Diesel

Jail for man who smuggled cocaine hidden in doors | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

'A former public schoolboy who masterminded a £3m plot to smuggle wooden doors impregnated with liquid cocaine into Britain was jailed yesterday for 18 years. Paul Sneath, 24, of Guildford, Surrey, came up with a "unique" plot using sheets of plywood, liquid cocaine, industrial solvent, and cheese graters'

Its probably me lost a bit of perspective, but I find that 18yr sentence a bit steep compared to the sentences handed out [let alone served] to people who actually seriously harm/kill others? These guys are ultimately responsible for making a few people talk utter bollox, whilst thinking they are super-cool..? No one is forced to buy their, err, product, or take it? Young enterprise award maybe

D

sti-04!!

I agree. Very steep, when rapists & child abusers get 5yrs

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

No, I DON'T agree. The sentences for rapists, child molesters, murderers etc ought to be increased, yes, but cocaine, heroin and other hard drugs? They destroy lives, not just of the idiots who choose to take it, but for their parents, their friends, their siblings, their children born junkies, and not least, the people against who they commit crimes to feed their stupid habit.

The cost to the country is ENORMOUS

I'd have given him 180 years!

Alcazar

DavidBrown

Or legalise it and watch related crimes and innocent victims plummet.

theboy

Diesel you are full of sh*t. Drug dealing scum should get life and the murderers and rapists should get hung

Mitchy260

Theboy....Think that's a bit harsh

Drugs are a part of todays society, far more than what people would like to think. Walk into any city's pubs and clubs and half of them will be drinking, the other half will also be drinking but putting coke up their noses at the same time.

I am sure i read somewhere that 90% of £10/£20 notes are contaminated with coke, yes meaning the note you have in your wallet has probably been shoved up someone's nose

Top celebs are taking coke on nights out, people in professional jobs also. Its not a chav drug, costs quite a bit of £££

As long as its used in moderation and doesn't harm anyone else then i personally dont have a problem with it. Its when you get junkies injecting heroin, running out of money, then mugging old women, then you get big problems.

Im not a drug user, never have been

Yes 18 years is harsh, although i doubt that was 18 years minimum. He'll probably be out in 9 which i think is about right.

Abdabz

Legalising charlie would result in copius amounts of violence on the streets... People would be unfit to work, would collapse everywhere dieing of heart attacks, would lose the middle bits of their nose and talk utter ****e all the time...

What a fantastic utopia

180 years for a dealer of any quantity would suffice...I prefer the idea of chopping off their hands... Pretty tricky playing with scales when only being able to use your feet and chin...

ADILM

thats a feckin joke! 18years for smuggling, WTF! I mean its a serious crime and all, bu when you consider what paedo's/rapists get 'nowadays'...

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Just because other crimes get what we consider small sentences does not mean that others should go down to match them.

18 years is getting off light in my opinion.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

This thread illustrates the naivety of so many people in the UK with regards to drugs like cocaine. Do you not realise that coke is already everywhere, if you scratch the surface of just about any pub or club you will find getting your hands on coke is almost as easy as buying alcohol or cigarettes. You would also be staggered at how many people use it, probably some of the people you would least expect. Legalising or at least decriminalising it is a serious option that one day someone in power is going to need to be brave enough to at least actually look at. Whatever happens, living in denial that coke is a not readily available and used by large numbers of 'every day' individuals is just plain stupid.

LG John

The sentance is steep IMHO relative to other sentances. If 18 years is appropriate for this sort of crime then murder should induce a sentance of over 100 years IMHO. If murder only figures to be 20 years then this should be 8 years or something! The whole system is a joke.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Except when it is turned into crack cocaine which by many ir regarded as one of the single most degrading addictions leading to very violent crime, physical breakdown and ultimately death.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Lots of vandals, theives, killers and rapists too.. doesn't make it right.

Decriminalising drugs like that is just total liberal crap - if your life is so utterly ****e you have to throw this junk down yourself then I suggest you take a knife vertically to your wrists and do everyone a favour.

As for "a bit of coke doesn't harm anyone" - thats utter crap as well, based on total naivity of the global drugs trade . The effects of drug production in many countries around the world results in untold killings, violence, corruption and the destruction of many innocents lives - but hey, as long as Daily Mail readers get to snot lines who cares right?

106rallye

Just out of interest do you recon alcohol should be banned? The only difference between some banned drugs (not all) and alcohol is the fact that booze is socially acceptable, it still ammounts to violence on the streets, unfit to work and dropping down with heart attacks.

Drug related deaths compared to drink related deaths are tiny (I know a lot more people drink than do drugs but the gap isn't as big as some think) (sorry I edited this to actually make sense!!)

Now my outthere idea to this situation would be to pump loads of money into the pharmacutical industry and work on removing the negative side effects of drugs then legalise and tax like anything else.

My issue with banned drugs is

A. the supply chain and all the associated violence
B. who is raking in the tax free profits
C. what the tax free profits are currently funding

My personal view I have no interest in any controled substances but I sometimes have to ask myself why when i have no problem with drinking. I find girls snorting coke really unattractive (as is a girl who has drunk loads) but at the end of the day take the current supply chain issues aside what is the real difference?

Andy

Abdabz

You're right Mr Fan, about half of my mates down the pub take it recreationally regularly and I could buy £100's worth without any notice right now should I be retarded enough to want to do so.
Regardless of it's availability, it can be a very damaging drug and chopping off the hands of dealers is still no bad thing.

