Stupid news articles

[Lisafuller]

I think I did see an article about that, but then I discovered the earth was flat and got all worried about the oceans.

Maybe you should open your mind a bit. Go to Thailand and try some.

Lol, I was in Phuket a couple months ago, and the smell was everywhere. Really brought me back to Miami.

[Lisafuller]

Tangaraju was questioned by police without any legal counsel present. He asked for a Tamil interpreter when the police were recording his statement but the request was denied. Because of this he had trouble understanding the statement when it was read back to him.

He had an interpreter during his trial but claimed the quality of translation was poor.

He was convicted mainly by 2 mobile numbers which 2 other drug traffickers said belong to Tangaraju. His phones were never recovered for analysis.

Is this the standard by which Singapore sends someone to their death?

It's cases like these that really make me question the death penalty. I believe that the president could have granted him clemency or at least called for a stay of execution to reevaluate the case, but I can understand how that would set a dangerous precedent.

[Lisafuller]

I think I did see an article about that, but then I discovered the earth was flat and got all worried about the oceans.

Maybe you should open your mind a bit. Go to Thailand and try some.

Jaysus, and take a chance on turning out like you? Heaven forbid. That would be a fate worse than death itself.

I love Singapore's draconian laws. It's clear and if you play you'll pay. If it means your life so be it. you knew the law before you did the crime. I only have feels for the parents but in most cases I think one will find that there wasn't a strong family support growing up either. Anybody who does illegal drugs or helps distribute illegal drugs deserves the gallows. I've often said if the US would enact a federal law (not state) regarding hanging for all drug crimes like Sg does, we would hang probably 150k the first year but you would see the pipeline dry up and we'd be much better for it. The whiners and crybabies who keep harping it should be legal ought to be hanged along with the dealers and users for aiding & abetting.

As far as the good it does? That is still an unproven option over the long term and the number of people that it harms far outweighs the number that it helps medically (without adverse side effects). No I've never tried it nor have I even been tempted to. I made enough mistakes taking my first taste of alcohol at 27 and lighting my first smoke of tobacco @ 21. Haven't had a smoke since December 2004 and rarely drink. Drugs aren't even on my radar screen. Am I a dinosaur of another age? Yep and damn proud of it.

Harsh, SMS...

I do think that it's unfortunate that in most cases, the ones who are executed are those with no education, and so poor that they are essentially tricked/forced into running drugs for the kingpins. More often than not, they are the ones who are killed without mercy while the kingpins run free, so the problem is not cut off at the source.

[Lisafuller]

Well luckily most countries disagree, and the numbers are growing. Soon the drug-phobes will have nowhere to go.

One problem of your mass extinction strategy is wrongful convictions. They are frequent in the US and can take years to be discovered. Oh whoops, we made a mistake but now he's dead, never mind.

The most ignorant thing is treating all drugs the same. I've known heroin addicts and would never touch the stuff. But cannabis is a completely different thing and has a lot of benefits. There isn't much serious research done into those benefits because nobody will fund it, thanks to dinosaur attitudes. Catch 22.

Right, wrongful convictions are more common than one might think, and they're so rough because they're irreversible. Unless it's a case where there is absolutely no doubt that the person in question is guilty, nobody should ever feel comfortable executing them.

[Lisafuller]

I grew up in hickville, USA and I couldn’t walk around town without stumbling across some potheads… including plenty of my friends, classmates and even family members.

They taught us all about drugs in high school. Uppers, downers, addiction levels and health consequences. Mary Jane is a downer and is mildly addictive, but has around double the number of carcinogens as cigs… yeah, real healthy!

The comparison to alcohol is somewhat valid, because I’ve also known many people who only smoked pot on occasion (like a casual drinker) but that does not mean you can’t become a pothead (like an alcoholic). Potheads lose all ambition in life and just want to exist in a perpetually stoned state and do as little as possible to sustain that. I’ve seen it so many times, in real life.

The biggest problem I see with legalization is the second hand smoke in public is annoying. We experienced it plenty of times in our recent travels to the US. Daddy, what is that skunk smell? Well kiddo, someone is smoking pot nearby… ain’t that grand?

And to say it’s not a gateway drug really hits home for me because I have a family member who is now dead, and it all started with pot. But that is a heartbreaking story for another time.

Completely agree on secondhand smoke, I absolutely hate it! And personally, I don't enjoy the smell of pot at all. I'd prefer if people smoked in closed quarters, but I understand that that could be rough on the walls and upholstery.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Maybe you should open your mind a bit. Go to Thailand and try some.

Jaysus, and take a chance on turning out like you? Heaven forbid. That would be a fate worse than death itself.

