Julien Mercille: Double standards in the war on drugs

Legalisation of drugs would eliminate in one fell swoop the black market and wipe out the cartels almost overnight

Armed gardaí could find themselves in a shooting war with the cartels Picture: Rollingnews

Let me tell you how I came to use drugs. I started rather occasionally in my late teens. The lads I hung out with all did it every now and then. I wasn’t too interested in the drug itself, but they were friends. So peer pressure, perhaps a search for a new identity, led me into it. One evening, one got the stuff and brought it to a party. There were two dozen ...