are smart and educate people instead of sticking their head in the ground. Stay safe folks, keep the hugs and bottles of water flowing. It’d be nice if the journal reported every alcohol related death or negative event… Oh sure if they did that they’d have no time to report on anything else. Time to stop knocking good drugs (mdma, cannabis, lsd) and start knocking the real bad drugs (alcohol, tobacco).
Almost forgot about one of the nastiest drugs out there – prescription. Every time you point a finger theres 3 pointing back.
Keep taking them ,
Sure the worse thing that can happen is,
it will be your last one…..
SPOT ON TOP CAT .
If the government aren’t going to legislate and regulate then the very least they could do would be to provide testing facilities.
If you have your drugs checked before you take them you have a better chance of knowing what risks you are and are not taking.
There’s testing facilities in the UK, and the Netherlands too as far as I know – people are going to keep taking drugs that same way they continue to drink to excess. If you won’t take control of the market and enforce quality control, then the only other option to protect people’s safety is to provide testing facilities.
Government policy is so backwards that they won’t even contemplate an idea that they see as condoning drug use.
Anyone that is into their pills should consider the eztest kits..
The UK tried to ban them a few years ago but later changed as they can save lives, drug squads use the same kits.
One kiddie cried all the water out of his body while on the stuff. Imagine how his mother must have felt.
A girl puked up her pelvic bone!
And 12 teenagers were trampled to death in a cow field at midnight while on the stuff.
One boy walked out into the street and got hit by a tram, he thought he had a month to cross the road!
One lad got hit in the middle of the road by a milk float doing 6MPH while he was stacking cardboard boxes in a neat pyramid.
What sort of gombeen do you have to be to take stuff like this anyway?! Lord only knows what’s used in it as bulking agents..!!
In most of the cocaine in Ireland it’s baking soda, it’s not always something nefarious..the number of nefarious contents would be zero if they were legalized in a controlled way..
It may not always be something dodgy, but there’s always that chance, and when there is it ends up in stories like this.
Legalisation & regulation would certainly help ensure the product is pure, but outside of cannabis, it’s hard to see any other substance ever becoming legal.
There is always the chance, which is why I generally have not touched them..but people should have the choice.
It is hard to see now, but it was hard to see gay rugby players, black Gardas and working class people on a college campus in the 1980s…but they all came.
History moves on, trends move on, politics moves on.
Anybody who buys drugs are taking a major risk to their health and their lives!
Stop buying drugs.
Go to rehab
A little known fact, it is consuming drugs that causes them to have an effect, not buying them.
They tried to make me but I said no,no,no….
Rehab is for quitters
Not everyone who uses drugs occasionally is an addict requiring rehab..jesus the ignorance on here is amazing.
Very few do Ryan. The nay sayers are largely uneducated on such matters.
No, no, no ;-)
Dermot O’Reilly…..Are you any relation to the Minister of Health?
I do not recall saying people who use drugs occaionally is/are an addict ,but must be prepared to accept the outcome for so doing ….
Journal.ie should post an image of what they look like….
I clicked on your facebook page Jonathan because I was interested to see how stupid you actually were.It took 3 seconds.It can be done by just clicking on your name in case you’re not aware.I’m not sure you understand what defines stalking.Not sure you understand much in general really.Each comment you leave tops the last for stupidity.
Hope all ok down in life festival this weekend. People are going to take drugs no matter what. It’s time to stop scare tactics and come up with a completely new way of looking at this so called “war on drugs”. The current outdated stance being used across the world for many years is not working. Education and regulation is the way to go next.
IF PEOPLE ARE PREPARED TO TAKE THESE DRUGS THEN THEY ARE ONLY TO BLAME FOR THE OUTCOME OR THEIR OWN DEMISE.YES IT IS A TRAGEDY WHAT HAPPENED ,BUT IF YOU PLAY WITH DRUGS AT SOME POINT THEY WILL DO YOU HARM .SO IF PEOPLE WANT TO LIVE A LONG LIFE –NO DRUGS ARE SAFE ,I REPEAT NO DRUGS ARE SAFE.
You know nothing then James. A crock of sh*%$t TBH.
Funny if someone drank alcohol that had a poisonous additive in it that killed them would you be saying the same thing you f#ckin hypocrite
HANG ON HE MIGHT HAVE A POINT. HE DID POST IN CAPITALS
True Joe
& 90 people a month do die here from alcohol…..
Shows the power of propaganda and social/convention/conditioning.
yes i would and going by the response it would seem I have hit a raw nerve with a lot of people I make NO apoligies drugs in any form do damage whether it is alcohol- cannabis -ecstasy-or otherwise .and no I am no holy joe myself I have been that fool myself .so i can speak from experience and believe me it is a LIVING HELL I would not wish on anyone regardless.you see I thought that I would not ever get hooked but I did and not alone did I damage myself but my loving family as well .but Thank God I have come through it –damaged yes–but alive
So before you slag me off think .
