Lovely Analogy
Mon, 2009-12-07 23:38
This book starts off with a beautiful analogy between the current war on drugs and the prohibition era. Recommended reading definitely.
Mon, 2010-02-22 14:06
#1
Read About the Government Poisoning Booze
Slate magazine has an article this week (http://www.slate.com/id/2245188/) about the government actually poisoning liquor as part of its "law enforcement" efforts during Prohibition, and it mentions how the government sprayed marijuana fields with the herbicide Paraquat during the 1970s. The analogy is evident for anyone to see.
Sun, 2010-02-21 16:15
#2
Another Analogy
...Is tobacco.
Rates of tobacco smoking and chewing in the United States have dropped precipitously in the past 20 years, and the key is public health intervention and education, NOT prohibition. Imagine what would have happened if cigarettes had been made illegal. An industry would have sprung up to grow and distribute tobacco at incredible cost, and the government would have tried to fight it with law enforcement and would have failed.
There is an important lesson in this book as regards all dangerous behaviors that society wants to discourage. The key is education and economic disincentives (cigarettes now cost more than 10 times what they did 25 years ago, and a lot of the money goes to taxes). Making something illegal doesn't discourage people from consuming it but just makes it possible for criminals to get rich providing it!