I love Singapore's draconian laws. It's clear and if you play you'll pay. If it means your life so be it. you knew the law before you did the crime. I only have feels for the parents but in most cases I think one will find that there wasn't a strong family support growing up either. Anybody who does illegal drugs or helps distribute illegal drugs deserves the gallows. I've often said if the US would enact a federal law (not state) regarding hanging for all drug crimes like Sg does, we would hang probably 150k the first year but you would see the pipeline dry up and we'd be much better for it. The whiners and crybabies who keep harping it should be legal ought to be hanged along with the dealers and users for aiding & abetting.

As far as the good it does? That is still an unproven option over the long term and the number of people that it harms far outweighs the number that it helps medically (without adverse side effects). No I've never tried it nor have I even been tempted to. I made enough mistakes taking my first taste of alcohol at 27 and lighting my first smoke of tobacco @ 21. Haven't had a smoke since December 2004 and rarely drink. Drugs aren't even on my radar screen. Am I a dinosaur of another age? Yep and damn proud of it.

Harsh, SMS...

I do think that it's unfortunate that in most cases, the ones who are executed are those with no education, and so poor that they are essentially tricked/forced into running drugs for the kingpins. More often than not, they are the ones who are killed without mercy while the kingpins run free, so the problem is not cut off at the source.

Yes, Lisa I know it is harsh. But just because you cannot get to the hydra's head the tentacles should be allowed to continue the infection of our youth and adults? I'm afraid that only aggravates the problem. If the arms cannot do the job the hydra head demands eventually the hydra starves to death. Publicizing the execution of enough runners/dealers will eventually educate the dumbest of runners that if caught he's gonna be hanged or executed one way or another. That is why I said probably 150k would be executed the first year before the message is clear after that you will start seeing results. Yes, I think it's sad but I'd rather see that than another kids life totally screwed up by becoming a pothead and maybe even more hardcore later. One runner feeds how many? When you chop off the hydra's head, the strongest tentacle become the next head and so on. Will always be someone who wants to be the kingpin. That's why the tentacles have to be chopped off first so the kingpin has no support.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Thanks for yet more of your life story (yawn).

Why don't you get a life. (double yawn) You could start by avoiding Singapore seeing you have no life here.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'm not saying that drugs of any kind should be legal in Singapore, but if you feel that effort should be focused on raising a happy, healthy population, I'd say that what they've been doing thus far hasn't exactly been working.

Happiness is a tricky thing to measure. That means it's also hard to address if someone is unhappy, as you have to unpack this on the individual level. I see in my work that a very large part of individual unhappiness is in how people think and respond, and the immediate environment they find themselves in (eg family, workplace). It isn't primarily systemic nor unique to Singapore. We share a lot of the same societal pressures as most developed countries. And I don't think any sane person would want to throw even the slim chance of drug addiction into the mix if we don't have to.
As to whether efforts are working for encouraging a happy, healthy population... I'd say we've made enormous progress in the last 25 yrs, and I know personally how much effort goes into this and how hard people work to make it happen.

I'm an unashamed optimist.

I appreciate your optimism, and I'd like to indulge in it too, but unfortunately, I'm a bit of a realist in this situation. Living in singapore, there's a sense of rigidity that pervades society, everybody's uptight and stressed all the time, we are constantly in competition with each other, and working ourselves to the bone, for god knows what reason. I definitely agree that we're happier than some other countries in the region that are riddled with crime and other systemic issues, but I think it's a stretch to say that people are happy.

I can't say I'm HAPPY but I can say I'm not unhappy. I've made a home here and started my own family tree that has borne two generations of fruit thus far. I'm richer by far than I've ever been (not in dollars & cents) Maybe my many trials and tribulations and my advancing age has something to do with it as well.

[malcontent]

I think the reason unhappiness is so pervasive here is because people always think they have it worse than the next guy. They did a survey here and people consistently thought they did way more nice things for others during their day than what they got in return. If you did the same survey and asked people if they were better or worse off compared to others at random, I’m sure you’d get the same lopsided results that are totally warped from reality.

One big difference I notice when I travel back to the US… not only are people nicer and more courteous in general, but they also keep their radar up for anytime someone does any little nice thing for them… and whenever they notice it, they gush with genuine appreciation. This actually spurs people on and makes them want to be even nicer. Here, it’s just the opposite, often kindness is often (purposely) ignored, and I believe it’s a cultural thing - accepting any kindness can be seen as owing someone something, so people get in that habit. I’ve even gotten bad reactions after trying to be nice - like, what is my motive?

If you are convinced that everyone is better off than you and nobody will do anything without an ulterior motive… of course you won’t be very happy. I’ve always done my best to rise above that and do my own thing regardless of what others might think. But I have to admit that I’m not completely immune, because my brother will remind me not to be so rude, especially the first few days when I am still in “run over the pedestrians” mode! LOL.

[NYY1]

People will be as happy or unhappy as they want to be anywhere. There may be some societal differences but the individual's behaviour trumps all.

