What happens when a poorly conceived law meets an overzealous police force and an apathetic judiciary?
India sees drug consumption as a criminal offence, believing that criminalising drug use is the strongest symbol of society’s condemnation. But this criminalisation leads to far more harm than mere drug use could ever do.
While criminalising any activity (such as theft or assault) typically causes harm to criminals (by way of fines and imprisonment) who victimise others, criminalisation of drug use is seen as a way to protect people from themselves. This is paradoxical, because such criminalisation harms the very people it intends to protect.
the law does not define ‘consumption’, nor does it prescribe any procedure for determining what constitutes ‘consumption’. At what stage can the ‘crime’ be considered to have been committed? Is it after the act of consumption? Is it the ongoing process of consumption? Does having consumed a narcotic or psychotropic substance at any point in your life, however many years ago, make you vulnerable to criminal sanctions for the rest of your life?
the law criminalises both problematic and non-problematic drug users. Non-problematic users are not a threat, either to themselves or others, while problematic users need medical attention. Criminalisation helps neither: the former are denied their right to be left alone, and the latter are deprived of the benefit of treatment. Courts have the power to send addicts, or problematic users to de-addiction centres; but they unquestioningly convict every single person brought before them to prison sentences or fines.
Banning something doesn't make it unavailable, it just makes it unavailable legally. If the demand exists, the supply would reach the consumers eventually. It gives rise to
- blackmarketing and smuggling
- increase in organised crime, which considers supply of drugs as a source of revenue
- loss of taxation revenue for the state
- unable to regulate quality and distribution, which leads to overdoses and deaths due to impurities
How to unban drugs? While reducing harm caused by drugs? Is it possible? Some ideas...
- with regulations on distribution and quality for the supply chains
- no mass media advertisements
- age-based restrictions on consumption
- plain and standardized packaging (like used for tobacco products in canada)
- access to rehab and medical care (without being considered a criminal)
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... keep reading on reddit ➡
#Marital Rape and the Indian Society
India is probably the only country where the husband enjoys the status of God. Being part of this Indian culture, women accept and endure abusive behavior by their husbands withextremely bad resignation.
Divorce is available as an option mostly to women who are financially independent or to those who have the support of their family. Research indicates that marital rape often has severe and long-lasting consequences for women.
The physical effects of marital rape may include injuries to genitals, soreness, bruising, torn muscles, fatigue and vomiting. Women who have been raped by their husbands may suffer other physical consequences including broken bones, black eyes, bloody noses, and knife wounds that occur during the sexual violence.
Specific consequences of marital rape include miscarriages, still births, bladder infections, infertility and the potential contraction of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV1. Women who are raped by their partners are likely to suffer severe psychological consequences as well.
Some of the short-term effects of marital rape include anxiety, shock,intense fear, depression, suicidal ideation, and post-traumatic stress. Long-term effectsoften include disordered eating, sleep problems, depression, and problems in establishing trusting relationships, and increased negative feelings about themselves. Psychologicaleffects are likely to be long-lasting. Some marital rape survivors report flashbacks, sexualdysfunction, and emotional pain for years after the violence. And the woman has to live with the rapist husband which affects her more badly.
Reasons why Marital Rape is not criminalized
- Implied consent and contract theory: The most common rationale for the marital rape exemption is Hale's notion that a marriageconstitutes a contract.
According to him, there is an implied consent and contract between husband and wife.The terms of this contract state a women’s irrevocable consent to have sexual intercourse with her husband, whenever he wishes.
According to the theory of implied consent, marital rape can never occur because all sexual contact within a marriage is assumed to be consensual. Under the contract theory, as stated by Hale, when a woman marries, she forms a contract with her husband whether it is implied or expressed.
It automatically gives a right to a husband to have sexual intercourse with her wife. Here the consent of the wife does not matter as
... keep reading on reddit ➡We all know how destructive, dangerous and harmful alcohol is, to individuals (physical health, mental health, addiction, lack of control, expensive, use as a maladaptive coping mechanism...) and to society (domestic violence and abuse, sexual violence and rape, major disruptions near pubs every Friday/Saturday night, peer pressure...). It's the most harmful drug to society.
So when people say, "Well tobacco and alcohol are legal so why isn't weed?" they're shooting themselves in the foot. There is no doubt that if alcohol were discovered today, it would be a Class A drug. There are many arguments why legalising weed is bad, but this one seems to be used to support weed, when really it's an extremely strong argument against it, and it's an argument towards criminalisation of alcohol (which we can all agree would make the world a much better, safer, cleaner place). Honestly, making alcohol and interest on loans illegal would solve 90% of the world's problems.
