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(Vienna) The United Nations drug agency warned on world anti-drugs day that even occasional use of marijuana is a link in a long and dangerous cycle of crime, degradation and terrorism.

"The links between organized crime, drug trafficking, drug consumption, drug money, arms trafficking and terrorism become clearer every day," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), on Sunday. "We know that even the occasional marijuana smoker is a link in a much longer and more dangerous chain."

And in a message to mark an international anti-drug day, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that drugs are "little more than tickets to a dead end."

Governments marked the day with drug bonfires, and, in the case of China, by executing convicted drug traffickers.

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[ 27 June 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

But just a few minutes ago, I started thinking that maybe I'd like to "graduate" to doing "speedballs" (what killed John Belushi) A-N-D I think I'd also like to kill somebody for the mob.

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Originally posted by DrConway:
I'm always amused at the way China kicks off Drug Warrior Day by executing people, and nobody blinks.

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Originally posted by NDP Newbie:
double fuck

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[ 27 June 2005: Message edited by: Rufus Polson ]

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Originally posted by Coyote:
What about China?

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I hate China more than I hate the U.S. or the U.N.

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Originally posted by Briguy:
The answer seems clear, then. Legalize pot and take it off the black market.

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I thought legalization in Canada would solve all the problems until I read this playboy article posted on cannabis culture's forums.

Given the size of the US demand, legalizing pot here wont put a dent on the exports. It's wishful thinking to believe that this business will remain outside the control of organized crime. As every previous attempt at prohibition showed us, the harder the repression (let's say, if the profit from legal marijuana is used to fight the illegal crops and smuggling), the higher the prices go, the most likely it will fall under the umbrella of mafia groups.

[ 27 June 2005: Message edited by: NDP Newbie ]

If China were to make ice cream illegal, would we go through any trouble to make ice-cream illegal in Canada, or hunt down "illegal" ice-cream churn-ops that were smuggling ice-cream into China?

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Originally posted by Coyote:
Could you please take the NDP out of your name, Newbie?

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Don't kid yourself: I think Osama is the epitomy of evil, but I am like those Mexican soccer fans who were screaming his name in that I also recognise that he could not exist and have the following he has were not for the bullying, the suffering, and the oppression that Russians/Soviet, the Americans, the Chinese, and their allies have systematically inflicted upon the less powerful in our world.

[ 27 June 2005: Message edited by: NDP Newbie ]

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Originally posted by Mr. Magoo:
Ya, Osama's like the Robin Hood of the poor and disenfranchised, if Robin Hood were a multimillionaire made rich by the very country he despises.

Osama's got it real tough. I can see why he's so angry.

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