The New Poland Express I Friday 15th October 2010 I www.nwe.pl
Designer drugs fan to lobby cause
Friends and colleagues of Dawid Bratko, Poland’s so-called ‘Designer Drugs King’, are set to lobby in parliament in favour of legalizing designer drugs. “I want to help protect the freedoms and the rights of ordinary people who are addicted to psychotropic substances,” says Tomasz Obara of Poland’s ‘Free Hemp’ movement - an organisation aimed at promoting the legalisation of cannabis. But Obara, who has already officially registered as a lobbyist in Parliament, adds that he is also taking part in order to represent his mother who, he claims, is a constant victim of police harassment. “Police officers keep raiding my mother’s house in order to look for cannabis. That’s one of the reasons why I want to protect my mother’s interests.” However, while actively confirming that he is still lobbying on behalf of Bratko’s cause, Obara claims that he is in fact anti-designer drugs.
“I’m against designer drugs but I signed an agreement with [Bratko] that if we manage to persuade the authorities to legalise cannabis, then he will stop trading them.” Designer drugs, known in Poland as ‘dopalacze’ have made the headlines recently due to a fierce government clampdown on the booming sector which has seen around 900 shops closed down. Last week Bratko, dubbed ‘the Designer Drug King’ by the nation’s media for his large influence throughout the industry, was arrested for selling a number of proscribed substances. Despite a number of fatalities being linked to the new craze, numerous loopholes have kept the government’s hands tied. However it stated recently that it would try to push through legislation quickly in order to deal with what it sees as a growing problem.
What do you think of the whole campaign against designer drugs?
Is it just a part of political campaign?
Statistics say that in Poland more people day because of alcohol abuse than designer drugs but the media just do not talk about it.
Present your opinions please.
I'm against "legal drugs" but I think the goverment shouldn't act like that. First of all we have something about 1000 stores in Poland. Someone had to let opening them. If stores worked legally till now, how can they close them in one week. Closing stores will not change anything, what's more, in my opinion people who used to use "legal drugs" now will be taking drugs, beacause legal drugs will be no longer available.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion trading designer drugs shouldn't be harassed, in many western Europe countries smart shops runs from years and without any problems. Closing stores only gives profit to organized crime because smart drugs trade already went to underground. I think it's better to tax it and earn on it then hand over it to mafia. In fact these drugs are still legal in Poland no matter what prime minister Tusk and others says. Following the reasoning of Act makers, any glue, solvent and even gasoline should be banned, yet it also can intoxicate and you can get high on it. It's just a matter of time when the traders, with Mr. Bratko at the head, will sue administration, win the lawsuits and get compensation.
ReplyDeleteGenerally I agree with statements above. There are many arguments against banning of "light drugs":
ReplyDelete- it leads rise of o organized crime,
- people who are addicted get punishments (cause it is easy do catch them) instead of real dealers,
- it limits our freedom to choice what we want to do with our lives,
- it makes hard to do any research in this field (so we can't be sure if this drugs are really so dangerous, e.x. in comparison to alcohol).
I think there should be legal drugs. Designer drugs are not tested and so they can be very dangerous. Legal drugs should therefore go through the same process as medications and be taxed of course. There will always be people addicted to something no matter if it is alcohol, cigarettes or ... drugs (legal and illegal). We should care about their health in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI think, disussion about designers drugs is not the case. And designer drugs (DD), aren't a problem. Comapring statisisc of death caused by DD with death caused by drunk drivers, we will see what is a real problem. I don't want to say, we shouldn't discuss this, but, DD beacome so much political isssue, that we lost a sight of a real problems.
ReplyDeleteI think that government was late "a little" with controlling smart-shops. I don't know how it looks in other countries but it seems strange to me that kind of substances could be sold without any control tests. Another foul-up of our authorities was that they waited for some mortal victims to "get in the game".
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I don't care about this drugs. Live is too short to poisoning yourself with this chemical substance. A care about the way ours government handle this “thing” and why bother. As someone wrote this not a big issue and this kind of shops operate in other countries. Maybe some people doesn't like this growing sector and decided to get rid of it. Maybe those are the people who sell illegal equivalent...
ReplyDeleteThe case with designer drugs is undoubtedly a complex one. When it comes to my opinion on the comparison to alcohol, I think it was a matter of time for the results of their intake to become visible in the society, especially among young people fascinated by the fact that they could have legally bought drugs on almost every corner (whereas alcohol has been present in the Polish culture and day to day life since ages). When you buy alcohol in a shop, you can be sure of the bottle's content. On the contrary, you could have never been sure what were the ingredients of the designer drugs. Many people who came into contact with them claimed that they contained dangerous chemical substances such as rat poison (!) or detergents and that were used to increase the weight and volume of the products sold. What is more, due to the latest tests it is known that designer drugs, although said to be fully legal at the time they were sold, contained illegal drugs such as amphetamine and cannabis. The statements available on different websites and web forums show that the effects and the so-called 'day after' of the designer drugs were much more horrible and hard to cope with than those of illegal drugs. Therefore, I am against their depenalization. I am also not sorry for the King of Designer Drugs - Dawid Bratko. In one of the interviews he claimed that he did not take the drugs produced for sale in his shops and that he considers his clientele 'a bunch of idiots' which shows his commercial attitude and the will of making profit only (which cannot be said about the man that agitates for the legalization of cannabis in Poland). Media showed Bratko as an extremely rich person and a typical businessman; the picture of him sitting behind a desk in a luxurious office with a map of designer drugs shops in Poland fixed the negative image of him in the eyes of the people; however, I think he has already made a huge profit thanks to using the existence of the loophole in the Polish law. Of course, the action of the Polish government was not disinterested either - the politicians wanted to show their efficiency and resoluteness due to the approaching elections. Their actions were obviously not compatible to the valid legal regulations.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion doesn't exist soft narcotic called "dopalacze". This substances are also narcotics but they have specific name to avoid prohibitions on narcotics. As you all know selling narcotics is prohibited so they had to rename it. This operation allowed selling it on our market. If our government will close all shop with "dopalacze" all business will go to black market. And also i think that all confusion about this problem is a special media work to increase support of current government.
ReplyDeleteFrom monday cigarettes are prohibited in some public places. In this case they are almost in the same situation as designer drugs, don't you think? :)
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion in this times there isn't solution prohibiting or allowing drugs. If drugs will be banned, people always find a way to get them. When designer drugs were available in shops it was much easier for people to get them. Now they have to go to black market. But both ways isn't solution. I think governments should looking a solution by teaching young people at school. Young people don't know often how dangerous are drugs. They should learn that at school. And then they can consciously choose drugs or not. For me our government movements associated with designer drugs were only political campaign.
ReplyDelete