Posted on08 June 2010.
Icelandic customs officers confiscated more cocaine in the first four months of 2010 than they did all of last year: 4.5 kilogrammes.
Amphetamine seizures were only 400 grammes down on all of 2009 by the end of April this year – approximately 14 kilos of the drugs.
All the cocaine was taken at Keflavik International Airport; but 900 cannabis seeds and a kilo of marijuana were confiscated by Customs in Reykjavik as well.
[...] Icelandic customs busy in war on drugs [...]
No Motörhead wine for Icelanders, branding too negative
Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival begins today
Multiple shooting in Greenland hamlet
IMF refutes claim it tried to shut Icelandic national theatre and museum
Iceland central bank holds rates, predicts ongoing economic growth
Continued Malmö violence embarrasses police
Currency exchange privacy case thrown out of Icelandic court
Sauli Niinistö wins Finland presidential race
Iceland historic French village restoration finance secured
Murder in Hafnarfjörður
Prohibitionists dance hand in hand with every possible type of criminal one can imagine.
An unholy alliance of ignorance, greed and hate which works to destroy all our hard fought freedoms, wealth and security.
We will always have adults who are too immature to responsibly deal with tobacco alcohol, heroin amphetamines, cocaine, various prescription drugs and even food. Our answer to them should always be: “Get a Nanny, and stop turning the government into one for the rest of us!”
Nobody wants to see an end to prohibition because they want to use drugs. They wish to see proper legalized regulation because they are witnessing, on a daily basis, the dangers and futility of prohibition. ‘Legalized Regulation’ won’t be the complete answer to all our drug problems, but it’ll greatly ameliorate the crime and violence on our streets, and only then can we provide effective education and treatment.
The whole nonsense of ‘a disaster will happen if we end prohibition’ sentiment sums up the delusional ‘chicken little’ stance of those who foolishly insist on continuing down this blind alley. As if a disaster isn’t already happening. As if prohibition has ever worked.
To support prohibition is such a strange mind-set. In fact, It’s outrageous insanity! –Literally not one prohibitionist argument survives scrutiny. Not one!
The only people that believe prohibition is working are the ones making a living by enforcing laws in it’s name, and those amassing huge fortunes on the black market profits. This situation is wholly unsustainable, and as history has shown us, conditions will continue to deteriorate until we finally, just like our forefathers, see sense and revert back to tried and tested methods of regulation. None of these substances, legal or illegal, are ever going to go away, but we CAN decide to implement policies that do far more good than harm.
During American alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, all profits went to enrich thugs and criminals. Young men died every day on inner-city streets while battling over turf. A fortune was wasted on enforcement that could have gone on infrastructure, education etc. On top of the budget-busting prosecution and incarceration costs, billions in taxes were lost. Finally the economy collapsed. Sound familiar?
In an underground drug market, criminals and terrorists, needing an incentive to risk their own lives and liberty, grossly inflate prices which are further driven higher to pay those who ‘take a cut’ like corrupt law enforcement officials who are paid many times their wages to look the other way. This forces many users to become dealers themselves in order to afford their own consumption. This whole vicious circle turns ad infinitum. You literally couldn’t dream up a worse scenario even if your life depended on it. For the second time within a century, we’ve carelessly lost “love’s labour,” and, “with the hue of dungeons and the scowl of night,” have wantonly created our own worst nightmare.
So should the safety and freedom of the rest of us be compromised because of the few who cannot control themselves?
Many of us no longer think it should!
The “war on drugs” in the United States has been a miserable failure; it has led to increased violent crime, provided massive profits for criminal organizations, and weakened the 4th amendment (constitutional provision against arbitrary search & seizure), without reducing drug use or helping drug abusers. I am concerned that Iceland is taking the wrong approach here. Has Iceland’s drug policy resulted in any such undesirable effects so far?