Party Vibe

amfetamine type drugs have been previously used for weight control and even at one point only classed OTC or P (pharmacy) sales!

they were made illegal because too many people suffered psychosis after bingeing on them and the NHS had to deal with the after effects, also a lot of sportspeople were takign them for performance enhancement and a few died.

A famous example of this was “Major” Tom Simpson, one of Britain’s best cyclists in the 1950s and 1960s. The way in which he died is very similar to the heatstroke reaction that sometimes claims Ecstasy users who get themselves overly dehydrated

I do think the UN anti-drugs laws (which dictate to the world that drugs must be illegal) need to be reconsidered but another problem with Britain is that people binge on everything.

Lets face it, drugs are so easily available in this country and the penalties for small posession relatively low (usually a caution) that they may as well be legal!

A big problem at the moment is the NHS havign to deal with adverse reactions and mental illness due to our countries binge culture, which causes an inevitable backlash from the right wing.

A relative of mine works in an Emergency Department and regularly gets (as well as the alcohol related problems) various people presenting to ED who have overdone their weekends party drugs.

Sometimes 5 or more in a weekend – mostly young, healthy people who would not have needed to be there had they self-regulated their intake.

OTOH people sometimes only buy or take less because they are worried about being nicked (not so much going to jail, but the hassles with work/family etc when you get done by the criminal justice system)

there is a big counter argument that if recreational use was legal, the emergency treatement facilities in this country could be swamped by a similar level of casualties to those caused by alcohol…