As the United States rethinks how to penalize citizens for drug possession, Ireland is now considering doing away with serious penalties for possessing drugs altogether.

According to Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the minister in charge of Ireland's National Drugs Strategy, the country is in need of a "radical cultural shift" that includes decriminalizing small amounts of cocaine, heroin and marijuana for personal use, theIrish Times reports.

"I am firmly of the view that there needs to be a cultural shift in how we regard substance misuse if we are to break this cycle and make a serious attempt to tackle drug and alcohol addiction," Ó Ríordáin said on Monday, according to the Irish Times.

The minister also announced plans for establishing supervised injecting centers, which would open first in the capital, Dublin, before beginning in other cities across the country. The centers will give at-risk drug users a safer and more hygienic place to consume drugs, with the ultimate goal of reducing use.

the rest - http://news.yahoo.com/ireland-showing-re...13423.html

What do you people think? Good idea? Bad idea?

Orally using it by smoking/snorting is fine by me. Using intravenously by way of injection is not great. One doesn't use in the arm wine or beer coffee or tea. The Chinese smoked opium forever and are still growing

How can any of those be worse than booze or cigarettes?

Probably a good idea, these are social issues, not criminal. The prison industrial system has to go. This is as archaic as when they used to whip people publicly.
The so called liberals fancy themselves as progressives, yet are strangely silent when it comes to this.
There has been a leaked UN document that basically calls for across the board legalization to end the slavery that the prison industrial complex has created.
The document is not in it's final form, but seems some are stepping up to the reality plate.

The plant world rules the earth. The idiot humans want to demote God's plan. DuPont tried and failed. All has failed. I guess God's plan is working and teaching the least brilliant the rules.

the ones on top of this ponzi scheme are in disarray over the internet and the awakening that's ongoing.
this next year will be an interesting ride

Drugs are no problem at all in comparison to how much money and death that occurs enforcing outdated unjust laws.