Just because you had no self control with your drug use that doesn’t mean that others are unable to use drugs responsibly. Most casual drug users are fully functional adults.
You took drugs and f$$ked up your life,now you see the light and say drugs are bad. Bollox.I’m sorry you had a negative drug experience but that’s not the experience of many recreational drug users who just want to go out and get off their tits every now and again. I don’t take pills or amphetamines anymore but do take MDMA,which is relatively clean,a few times a year, and smoke weed regularly. the notion that all drugs are bad is just untrue. People will take drugs, we as a society have to ensure that they are as safe as possible so that stories like this are not repeated.
ARE you for real! have you ever been in a treatment center?where a lot of so called CASUAL FULLY FUNCTIONAL adults go to to help them get their lives back. or do you not know the long waiting list that are there for the same said people.have you ever been in one or attened any AA meeting ? Idoubt it .and I firmly hope you never do .
Anybody who has to go in to treatment for drug abuse is clearly not a fully functional adult. The thing about it is that most people keep their drug use private. You have no idea what your neighbours are up to behind closed doors. Recreational drug use is a lot more common than you seem to think.
So because YOU have a compulsive tendency and had a bad experience, prohibit everything. And all without taking into account the opinion or experiences of the hundreds of of thousands of other people that have dabbled at some stage. That’s ridiculous FFS.
Do you support the banning of alcohol & tobacco products?
Of all the people I knew who used to take party pharmaceuticals, very few ever developed a problem worthy of treatment. Most of us just grew out of it. Some dabble occasionally now, but the every weekend usage is a distant memory now.
If you needed treatment or your life fell apart because of drugs then you had a problem. The vast majority of users don’t have a problem. But if the products were legal, then perhaps some of the tax revenues could go toward education and treatment..
Id say james needs more treatment, he seems to have misunderstood the meaning of ‘fully functional’
I may not know much ,but do you eric? have you dabbled? suffered the effects ?unless you have i suggest you dun do bheal mas se do thoile.
No Eric I don’t support banning anything not up to me people make their own choices in life ,but when people make the choice to take DRUGS of any description and end up dead it’s pointless saying they came from a bad batch.I don’t know is there such a thing as a good batch.you seem to have the answers I do not .
In fairness James, if you’ve been through drug rehab and attend AA or NA, then it’s likely that your views are completely biased, as you’ve had a problem with drugs and meet others on a regular basis that have shared similar negative experiences, but the high majority of people who use drugs recreationally do not suffer in the same way that you have, as mentioned above most people use them in moderation, have their fun and then go back to living completely normal functioning lives afterwards.
It’s also worth considering that if drugs were legalised, there wouldn’t be any stigma attached to seeking help, if I had a problem with alcohol, I could openly admit it to family, friends & work colleagues, without having to worry about the consequences of doing so, yet if I developed a problem with illegal drugs it’s a whole different matter. Market regulation, education and proper treatment (medical not criminal) is what’s required to limit the harms that drugs can cause.
please explain joe perhaps i misunderstood the phrase. and to -SHANTAI- I don’t recall saying I took pharmaceuticals drugs read between the lines alcohol is every bit as addictive and soul destroying as your estacys-cocaine etc etc .and don’t worry if this present goverment thought they could tax the illegal drugs or indeed legalise them they would have done it a long time ago ,.
Apologies, you didn’t. As the article was about ecstasy I was sort of focused on that side of things.
To be fair, you got addicted to alcohol, one of the most socially acceptable and also most harmful drugs we have in our society. I decided drink wasn’t for me when I was 19. I didn’t like who I was when I got drunk so I stopped drinking, but I realise that it’s not that easy for everyone. I would like to see any taxes generated from legalisation ringfenced for education and treatment because there *are* people out there who are more prone to addiction, and they need help in facing that problem – but it doesn’t mean the rest of society should be protected from something that ultimately isn’t going to do them that much harm if they are sensible about it.
Yes cannabis and just maybe the amount of people been shot in Dublin recently has nothing to do with drugs I suppose that does not matter.and when you say most people go back to “NORMAL LIVES” what do the others do –wher do they get the money to continue their “UN/DIS NORMAL LIVES i doubt it’s by working from 9-5 more by mugging -theft and in general robbery .but that OK sure it’s only a few .
Well the majority of those shootings are as a result of the fact that the drugs are illegal than the drugs themselves.. It’s more related to dealers and disputes than users.
If you were buying your drugs in a licensed dispensary you wouldn’t be getting them “on tick” with someone who adds 100% interest on your debt whenever they feel like it.
In the last 4 days…Who takes e Sunday-Thurs?? Well for them.
So that’s blue ghosts, green apples and green rolexes. Ah to be young again.
purple carpets, too.
Some of the pathetic kids who post here need drugs of some sort to make their boring lives seem interesting. But drugs are only a fictionalised version of reality. They should grow up and take responsibility for their own lives.
