MPs and Illegal Drugs

[Anna]

Just as I thought, young man. Now, take your hands out of those pockets, wipe your nose - no, NOT on your sleeve! - and run along.

Whoops, had me wrists slapped there good and proper. Didn't realise Lat was referring to fags (in the non-Eton fashion) thought it were about drugs. Excusez moi, must pop outside for an 7mg tar and 8 mg carbon monoxide fix, but I thought we were talking about proper drugs?

[eighthobstruction]

You can [or rather i bet] bet that a great deal of this rogue reporting/hacking etc etc happened while ten sheets to the wind on several lines of coke....TRUE....

[Lateralthinking1]

Yes, I think that's true. I tend to look these days very closely at peoples' nostrils.

......incidentally, the worldwide research which shows that nicotine alleviates the symptoms of schizophrenia was harshly and ignorantly overlooked. Most of the illegal things are more likely to be causal.

[Serial_Apologist]

Whoops, had me wrists slapped there good and proper. Didn't realise Lat was referring to fags (in the non-Eton fashion) thought it were about drugs. Excusez moi, must pop outside for an 7mg tar and 8 mg carbon monoxide fix, but I thought we were talking about proper drugs?

He wan't reefer-ring to what Americans call "fags", either!

[Anna]

He wan't reefer-ring to what Americans call "fags", either!

No, but how many of us, that attending Uni or College, ain't toked on a spliff. Very few I suspect

[mangerton]

No, but how many of us, that attending Uni or College, ain't toked on a spliff. Very few I suspect

Well, I am one of the very few. Or at any time before or since. OTOH, I smoked from the age of 16 to 42. "Everybody" did, but that's really no excuse. And I started drinking at the same age, and have no intention of stopping.

[Anna]

And I started drinking at the same age, and have no intention of stopping.

Oh Dear, I was going to say Cheers, but ... it makes me look, well, sort of well, not middle class enogh.

[Flosshilde]

90% of the energy has been targeted at a legal substance, so they are using age to divert from the real issue which is inequality between families. Direct parallel there I think - and it is a trend!

If by 'a legal substance' you are referring to tobacco, I don't think that's true.

Lateral, you sem to think that the legal drugs - alcohol & nicotine - are inherantly legal; they aren't - it's just that their use is so wide-spread that politicians would balk at making them illegal. The USA tried criminalising alcohol, & they ended up with the same situation we have now with drugs like cocaine - manufactured & distributed by criminals, with war between rival gangs, & contaminated, so that people often died. This is one of the arguments put forward for the legalisation of cocaine - it would then be controllable in the way that tobacco & alcohol is (although the latter less successfully).

Cannabis & Cocaine were perfectly legal in the 19th century (Sherlock Holmes used the latter) - I think well into the 20th century.

[scottycelt]

Well, I am one of the very few. Or at any time before or since. OTOH, I smoked from the age of 16 to 42. "Everybody" did, but that's really no excuse. And I started drinking at the same age, and have no intention of stopping.

Same here, mangerton, though I stopped smoking a bit earlier, when I suddenly realised how much I was giving Denis Healey to squander before he went to the IMF and had to raise taxes even further to help bail the wretched country out ..

Fortunately, I've never had quite the same concern about funding our seemingly permanent National Debt whilst enjoying my favourite tipple ..

[Lateralthinking1]

I think that there is a good argument to say that the shift in recent decades from MPs' use of tobacco to cannabis, coke and ecstasy has been a significant contributory factor in policies becoming incoherent and even schizoid.

(PS Don't get me wrong. I like a lot of middle class people. I prefer many to a lot of average types. However, not if they are filthy rich or have acquired money through making others' lives miserable).

[johnb]

Humbug!

[Anna]

Humbug!

Never mind that minty nonsense, I have CHOCOLATE !! Please form an orderly queue.

[Lateralthinking1]

I like mint and chocolate. Compare and contrast the following, I dare you:

1. Louise Mensch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Mensch

2. Octavia Hill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Hill

This is what I mean when I say that things have gone seriously downhill.

[Flosshilde]

No, but how many of us, that attending Uni or College, ain't toked on a spliff. Very few I suspect

I didn't, because I didn't smoke. But I have had it in chocolate cake, scones, & a steak pie. The steak pie episode resulted in me falling asleep at the dinner table (something I've not done since Sunday lunch in my childhood). The other two times I ended up very giddy & giggly.

[Anna]

I didn't, because I didn't smoke. ). The other two times I ended up very giddy & giggly.

So, basically, Flossie, you landed up a giggly person. As, to be honest, we all have, and is it so bad? No, I don't think so. we try it once, well, that does not make us a criminal, just youthful and experimental. So, back to the topic. Does it matter a toss if MPs have indulged in drugs in their youth as we all have? No. Benson & Hedges is another matter of course