Sunday, November 20, 2011
Nest feathering stops here!
I read yesterday that Dame Stella (last mentioned on November 10th) has joined Sir Simon in the ranks of those that think that it is time to legalise drugs. To stop all those crime workers and justice workers feathering their nests at the expense of all the rest of us. They must have taken us for more than the much hated bankers over the years.
Which led me to ponder on the way in which this might be done. My thought had been that one might sell drugs in the same sort of shops as they sell liquor in in Scandanavia. Rather cold, white tiled places which remind one of public conveniences; the site http://www.systembolaget.se/ may tell you something about it if your Swedish is up to date. Then I thought one might stretch the idea to include hashing out lounges where one might consume things. Not too fancy as that might constitute encouragement, so we need the same two-faced approach that we take to betting shops: naughty but nice.
But then I thought that this was entirely off message. Our coalition government likes to privatise anything that moves, so a much better wheeze would be to extend the licensing arrangements which presently govern the sale of alcoholic drink to all recreational drugs, including here such things as tobacco, khat and marijuana. Maybe even coffee.
Premises could have full licenses which would allow the purchase of recreational drugs for consumption on or off the premises, on licenses or off licenses. The purpose of having licenses would be to make it possible for the regulator (OffRegRec(Narco) - the office of the regulator of recreation (narcotics division)) to be sure that drugs of appropriate quality and variety were being supplied, that customers were being responsible and that premises were not becoming disorderly houses. The interiors of appropriately licensed premises would consist of a number of rooms, rather in the way of an antique Roman bath house. A cold room for the consumption of coffee, beer, wine and spirits. A tepid room which allowed the foregoing plus tobacco. A warm room which allowed the foregoing plus what used to be Class C dugs. And so and so forth.
An early task of OffRegRec(Narco) - perhaps Dame Stella could be prevailed upon to become the first director general - would be to establish age bars for entry into the various rooms. It would be for consideration whether there should be both upper and lower or just lower age bars. Also whether businesses would be allowed to be involved in both manufacture and retail supply. There might be consultations with the trade organisations involved.
A useful side effect would be the revitalisation of the licensed victualling trade. Until such time that is that we get so used to the new scene that we let the supermarkets muscle in on it.
While we are waiting, perhaps someone out there will draw up a list of the great and the good who are on our side? We clearly have a dame, a knight of the realm and sundry professors. I would imagine that we could muster the odd marquess who would come out of his closet. Do we run to an earl or a duke? A garter knight? A privy councillor? A bishop? A person of royal blood even? What about all those celebrities who love their white powders? A peek in the News Corp secret archive might be helpful here.
Which led me to ponder on the way in which this might be done. My thought had been that one might sell drugs in the same sort of shops as they sell liquor in in Scandanavia. Rather cold, white tiled places which remind one of public conveniences; the site http://www.systembolaget.se/ may tell you something about it if your Swedish is up to date. Then I thought one might stretch the idea to include hashing out lounges where one might consume things. Not too fancy as that might constitute encouragement, so we need the same two-faced approach that we take to betting shops: naughty but nice.
But then I thought that this was entirely off message. Our coalition government likes to privatise anything that moves, so a much better wheeze would be to extend the licensing arrangements which presently govern the sale of alcoholic drink to all recreational drugs, including here such things as tobacco, khat and marijuana. Maybe even coffee.
Premises could have full licenses which would allow the purchase of recreational drugs for consumption on or off the premises, on licenses or off licenses. The purpose of having licenses would be to make it possible for the regulator (OffRegRec(Narco) - the office of the regulator of recreation (narcotics division)) to be sure that drugs of appropriate quality and variety were being supplied, that customers were being responsible and that premises were not becoming disorderly houses. The interiors of appropriately licensed premises would consist of a number of rooms, rather in the way of an antique Roman bath house. A cold room for the consumption of coffee, beer, wine and spirits. A tepid room which allowed the foregoing plus tobacco. A warm room which allowed the foregoing plus what used to be Class C dugs. And so and so forth.
An early task of OffRegRec(Narco) - perhaps Dame Stella could be prevailed upon to become the first director general - would be to establish age bars for entry into the various rooms. It would be for consideration whether there should be both upper and lower or just lower age bars. Also whether businesses would be allowed to be involved in both manufacture and retail supply. There might be consultations with the trade organisations involved.
A useful side effect would be the revitalisation of the licensed victualling trade. Until such time that is that we get so used to the new scene that we let the supermarkets muscle in on it.
While we are waiting, perhaps someone out there will draw up a list of the great and the good who are on our side? We clearly have a dame, a knight of the realm and sundry professors. I would imagine that we could muster the odd marquess who would come out of his closet. Do we run to an earl or a duke? A garter knight? A privy councillor? A bishop? A person of royal blood even? What about all those celebrities who love their white powders? A peek in the News Corp secret archive might be helpful here.
# posted by Jim @ 4:05 AM 
