hanelyp wrote:I think it's worth noting that the fight against tobacco is being fought in large part on the social front, making tobacco uncool. The contest on this front must be won before prohibition will work well. With many other drugs, especially pot, this front is sorely neglected.
Not just pot. Alcohol is socially acceptable despite its statistical association with violence and the carnage it causes on our highways.
OTOH pot reduces highway carnage.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/marijuana/ci_19437417
and
http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/02/w ... ic-deaths/
Maybe in our "infinite wisdom" we have outlawed the wrong drugs.
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And of course we now have a precedent for government bans on "bad" foods. Or anything else that may be harmful to humans. Or defined as such. By the lawgivers.
I do not see how banning self harm can be effectively policed. Who will complain? "I'm turning myself in because I forced myself to use unapproved drugs." What a larf. Well OK. Now you need watchers. To report on the people harming themselves.
Of course some times the character of the watchers leaves a bit to be desired:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/05/law-l ... eir-miscon
There used to be a reason that crimes were generally defined as harm to others. Some one will complain. The enforcers need not be inspecting the population for infractions. We could maybe go back to the Peace Officer System instead of continuing the Enforcer System.
But of course quite a few find a police state an attractive proposition.
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The whole system is set up to process cattle. And maximize "opportunities" for the politically connected. You can be of the herd. You can be of the herd processors. Opting out of the game is severely frowned upon.
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Also note that the risk to the unborn that alcohol represents goes generally unremarked.
Now if alcohol can be legal surely pot should be as well. And if we end pot prohibition maybe we can look rationally at all drugs and their relative harms. In another generation.