<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 4/24/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Sondre Bjellås</b> <<a href="mailto:sondre.bjellas@intellifield.no" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">sondre.bjellas@intellifield.no
</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">What you are describing is the by-effect of criminalizing drugs.
You saw the same thing in New York back in the days when regular spirit/booze
was illegal and how the mafia built up around the illegal import and
distribution. Today, they use drugs to finance their operations.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">The same thing happens today with drugs as booze before it. Reasonable,
stable, adult people should be in control of their own life. If they want to
use drugs, they should be allowed to do so on their own acting.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">Just as the sex industry, which was one of the first jobs in
modern human society, the drug (use) abuse might never disappear. If you
illegalize the sex industry, which is a move that the government in Norway is
close to do (they have done it in Sweden recently), people won't stop
having (buying) sex. Instead, things will be more hidden and secret, and the
girls will have worsened situations and more abuse.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">When I was in Barcelona last year, the image I was left with
from that trip is: pimps, hookers, drug addicts and thieves. I don't want
any of those in my streets or my neighborhood. When it's illegal, it will
stay on the streets.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">Make it legal and it's easier to control it and keep
things civilized. We'll even get taxes, which can be used to help victims
of addictions (drugs, sex, computers..)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">It's not a fairly land and things are different between
countries.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">Germany</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> has
a more relaxed view on prostitution (is it legal by law?), and they have little
(compared to others) problems with that industry. Violence on the other hand,
is heavily censored in Germany. +Sex, -Violence</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">The <b>USA</b> on the other hand, have no problem showing the
most gruesome violence on TV, but if there is a nipple or a tit on TV…oh
boy! -Sex, +Violence</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">Norway</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> is
similar to the US but more liberal, we don't censor as much as the US and
Germany, but you won't see anything other than softporn on the TV.
Harcore porno is completely censored, even though they air it on Scandinavian
networks (it's viewable in Denmark/Sweden). -Sex, +Violence</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">Netherlands</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);" lang="EN-US">,
primarily Amsterdam, have a very liberal view on the soft-drugs and they
tolerate marihuana in certain coffee shops and prostitutes are on display in
the Redlight District. +Drugs, +Sex</span></p></div></div></blockquote><div><br>It's a shame if traditionally tolerant, liberal Scandinavian countries are becoming less tolerant and more socially conservative. What is the reason for these changes?
<br><br>Stathis Papaioannou<br></div><br></div><br>