Many people here seem caught in the societal status races (they just don't know it), and that's probably why they feel stress or think the society is competitive. No matter how much you make or have, there will always be people with more or performing better. Unfortunately, this need for show has often been transferred to the child, and that is why the child feels stress or the endless need/want to perform (and then the parent feels it too). It's not the parents' explicit statements, but the repeated implicit signals the child receives as to what the parents find important (compare schools, boast about schools, etc).

Just remember, cut what you have in half and there are still probably people at that level getting by and being happy (I'd bet even well less than half for some of the people here).

[tiktok]

Yes, Lisa I know it is harsh. But just because you cannot get to the hydra's head the tentacles should be allowed to continue the infection of our youth and adults? I'm afraid that only aggravates the problem. If the arms cannot do the job the hydra head demands eventually the hydra starves to death. Publicizing the execution of enough runners/dealers will eventually educate the dumbest of runners that if caught he's gonna be hanged or executed one way or another. That is why I said probably 150k would be executed the first year before the message is clear after that you will start seeing results. Yes, I think it's sad but I'd rather see that than another kids life totally screwed up by becoming a pothead and maybe even more hardcore later. One runner feeds how many? When you chop off the hydra's head, the strongest tentacle become the next head and so on. Will always be someone who wants to be the kingpin. That's why the tentacles have to be chopped off first so the kingpin has no support.

Notwithstanding the multiple issues with the above, you're trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Create a government inspected legal supply system and the dealers go away. Make it legal to use so that people don't have to associate with criminals and the gateway effect goes away. Make it socially acceptable so users don't need to withdraw from society and do it in secret. Everyone is happy (except conservative nut jobs) and nobody dies.

For hard drugs a different approach is needed. Scandinavian countries have some effective methods and none of them involve capital punishment.

[jalanjalan]

People will be as happy or unhappy as they want to be anywhere. There may be some societal differences but the individual's behaviour trumps all.

Many people here seem caught in the societal status races (they just don't know it), and that's probably why they feel stress or think the society is competitive. No matter how much you make or have, there will always be people with more or performing better. Unfortunately, this need for show has often been transferred to the child, and that is why the child feels stress or the endless need/want to perform (and then the parent feels it too). It's not the parents' explicit statements, but the repeated implicit signals the child receives as to what the parents find important (compare schools, boast about schools, etc).

Just remember, cut what you have in half and there are still probably people at that level getting by and being happy (I'd bet even well less than half for some of the people here).

Exactly. Comparing oneself to others is a recipe for stress and unhappiness.

[jalanjalan]

I appreciate your optimism, and I'd like to indulge in it too, but unfortunately, I'm a bit of a realist in this situation. Living in singapore, there's a sense of rigidity that pervades society, everybody's uptight and stressed all the time, we are constantly in competition with each other, and working ourselves to the bone, for god knows what reason. I definitely agree that we're happier than some other countries in the region that are riddled with crime and other systemic issues, but I think it's a stretch to say that people are happy.

Yes, some people do experience constant stress, but that is on an individual level, for complex reasons, as I said. And there are ways to address this. The solution is in our own hands.

[jalanjalan]

That's a case of irresponsible parents not watching their kids - sad but not surprising. Many more kids end up in the hospital from drinking alcohol at home.

Again, cannabis is NOT ADDICTIVE. It does not cause antisocial behaviour. It does not break up families. It does not incur a burden on the healthcare system. You cannot overdose on it.

It's not just my experience. I know several successful people who habitually smoke pot. One is a lawyer, another a business owner.

I am not encouraging anyone to go out and try it. Just don't be misinformed.

Let me explain to you why you fail to convince. You asked for evidence, then dismissed it (bias). You asserted something without providing evidence, and instead provided personal anecdotes with no proof of causation.
Lastly, you tell a flat out falsehood. ie. You literally encouraged me to go thailand and smoke pot. Good thing I'm not an impressionable teenager.
Repeating something (even in caps) doesn't make it true. Sorry ah.

[tiktok]

Of course a statement like "pot is not addictive" is not absolute nor scientifically probable. We can go on for ever cherry picking evidence to prove either side of the argument and nobody will win.

I asked you to provide stories of harm caused by cannabis; you produced an article showing an increase of kids being admitted to hospital from eating cannabis edibles after it was legalised in Canada. l didn't dismiss this but rather clarified this is more a failure of parenting and government regulations than a direct cause of cannabis.

There may even have been cases of fatal overdoses of cannabis but it's bloody hard to do and there would be additional health factors. We can still say it's generally true that you can't overdose from pot.

At the end of the day, inform yourself as best you can and keep an open mind. Don't believe everything the government tells you.

And I don't get why suggesting you go to Thailand and smoke pot is a "falsehood"? No it's true, you should try. You might like it