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NEWS: British Youth See No Choice but Sell Drugs

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posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:21 PM
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Experts at King's College in London have concluded a nearly two year long study that shows that British youth, especially the poor, are being lured into the drug trade by the money, cars, and jewelry flaunted by those whom they have come to admire. Most feel that the only legitimate future for them is in low-wage jobs. Children as young as twelve have been found to be involved in the drug trade.
 



www.rednova.com
A new report shows poor and hopeless British youth are making it big in the drug trade.

A 20-month look into the country's illicit drug industry shows children, some as young as 12, are turning to selling drugs as a way to make some money and to achieve a lifestyle they've grown up to admire, The Observer reports.

The report by experts at King's College London is the culmination of interviews with both sides of the trade -- law enforcement, probation officers and social workers along with drug dealers and the young couriers.

It found those most vulnerable to getting into drug trafficking are young, poor people; people with little to no family support; people who want to be successful but have no hope for the future except low-wage jobs; and people who see drug dealers and their cars, jewelry and money -- and decide that making $250 a week or more as a courier for dealers is a good life choice.


Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


This is not a good development for Britain. America has been plagued for generations by an underclass who languishes in poverty and violence, never taking advantage of the opportunities offered them to improve their circumstances. America's efforts to solve the drug problem have been abysmal and it is probable that Britain will be no more successful. In Britain, the problem might actually be a lack of opportunity, but such is not the case in the US. It is a sad thing to see, indeed.

Related News Links:
news.bbc.co.uk
www.wsws.org
www.islamfortoday.com

[edit on 2005/10/16 by GradyPhilpott]



posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:27 PM
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well maybe in some decades they will reached as bad as US then. welcome to a poor mans world.

would you like to improvise on what you mean by "oppertunities provided to them"?

[edit on 16-10-2005 by grimreaper797]



posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:33 PM
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I don't need to improvise, I can just list a few.

Public Schools
Public Libraries
Employment
Pell Grants
Student Loans

In a nutshell, go to school; study hard; learn to spell; work, if you must; graduate; go to college; get financial aid, if you need it; study hard; work, if you must; graduate; get a job; retire.

How's that.



[edit on 2005/10/16 by GradyPhilpott]



posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:45 PM
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if you want any decent job you need to go to college now its basically a must. you want to be a cop that gets about a patrol officer youre gunna need criminal justice in college.

at a young age kids see that the most they can ever achive will probably be a middle-class, highly taxed life where they work everyday sometimes

...sry ill continue tomarra on whatever i was saying, got side tracked and have to go.



posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:51 PM
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I guess I am confused...why is dealing/trading drugs a sad choice? Sure it is illegit, only due to the fact that it is illegal. Establish the law the way it should be (maske drugs legal) and these youth, in any country, will no longer feel the need to resort to crime but rather a legitimate business.

The problem is that our lawmakers cannot see pass their own egos to realize what and who the problem is: themselves. They alone have the power to make this trade legal and legit. I have written to my congressmen, so now all I can do is sit around and wait for them to answer the call of their consituent (or write back).

I suggest rather than having petitions signed or holding demonstrations, that everyone should instead write to their congressmen to express how they feel. This is the only answer and the only way these violent laws can be reversed.

What causes the violence is a need for the individual dealer to carry protection due to the fact that the police cannot come to his/her aide when needed. Notice that most pharmacies, convenient stores, grocery stores, and liquor stores do not have their employees toting shotguns around in the store or house them behind the counter. They are able to call the police. And there are even times when a dealer feels the need to take arms against the police. I have never heard of any of the above legit business taking arms against police.

We realized the mistakes of prohibtion during the 20's and 30's when kingpins, gansters, mob bosses and drug lord's ran the streets of many major US cities with a violent grip (this is to say that we did not know the mistakes before it happened).

This is still true today that many dealers are prone to inact violence whether you interfer with their business by simply being a witness or are an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. Some people are afraid to call the cops when murders or shooting take place that are drug related or gang related with drug overtones.

