Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Live Drug Taking On Dutch Tv, mad Dutchers!

[Kitten]

I'm not sure if WOK is involved in this or not...

In 1958 a BBC news reporter was filmed before, during and after he tripped on LSD. The footage was not shown on TV until the 1980s. Are the times a-changing???

Live drug taking plan on Dutch TV

A presenter on a new chat show in the Netherlands is planning to take drugs such as heroin live on air, aiming to tackle issues facing young people.

The show, due to go out next month, is called Spuiten & Slikken, translated as "shoot up and swallow".

News of the show has concerned the ruling centre-right Christian Democrat Party, whose spokesman said it was "dangerous" and set a "bad example".

It is unclear whether presenter Filemon Wesselink would face prosecution.

Even in the liberal Netherlands, where marijuana is sold and used openly, the proposed action by presenter Filemon is technically illegal.

But Justice Ministry spokesman Ivo Hommes told the Associated Press news agency that while possession of any amount of heroin is illegal in the Netherlands, in practice things can differ. He said police usually do not have resources to chase after people with less than a half a gram of the narcotic.

"The actual taking of drugs is a health problem, not a criminal act, though it's obviously hard to take drugs without possessing them first," Mr Hommes said.

"In any case it's not something we endorse, and doing it on television is undesirable."

The show's format features its main host interviewing guests about drug use and abuse while Wesselink and another presenter carry out in-the-field experiments with sex and drugs.

Wesselink, 26, plans to smoke a heroin pill, said Ingrid Timmer, a spokeswoman for the show's producer BNN.

"It's not our intention to create an outcry. We just want to talk about subjects that are part of young people's lives," said Ms Timmer.

In other segments of the show, Wesselink plans to go on a drinking binge in a series of pubs. He also plans to take the hallucinogenic drug LSD - on his couch under the supervision of his mother.

BNN has courted controversy with its shows in the past, including a sex education programme which featured life-size mannequins with sex organs.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/ente...ent/4268896.stm

[Wart of Kahn]

Yeah, BNN, I could have known.
The only way those people at BNN try to get ratings is by broadcasting taboo-defying stuff, which most of the time isn't even funny (IMO).
I don't watch television, I only have a set hooked up to my VCR and my DVD-player.

[poopstain]

Iran has Highest opium addiction rate in world

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5092202287.html

According to the U.N. World Drug Report for 2005, Iran has the highest proportion of opiate addicts in the world -- 2.8 percent of the population over age 15. Only two other countries -- Mauritius and Kyrgyzstan -- pass the 2 percent mark. With a population of about 70 million and some government agencies putting the number of regular users close to 4 million, Iran has no real competition as world leader in per capita addiction to opiates, including heroin.

[Kitten]

When the Shah of Iran and his family, cronies etc, fled the country as the Ayatollah took power, they couldn't take cash out of the country so instead took their jewelry and HEROIN as currency. Cheap heroin quickly spread through drug markets in the early 80s creating a whole new generation of heroin addicts and a whole new set of social problems which continue today.

Thank you the Shah of Iran, oh, and the Ayatollah!