I'm a little tired of the disciplinarian head up their bum crowd now - so lets listen to Lily Allen:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF0xTeVgsCc&feature=related"]YouTube - Everyone's At It - Lily Allen with lyrics[/ame]
Everyone's at it.
I'm a little tired of the disciplinarian head up their bum crowd now - so lets listen to Lily Allen:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF0xTeVgsCc&feature=related"]YouTube - Everyone's At It - Lily Allen with lyrics[/ame]
Everyone's at it.
Last edited by Load Toad; 17-07-2009 at 06:54 PM.
I would have to agree with the majority of the postings in this thread that the so called "war on drugs" in HK is a shambles. Firstly, the statistics put forward by the press are based on trends of 2-3 years worth of data at most. For example, much of the recent figures quoting massive increases in new under 16 Ketamine users have been based on a 1 year data set and have ignored that since 2006 overall trend in under 21s has decreased - but I guess that statistic does not sell papers.
Equally, the figures released by ACAN, the Action Committee Against Narcotics, paint an equally grim picture, but again do not always reflect the overall trend - more cynical individuals than myself may link this to the fact that leading members of ACAN are members of boards of rehabilitation schools and are also given large sums of research cash for the study of rehabilitation?
Finally one would have to question why the Tsang administration is so focused on drug testing and rehabilitation rather than prevention and education? Is this because testing and rehabilitation provide instant statistics that could be used to support flagging popularity ratings while prevention and education, although more effective in the long run, do not.
Boris, you have the most stone age view I have ever come across-it may be wise to inform yourself of some facts about drugs before your children experiment with them-after all there seems to be an 85% chance that they will, but dont worry-it won't necessarily make them addicts or 85% of the population would be...can't have it all ways...
That a war on drugs is doomed to failure is a forgone conclusion-few wars have any winners in the long run anyway. The only sensible solution is to legalise and control-and tax- all drugs. Take the market out of the hands of the unscrupulous, make it less attractive to rebellious kids. Of course some kids will still obtain drugs just as they do booze but the whole criminal element will be marginalised and drug sales will be in the hands of licensed and mainly responsible sellers.
As far as testing and dogs in schools is concerned I am 100% against it-it is a parents duty to monitor their children and the state should only step in to help those children whose parents are not up to the task. Mistrust will only breed resentment and the vast majority of kids should be shown trust, allowed to experiment in life and make mistakes as we all have(not advocating drug specific experimentation though it is a fact of modern life). We have to be there to help them live and learn not rule every aspect of their life and especially not to allow a government to rule their life.
SCMP for some reason has been very critical of the government today.
Here's its Observer re the drugs issue:
Latest Hong Kong, China & World News | SCMP.com
"A government scared of any opposition
Lau Nai-keung
Updated on Sep 18, 2009
Recent events have reminded me of the final days of the Tung Chee-hwa administration five years ago. Today's situation, however, seems even worse, as the government simply cannot make a single move.
The proposed school-based drug testing trial in Tai Po is a case in point. This scheme was proposed by residents and overwhelmingly supported by schools and parents.
But when some dissidents objected, on the basis of students' rights and privacy, the government pulled back, to such an extent as to render the scheme meaningless.
Now the authorities must have written consent from students who are at liberty to withdraw from the testing at any time.
That means only drug-free students will give their consent and will be tested. The results will not be released to the police and, if a test comes back positive, a school cannot kick out the students and cannot intervene without the consent of the students.
The whole scheme has now been reduced to a very expensive publicity show that will achieve nothing.
In fact, apart from shows, fairs and commercials, our government has done practically nothing to stop the rampant drug problems among our youngsters.
Minors are, by definition, not mature enough to make decisions to protect their own welfare; that job is assigned to parents and guardians.
Now, all of a sudden, our minors are entitled to a lot more than full citizen rights. Let's not forget there is random breath testing for drivers in force in Hong Kong. These drivers are adults, and they should have their full rights and privacy protected, too. It seems we have double standards, discriminating against adults in favour of minors.
Such logic is ludicrous, and it only goes to show that our government is weak. It will quickly do an about-turn when it faces some objections - any objections. This is asking for trouble, because it amounts to begging for objections, and Hong Kong will soon be ungovernable.
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Last edited by shri; 18-09-2009 at 12:41 PM. Reason: Prefer not to have entire articles copy / pasted here.
I propose everyone wash down a couple of valium with a double vodka tonic, fire up a cigar and return to this scintillating debate...