Why continue to fight with violence to rid yourself of the enemy when you can change the circumstances and befried him overnight? The fact that it doesn't happen is simple incontrovertible proof that our lawmakers (those not open to drug legislation) are not only bloodthirsty but have no morals what so ever

This needs to stop. Write to your congressmen.



posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:52 PM
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As long as drugs remain illegal, a black market for them will thrive, and will pull in those who have the least to lose. The drug war can not be won by any means, because drugs are fun. Other animals enjoy getting high too.

The drug crisis is caused by drug laws, not drugs. For thousands of years we read little or nothing in history about drug problems until we began to criminalize them in the 20th century.



posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:52 PM
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grimreaper, you are a walking sack of excuses. Get an appointment with your school counselor and try to set some goals and a plan to achieve them. College is not out of your reach and there are plenty of technical schools where you can learn a trade. You'll have to work at it, but it's doable. All you have to do is try.



posted on Oct, 16 2005 @ 11:56 PM
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Originally posted by grimreaper797
if you want any decent job you need to go to college now its basically a must. you want to be a cop that gets about a patrol officer youre gunna need criminal justice in college.


Why should everyone have to go to college? Even if everyone did go to college, would there really be more good jobs?

These kids are just taking the best opportunity they have available to them. Drug dealing is a hard job with the potential for big profits. It seems reasonable to me that they should become drug dealers.

People used to produce what they needed. If you wanted to eat, you grew food, or hunted. The elite figured out how to leach off people, who grew or made stuff.

Today, we have a market economy. If you want something, you need money. You either need to work for someone, who can pay you lots of money, or you need something that is marketable. People aren't allowed to produce things they need or want.

Drugs are what the market wants. Unless you want to abolish capitolism, it is ridiculous to tell the kids to do anything else. Why does the news media always have to propogandize against hard-working, poor entrepneurs?

[edit on 16-10-2005 by crontab]



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 12:23 AM
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I think there is about the same opportunity in Britain as there is in the United States. But, I would say the compulsion to turn to crime is less in Britain than in the United States. Britain has a culture of social saftey nets, be it council housing, free and universal health care or the dole, you really dont have to resort to drugs to survive in Britain.

Thats not to say that the poorer Britons wouldnt want to better themselves and there most definately is money to be made in dealing drugs. That it took a two year study to prove common sense doesnt really surprise me.

What Britain should do is legalize drugs, but contrary to what others have said here, it would not allow these same people to continue to legally deal in drugs. That is ludicrous and who ever thinks that does not understand how business works. The illicit drug industry would be taken over exclusively by pharamcutical companies if it was legalized. The two-bit drug dealer down the road would be out of business in a heartbeat.

These drug dealing poor would still be poor but atleast the drug users amongst them would have cheaper access to drugs. Hence they wouldnt have to commit as many crimes to fund their addictions. Hell, they might even be able to get government money to feed their addiction like British alcoholics do!


There is no easy answer, Britain suffers from the same drug problem every other nations does. They also dont have a decent enough government with enough forsight to tackle the issue in any meaningful manner....so accept it and move on.



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 12:27 AM
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Another useless study....

It took 2 years to work out that people sell drugs because they want quick money?

sheesh....



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 12:57 AM
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Just to add to the "college gets you a job" crap, nothing is secure. You are not guaranteed financial freedom or security with your education. How many college grads are out of work? Picked a crappy future? Didn't make it all the way through and have massive debts?

There is no easy solution in today's world.

I went to college....

Now I'm farming...


Do I go back? Where does the magic money come from?



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 01:02 AM
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An education is its own reward. An educated farmer lives a a fuller, richer life than his less well educated counterpart. There is no magic money for anyone, except possibly computer related fields and even those people face much competition. I don't make a lot of money, a laughably small amount of money, in fact, but I would never regret my education or the years of hardship and persistence it took to get it.



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 01:18 AM
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I would guess that people view it differently. If I am not putting my education to use its not good to me. It would be like buying a Rolex and keeping it in a box.

Yeah it took you time to earn it, but you should use it !

If I went in for an agriculture education I would be happy. I am only here as a last resort.

I have to put some blame on the job market though. I could get a good job in my field if I moved. A couple hundred miles that is.

I just don't have the money.

I know a few people in the same boat and we didn't all go in for the same thing. The job market here sucks.



