“At the same time, these maturing bodies are only just developing ‘reward’ chemicals such as endorphins, but still lack the emotional maturity to control them.” – Trevor Grice, LIFE Education Trust. [see Teen drinkers corrupting `brain software’ The Australian]
Trevor seems to forget the role of age of consent and obligation to state to ones life education.
These are the very same kids we are sending to Afghanistan.
Old enough to die for your country, old enough to make decisions for oneself.
I’d rather a soldier with self will and drink experience than the one for whom the double standards has alienated, for whom the law is in contempt and for whom in all likelihood has been arbitrarily criminalised for race, class, ageist and sexist reasons.
Even I mistrust a politicised justice system that endorses such prejudices.
It is not that the numbers are great, even problematic, rather, I urge you and your fellow prohibitory zero-tolerance brain robbers to consider whose freedom our soldiers fought for if not for those of our youth.
If Trevor’s concern for the foundations of our society is to measured (and, gongs aside it has never been) it cannot be argued that our current relationship with drugs and drug policy is logically or economically sustainable. And, like New Zealand the world is coming to terms with that.
The UN Human Rights best practice is not addressing the raft of unintended consequences of this War for whom, on a global scale are young people -innocent victims, mere collateral. Even the USA is taking an independent, from the boots up re-evaluation, including the international implications for the Single Treaty. These are changing times. ABC classifications are in disrepute. Even the AMA has recanted. [Gt. Britain: only one Nutt lost his chair job, seemingly being an expert is not enough… one must dogmatically hold the line against all reason. Where is the liberty worth fighting for in that?/Blair]
A Class D act would be to come up with UN complaint transitional solutions. Then we can really start protecting ALL our kids and stop this moral pretence.
Anything else remains deficient, inefficient, inequitable and it especially hurts young people. The very ones you’re trying to save, Trev!
Blair Anderson
(* and former LIFEBOY, BOYS BRIGADE, WINDSOR, NTH. IN’GILL.)
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