4e38d3b8   
   From: bliss@sfo.com   
      
   On 05/03/2010 09:43 AM, Brother Nate wrote:   
   > VFW wrote:   
   > [...]   
   >> "The war on drugs does not work, period," said Dr. Julio Montaner,   
   >> president of the International AIDS Society.   
   >>   
   >> "We must take an evidence-based approach to dealing with the drug   
   >> market, because current strategies are not working and people are paying   
   >> for ill-considered policies with their lives," Montaner said in a   
   >> release.   
   >   
   > I'm in favor of taking a rational approach to the problems posed   
   > by addiction and drug abuse, but I don't find statements like   
   > "The war on drugs does not work, period" to be especially   
   > meaningful - there are just too many dimensions to this issue.   
   >   
   > The war on drugs certainly has not created a zero-violation   
   > environment, but that would be an unrealistic expectation.   
   >   
   > It's true that some forms of drug abuse are on the rise, but   
   > despite what we're told about "forbidden fruits" it's clearly   
   > self-evident that laws aren't causing people to binge drink   
   > more.  Abuse is driven by what people want, not by what   
   > they're told not to do.   
   >   
   > The spike in violence may be the worst side-effect of our   
   > efforts to enforce these laws.  Revenue from a high-stakes   
   > trafficking business has fueled the ambitions of defacto   
   > warlords.  There may be a certain appeal to the idea of   
   > taking away the revenue that drug lords make from   
   > running drugs and redirecting it as sales tax and "sin"   
   > tax on regulated trade, but implicit in the very name of   
   > the "harm reduction" approach is the reality that drug   
   > abuse really does cause harm.   
   >   
   > A legalized environment might result in less harm, but   
   > I believe the fact that harm would still occur would be   
   > taken up as a point of criticism by opponents of drug use,   
   > and that criticism would be no less unfair or unrealistic   
   > than blanket generalizations that the present approach   
   > "doesn't work period".   
   >   
   > --   
   > Brother Nate   
   > bronate@gmail.com   
   > Moral Compass   
      
   	Oh Nate would you rather have people injure   
   themselves or have the injury enforced and made   
   more severe by the out of control enforcement   
   of laws that attempt to control use of natural   
   substances.   
      
   	Yes damage will occur and people who   
   have never smoked will get lung cancer.   
   	People who have never done drugs will   
   be killed by people who have never done   
   drugs.  Floods will drown us and earthquakes   
   shake us, as storms rip at us and our   
   constructions.   
   	Those things will go on whether drug   
   use is legal or not.   
   	Worse we grow up and begin to age   
   eventually to wither our youthful charms   
   and finally to die and their is very little   
   we can do about it.  No end to birth and   
   death is in sight, though some on certain   
   drugs believed otherwise.   
   	Tim Leary may be on the outside   
   looking in or he may not be but his   
   dreams were less damaging to society   
   than the dreams of prohibitionists who   
   want no one to have fun, no matter how   
   much it costs nor whose rights are   
   infringed.   
      
   	later   
   	bliss   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)