Neither is smoking or drinking alcohol, but I dare say these take up as much, if not more, NHS resources than heroin addiction.

Why not legalise drugs and sell them over the counter??

It would quickly put paid to the smugglers dealers barons etc and tidy up a lot of the city streets!

Tax the drugs to the same extent as beer and alcohol thus creating billions of pounds for the health service.

Out of these funds create a campaign warning about the dangers of drugs in a similar way that has been done with cigarettes

Ok it'd never irradicate drug abuse but what would?? At least it'd create the oppurtunity to understand the depth of the problems and give a greater understanding of how to deal with the situation!

How would this ever work, i presume your not on about Cocaine, Special K, Speed, Crystals etc etc because if you were going to sell these over the counter the NHS would have to charge an arm and a leg to make money especially if you going to tax it, so it would still be cheaper from the dealer.

Cannabis should be given to sufferers of MS and such like and probably methadone to get Heroine addicts of the hard stuff but apart from that what do you propose to do with the other drugs.

I doubt it would stop the smugglers and the back street trade and your next point hits upon the reason why. By the time they have taxed them the price will be sky high on them so people will still go elsewhere to look for their fix in order to save money.

I agree that certain drugs such as cannabis should be legalised - on prescription at least - but I think the legalise them all is getting into risky ground in more ways than one!

Correct. See how cheap fags end up on the black market, or even bought legally on the continent and brought 'home' in suitcases. No doubt more illicity drugs are as Cheap on the Costas as the cigs and booze (generally) are.

I think it was Panorama a couple of years ago that claimed that if they were manufactured and processed legally drugs that were available on the street at a value of £1000 could be produced for less than £1

It'd stand an awful lot of tax at that rate.......plus it'd be clean and genuine!

I know it doesn't sit right morally and I'm not suggesting it is right but it's an arguement that does have its points!

What kind of drugs are we on about here because i can guarantee that the strong drugs cant be made clean and genuine for less than a £1.

The fact it is clean would push up the price though as a lot of what is available on the streets is cut with god knows what in order to make it stretch and boost profits.

By the time you have transported the drugs over here, packaged them and taxed them the price they were being sold for would be much more than that - and the retailers at every step of the chain would would want to make a profit so the price even before the tax would be much higher than your £1 then with the added on tax then you would still get the problem if them being sold illegally as whatever the price the shops are selling it for the dealers would be able to undercut

No you can't

That was the claim! It was either heroin or cocaine, it may have been both.

If the whole industry was legalised, the competition, the improved processing methods, the availabilty of raw materials etc!.............as cheap as manufacturing paracetamol.

The other intersting aspect they looked at was the creation of thousands of jobs as well!

the trouble with legalising is there will still be junkies who will still steal rob and kill to get them.

There kidding themselves, Cocaine is expensive from the cheapest dealer, the more pure you want it the more it costs so how can the NHS make clean and genuine cocaine for less than a quid including shipping, distributing and cutting etc etc...........simple they cant.

Yes they do and some may say they pay their way through the taxation placed on those items. Whereas other drug addictions do not.

Therein lies the difference between socially acceptable drugs and illegal substances.

What I read in the newspapers and see on TV. I don't make a habit of sitting in the public gallery.

Are you going to defend MPs in light of recent (and not so recent) events?

How much of the money raised through taxation of these products goes to the NHS?

What percentage of the bill for treatment of smoking and alcohol related illness and injury does this cover?

Serious question because I don't know the answers but I assume you saying that they are paying their way you know the figures!

To be honest I doubt they are and I bet actual figures would never be available. I was just making the point, not that I would agree with it.

Personally I think both alcohol and cigarettes should be more tightly controlled.