kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU (08/20/86)
[ Well, I think children should be protected against doing stupid
things to themselves.
I thought we were discussing adults.
... Having drugs regulated (presumably by the government) doesn't
stop illegal activities (e.g. cigarettes, in which there is a
multi-million dollar activity to illegally move cigarettes without
paying taxes on them
If taxes were eliminated, this form of crime would go away.
It is true that this is still a crime, but it does not result in
making crooks out of millions of smokers, and it does not result in
bad batches of cigarettes, and it does not result in prices for
cigarettes so high that smokers have to commit crimes to get cigarette
money (in fact this crime REDUCES the cost of cigarettes) - and make
no mistake, cigarettes are addictive enough that many smokers would
turn to a life of crime rather than quit smoking.
... I agree that in general people should be free to make the
wrong choice, but I don't know any right choices for drugs like
heroin or cocaine.
I don't know any right choice for tobacco.
Government has spent billions of dollars and hundreds of policemen's
lives trying to stamp out illegal drug usage. IT ISN'T WORKING.
Legalizing drugs won't make them go away either. What we CAN do by
legalizing the drugs is:
1) Make the cost of the drugs small enough that users don't have to
mug people and shoot 7-11 cashiers to get the money for drugs.
2) Cause the quality to go way up. No more hepatitis, no more drug
related AIDS, a lot fewer overdose deatch, no more strychnine
poisonings.
3) Eliminate organized crime.
4) Reduce the crowding in the prisons, the cost of maintaing those
people in prison, the cost of the trials, the cost of the drug
police, etc.
5) Decrease the forbidden-fruit factor. A lot of teenagers are
attracted to drugs simply because they are illegal.
6) Decrease the stigma. Many addicts are not willing to seek
treatment because they don't want to be branded as criminals. If
drugs were legal, this problem would go away.
...Keith
[ Firstly, you cannot simply whisk away the issue of drugs and
children. I am not satisfied with just ignoring the problem.
..."in fact this crime REDUCES the cost of cigarettes" - I take it
then that you approve of any criminal act that lowers prices, or just
those that make government the victim?
Reducing the price of drugs will 1) increase the number of overdoses -
if there's more (and better) of it people will take more; 2) increase
the usage in normally non-use situations: remove the stigma, and you
reduce the level of peer-pressure to not use (say on the job or in
school - and consider how many teenagers smoke legal, cheap
cigarettes); 3) increase the number of addicts. Why should anyone
want to receive help to kick the habit of a drug which is legal,
cheap, and stigma-free? If you really think that kids will not take
drugs because its no longer a crime, think again. If you really think
organized crime will just 'dissappear', I'm sorry but the cure-all
won't cure this one. They'll just move on to other things - they said
that about organized crime and the repeal of Prohibition too. - CWM]
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