Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
We've had a "War on drugs" for most of my life - and now hundreds of thousands of people partake and money flows to criminals in a flood - and it's fueled by petty crime
Time for a change I think
Upfront disclaimer - I slightly shocked my Vetting Officer when I told her what I thought we should do to drugs dealers, so much so they brought up my answer again come renewal time. But I think there is a point here that whatever we are doing isn't working. And legalisation might be at least be considered.
I say that at the same time as admitting I still have no time for dealers and would cheerfully blunt my kukri on their ribcage, but this doesn't seem to work long term. There's an ex-Met drugs officer (I think) - Neil Woods IIRC who has come out to suggest that fighting dealers is like Darwinism: the Police go after the soft targets and leave the hardened ones to go free. So if fighting them doesn't work, and if as the academics on a University Short Course pointed out 'it's like squeezing a balloon; cut of supply routes in one area and they simply grow elsewhere', legalise them and disrupt the business model by taking control of the problem.
That aside, I'm not sure I think drugs and weaponry are compatible. But, in this day and age is it realistic to believe we're all Choir Boys turning up for training. Of course not. I suspect many of the characteristics attracting people to the military are also found in those of a more delinquent persuasion (by that I mean seeking excitement, adventure, something out of the ordinary from normal social conventions). I would perhaps be inclined to accept this and feature it in the application process: ask a direct question, backed up with CDT as part of the medical. You're honest and clean, fine. You lie and get found out, you're out. You're honest, and turn up positive but are remorseful we take you on probation with the proviso of your name appears on the CDT list for X years after. Might be a pragmatic way of dealing with youthful indiscretion that could have arisen through myriad societal factors other than simply being a bad egg?