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 01:30 AM
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While I am wary of providing justification to those who get into crime and still believe that personal responsability should loom larger in the scheme of things, I do believe that this crappy I'm alright Jack/dog eat dog attitude that so many youths seem to embrace has in part been fostered by the govt and powers that be.

Working for years to achieve an education that is then rendered useless once you get into the wide world is hardly an example of the light at the end of the tunnel to be used as encouragement to young people teetering on the straight and narrow. Industry needs to drop some of the more callous, hard edged practices it employs in the endless drive to make a quick buck, cutting expense at the workers expense. You can laud education as it's own reward but sadly many wont buy into that ethic.



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 01:36 AM
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An education alone doesnt put food on the table and that is all that matters really. Think of all the millions of college educated Indians who are fighting for work in India. Do you think the satisfaction that comes from a degree will put food in their kids bellies?



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 01:44 AM
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Originally posted by Dulcimer
How many college grads are out of work? Picked a crappy future


Not very many when compared to those who did not go to college.

bls.gov

Unemployment rates by education:

Less than a high school diploma
7.6 %

High school graduates, no college
4.5%

Some college or associate degree
3.5%

Bachelor's degree and higher
2.4%


A college education is worth getting.
I have regrets about not getting one myself, tech schools were not enough.

[edit on 17-10-2005 by AceOfBase]



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 02:02 AM
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Thats not the argument Grady is making though AceofBase. How many of those 2.5% unemployed with a degree can survive off the satisfaction their attaining a degree gives them? Also the degree of unemployed with a degree should be 0% if all you need to get a job is a degree. Both discredit Grady's arguments.



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 02:06 AM
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Just for fun could someone find the statistics for Canada. I could only find basic unemployment stats and such. I would just like to compare.

Edit: Here are some numbers for Canada. Click link, too long to post here:

www40.statcan.ca...


[edit on 17-10-2005 by Dulcimer]



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 02:06 AM
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It's all right saying go to college, but what happens when everybody has a degree?
Are more jobs created? Of course not. Same amount of job openings, same amount of people trying to get those jobs.
Nothing is changed, nothing is solved. Just more unemployed people with degrees.

At one time you could get a job out of high school, learn the trade as you worked.
Nowadays employers are too lazy and tight with their profits to train people to work for them. So everybody has to go to school to get those jobs, then spend years paying back their student loans for jobs they would have been experts at by that time if they were taught on the job.

Just more ways the profitiers can extract money from the gulable public.

If someone doesn't go to college, does that mean they are any less educated than someone who has? Do colleges have a monopoly on education?
Do the colleges know things that no one else does? Are colleges the only place you can get education from?

We are so easily manipulated and forced in to the pigeon hole thinking that they want. For what? Do you really think it's our future and knowledge they care about? NO, it's money, pure and simple.

Have we become so nieve to think college is the only place to get educated?
At one time that WAS the case, when only the real privelaged got to go to college. When a college education really meant something.
Now they teach in college what used to be taught in high school.
A college degree is no better than a high school diploma.

You can educate yourself in half the time it takes a college to and for a damned site cheaper. But it's got so we're forced to except "their" education and pay a rediculous amount for it.

It's just another sad scam perpetuated on the population so someone can make a buck. That's what makes capitilism good for the few, but bad for the majority. This process of taking away the free will of society to choose their own path in life will eventually bite us in the ass.

This is why many real naturaly talented people get the shaft if they can't afford or don't desire (free will) to spend 4 years behind a school desk so they can make a living from their tallents (art for example).
I know people who have wicked talent for graphic arts but can't get a job, even though they are more talented than the college grad, because they didn't go to college. Is that right?
Should people suffer because they chose (free will) not to or couldn't afford to go to school.
You could say, well why didn't they go to school, it's their own fault?
I'm saying why should they go line someone elses pocket to teach them something they can already do?

It's a snowball effect. Soon you will have to have a masters to be a road sweeper.



posted on Oct, 17 2005 @ 02:15 AM
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British Youth See No Choice but Sell Drugs

Well, when youth see the success of the really big drug pushers like the doctors and the various legal drug industries, is it any wonder?

I don't think "The Powers That Be" really care if kids are selling drugs. What they don't like are that kids are selling drugs that "The Powers That Be" can't make a profit from.



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