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Dear Ms. Luppi,
Thank you for posting an open letter to me about the drugs debate. This is the kind of discussion we must have in order to come up with better policies to help people suffering from addiction.
I am not sure if you have had a chance to read my articles on this subject. If you had, I think you would find my position to be quite close to your own.
I wrote in the Daily Telegraph of London in January:
"Drugs are dangerous and ruin lives. They need to be regulated. But we should work to reduce the crime, health and social problems associated with drug markets in whatever way is most effective.
Broad criminalisation should end; new policy options should be explored and evaluated; drug users in need should get treatment; young people should be dissuaded from drug use via education; and violent criminals should be the target of law enforcement. We should stop ineffective initiatives like arresting and punishing citizens who have addiction problems."
I hope you will read the entire article posted here.
My approach is to provide help to those who suffer from drug addiction, instead of prison. I have seen many lives ruined by drug abuse. Before I even started Virgin, I ran a young people's advice centre which helped many people cope with drug issues. During our days at Virgin Records, a number of the artists we worked with had drug issues, and we looked after them and tried to get them healthy again. I support programmes like Portugal's, where non-violent drug users go before a panel and have options for treatment, and governments devote resources to treatment and rehabilitation rather than prison.
The quote you cite in which I note that half of my generation, and probably 3/4 of my son's generation, have smoked cannabis was not to condone or condemn the use of drugs. It's about facing reality and focusing on need. People with dependency or addiction need help, whether they are addicted to legal substances like alcohol and tobacco or illegal drugs.
In short, I think you and I agree on the vital importance of treatment, rehabilitation and prevention and that governments should devote any savings made on cutting prison sentences into spending on these kinds of program.
Thank you for your work to help those in need.
Monica Luppi: An Open Letter to Sir Richard Branson
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If drug availability could be reduced would that help?
Suppose there was a tariff of censure for possession of drugs. Increasing in scale, with the quantity and nature of the product discovered. But reducible, through identifying the supplier. Thereby creating the means to follow said supply back to the big players. The confiscation of assets, for which no proof of origin could be produced, could provide funds for the treatment of those adversely affected. Individual freedom is fine. Provided that it doesn’t act as an endangerment to the species as an entity.
Once in a while, I get bronchitis due to seasonal allergies. I know what a doctor is going to do once I walk in the office: he or she will listen to my chest for a quick minute (or have a nurse practitioner do it for them) and write me a script for an antibiotic, then pass me a bill for several hundred dollars (I am not insured.) I cannot get this "drug" on my own because of a fear of overuse. Meanwhile, the dairy industry pumps antibiotics into us daily.
I'm not supporting anything with this comment, I am merely trying to point out the absence of logic, the prevalence of loaded language, and the gaul of people like Branson and Luppi, who pretend to care about those that suffer, but fail to care about my right to pursue happiness the way I feel like it. YES I AM MAD!!!! Stop the stupidity of this debate NOW!!!
Climbing Mount Everest might be fun, but it is tremendously dangerous and expensive. I hear that many mountain-climbers get a rush at the top that makes them want to return, or try other peaks. How is it that this activity is seen differently? Because of the availability? Rescue crews regularly risk their lives saving stranded climbers from atop mountains they were ill prepared to scale, so they aren't just risking themselves.
Pot ? Oh please , the best plant known to man , we could be cultivating a new economy , for our
citizens , not for the drug cartels , and divert the money saved from law enforcement to hospitals for real addiction .
Intelligent , pro - action is what is needed. Not more guns and prosecution to fill up our for profit prisons . Our legal "vices " are killing people daily , lets not get into the Pharma drugs that are
"legal"
End prohibition and start compassionate treatment , NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are a very innovative person..........please work on this issue with the same Zeal as you have for other ventures of yours.
thanks.
Cheers
Please tell me why you people NEED DRUGS ? can you not suffer psychological pain ? ie can you not accept sadness ?
Your question is irrelevant.
Of course, it does acknowledge the use of drugs for pleasure as, if not really OK, at least understandable, and the staunchest enemies of decriminalization do not accept the idea of having fun for its own sake.
it is CORRUPTION exemplified.