Ale, man, ale’s the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world’s not.
And faith, ’tis pleasant till ’tis past:
The mischief is that ’twill not last.
Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
And left my necktie god knows where,
And carried half-way home, or near,
Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer:
Then the world seemed none so bad,
And I myself a sterling lad;
And down in lovely muck I’ve lain,
Happy till I woke again.
Then I saw the morning sky:
Heigho, the tale was all a lie;
The world, it was the old world yet,
I was I, my things were wet,
And nothing now remained to do
But begin the game anew.
AE Housman
Pickart. Why are you quoting a man who when on tour in France smoked hashish and opium. He even mention it in his poetry. Side note : You seem in other posts to be against gay marriage. Well this lad was also gay.
I like a bit of Krokodile myself and a dance at the local town hall.
How about some clarkey cat – have you got any?
If you’re gonna take drugs be prepared for the possible consequences.Hate seeing all the B.S after ah poor such and such.Tough if you do something stupid and dangerous and die well it’s your own fault.
Thse new evil pills are rumoured to contain a new substance called ”SPLAZZ” a leathal combination of horrible stuff that would definetly be stopped by your outrage and an even LARGER garda crackdown and harsher punishments than any that have previously failed to suceed in the decades since the war on drugs began. But remember legalising and regulating is an idea that only druggies would want and if you support regulation and harm minimalisation then you clearly have no respect for the people whove died because the gards are definetsly gonna win somehow. So lets keep the profits in the hands of dangerous criminals and the contents of the drugs unkown and uncontroled….cos thats the sensible way and im sure no more people will die as a result.
I did a lot of Xtc in my teens and early 20s im 30 now so retired from that scene a good few years ago but im not ashamed to admit i had some of the best nights of my life on pills. I grew up and moved with my life but looking back now i can still say it was awesome. But its down to personal choice to do drugs like these or now. Back in the day Pure mdma was in E’s but that stuff is very difficult to find now even in those mad countrys were it was made so they are comming up with similar stuff to use instead which is sometimes not same to take. Almost fuc all pills these days have Mdma in them but some cheap substitute which can mess you up.
Who is supplying these drugs, they have already killed 10 people in Belfast.
The same breed of people that would have been kneecapping two decades ago.
f you could please only take these substances between the hours of 9-5.30 monday to Friday. No one there to take your call at the weekend if you find you’re in need of help.
some cut backs in the emergency services were there? good job Kelley.
Ecstasy was first used a prescription drug for couples engaging in marriage counselling…so feel the love people!
and id be nervous eating herbs from China, what kind of moron takes knock off pharmaceuticals
Festival season about to start so lets start this debate on drugs and statistics on deaths. Shame thing last year if I remember rightly
Stick to the 2cb’s till the gov pulls its head out of its hole
I dont do drugs anymore and i dont condone them either, but i have to say i agree with the legalization or decriminalization of some the schedule one drugs that are out there, ecstasy being one of them. Ecstasy is fairly safe in its pure form. Only 6 deaths have ever occured when ecstacy was administered purely by itself. All but one of them died because of the other prescription drugs they were taking at the time. I believe they were blood pressure medications. The other died from dehydration because he was out in the sun all day in 100+ degree weather. All of this is well documented information. If ecstasy was legalized or decriminalized, more people would take the time to read about the effects and potential side effects before trying it. Making it illegal does make it more desirable to some who take it without any prior knowledge or desire to care how it affects their bodies. Ecstasy was made 1912 by the pharmaceutical company merck as an antidepressant. It was prescribed to people and worked with great success. Doctors began to use it for psychotherapy, treating people from depression to schizophrenia. It became so popular in the mid 50s that doctors were selling it as a miracle pill with 800 numbers etc. The DEA saw how popular the drug had become and wanted it under their regulation. They immediately scheduled as class 1. Not because t was dangerous but because they could make more money off of arrests. The medical association took the DEA to fight the regulation and won getting it knocked down to schedule 3. The same as cannabis. However the head director of the DEA claimed the judge as incompetent and had him disbarred, scheduling mdma back to schedule 1. There is still no clear evidence of serious harmful or negative impacts from taking mdma. Its all about how much money the DEA can make. They’re is no distinct difference between prescription drugs now and mdma itself. However, some main ingredients of mdma have recently become illegal and the new ingredients that people are using to make MDMA is relatively unstable and extremely toxic. If they made mdma legal or more legal, then there would clearly be less deaths but the government just wants your money.
THE LAST WORDS ON THIS `(1) The thumbs up are in the majority,
(2)IT SEEMS THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE USING DRUGS RECREATIONLEY THAN I THOUGHT
(3) IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY CARRY ON AND TO HECK WITH THE OUTCOME.
(4)PLENTY OF ROOM IN THE GRAVEYARDS FOR OVER USERS OR ABUSERS OF DRUGS.
AGUS SLAN LEAT ANOIS
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