18 years is a decent term and yes, in a perfect world paedos and rapists, car jackers and people who hold a mobile when driving would get executed after being made to watch a whole series vroom vroom, but that's not the way it is.

RUDDY

I like a bit of sniff now and again but aparently i have to go and slit my wrists now! lol!
its probably not the drugs their bothered about, its about young men making millions of untaxable pounds!

turbomatt

iTrader: (1)

Very good point there.But i think decriminalising it would be the most suitable solution.Like some have pointed out its easy to get hold of nowadays and has come down in price alot over the years to such a point where it is cheap enough for most people should they wish to use it.Just look at what alcohol does to some people, some of the symptoms of alcohol abuse are definately on par with crack cocaine addiction but most of us like to spend our weekends in the pub only difference is one is legal the other is illegal.18 years for what he did is far too long, 6-7 years sounds abot right to me.

ADILM

i think that by decriminalising a drug, which i think is very harmful, is not the best decision. I mean, it is very harmful and as mentioned by another member, it puts the families and friends of those dim wits who take it, through hell.

prince_of_tokyo

what he got was ok, but rapists, child abusers and murderers should not be getting away with 5 years, THATS BOLLOX

RUDDY

true but not everyone wants to sniff it hour after hour! 1 gram on a friday night seems to be the norm down here!

turbomatt

iTrader: (1)

Alcohol is addictive and harmfull if taken in excess, same goes with coke.Taking it dosent always mean your going to turn into a wide eyed hyperactive freak with one nostral.It is used by most as a weekend thing,an alternative to being drunk.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

My point exactly. Makes me laugh as you would think the way people talk that alcohol doesn't wreck some people's lives and those of their friends and families around them.

Luan Pra bang

I think you will find that the diamond trade causes as much harm as the coke trade. You clearly have very little understanding of how much money the coke trade brings in for developing countries and people with very little income. The fact is the cocaine industry offers employment to millions of people worldwide and generates income for millions of people who would otherwise have no option but to resort to serious harmfull crime. Whatever you would like to think millions of people often moderately succesful use coke on a weekly basis with very few harmful effects. The statistics for harmful and non-harmful use would be interesting to see and compare to alchohol use as I am pretty sure that alcohol causes far more of our societys problems than cocaine. GIven that it is no more harmful than alcohol how on earth can anyone justify an 18 year sentence for a little bit of smuggleingI have no idea. Theft and violence are crimes by people who need locking up as they are a threat to society smugglers are in no way a threat t in the same way.

RUDDY

i supose crack is the issue though isnt it really? it was liquid cocaine so maybe it was going to be turned in to crack (dont know the ins and outs)
now i dont know any crack heads but it seems to trouble the likes of Mr Doherty quite bad!

Leslie

Alcazar is absolutely right. Drug taking is totally addictive, far more than alcohol, or smoking for that matter, both of those habits, although generally bad for you, can be easily controlled. Drugs however are a different story altogether. The addiction can be virtually instant these days with the stronger drugs available and lead to a life of total degradation and eventually death. The dealers are the real villains and any who are caught should be given a maximum penalty because they are prepared to make enormous sums of money out of the destruction and sorrow that they cause.

Of course 18 years is a lot compared to what rapists and kiddy fiddlers seem to get thses days. The answer is as Alcazar said is to increase the penalties very heavily for that sort of thing as well as for drug dealing.

To legalise drugs would be a shameful cop out and would do nothing to improve the situation.

Les

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Absolutely not true. Scientifially addiction is measured by 5 factors - withdrawal, reinforcement, tolerance, dependence and intoxication. It is generally accepted that using these as a benchmark nicotine is the most addictive drug although caffeine scores highly as well. Alcohol is worse or on a par with many hard drugs.

RUDDY

i wouldnt of said drinking could be easily controlled!!
drug useres like to get high alcoholics like to get pist! their mind craves a certain state and as long as they can they will get into that state!

Luan Pra bang

Illegal drugs are not always more adictive than the legal ones like alcohol and nicotine and you should know that. you initail statement is just a fallacy Leslie.
Tell me please one illegal narcotic with ' instant addiction'

You comments about dealers are as well completely ignorant. Very very few make alot of money most drugs in the UK are sourced by friends helping friends out with their little bit for the weekend. Only large scale distributors make real money the people moving bin bags full. The fact is millions of people take drugs every weekend snd never have a problem and every one with half a clue knows that making alcohol illegal and canabis legal would take strain of the NHS stop 90% of violent crime free police up for police work and be fantastic for the nation. Alcohol is the curse of this nation but yet knowone is suggesting making it illegal the question is why not ?

RUDDY

because its a money spinner!

Diesel

I dont that is tru Les. Millions of people take illegal drugs on a weekly weekend basis in the UK with seeminglt few issues. I only personally know of one person who had a problem with cocaine, and it cost him his job once. I know many more that have lost it through drink.

From my experience I think there is a huge ignorance about the scale of the 'non-problem causing' drug taking in UK/US. Add hypocrisy that sees ethanol [booze!] as tolerable and nicotine as often a 'personal decision' and it is all a bit of an out of touch mess out there.

The Boy - thanks for your insult. This thread was meant to generate discussion and you have contributed zip - although seemingly have a strong opinion. Weak.

D