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epiphiny43 -> RE: Do you see a difference...? (10/10/2012 10:51:38 PM)
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There is no virtue in 'natural'. The ancient and medieval political use of poisons were all 'natural'. Plants and the various herbivores have been in a development war for hundreds of millions of years. Our 'drugs' are mostly plant defense poisons or countermeasures to other threats in their environment. Most 'chemical' drugs are pure distillations of plant substances or synthetic variations attempting to gain strength or drop side effects.
That said, prohibition of almost any 'drug' has been shown by modern history to have far more damaging effects on the users, their families and communities (Local, national and worldwide) than any possible effect the drug itself has. The War on Drugs has made pot more valuable than gold, created in the USA the most incarcerated nation in history and corrupted every level of every government in the Americas and most world wide. The price of heroin has never gone up, even without figuring in inflation, nor has powder coke. Only the more difficult to move, because of it's volume, marijuana has had it's price skyrocketed by it's prohibition. Bad diets do more damage to Americans than pot! Which is not praise for cannabis.
The actually dangerous drugs socially are Alcohol, Ice and the new designer drugs we have almost no understanding of. And, of course, all the legal prescription drugs that are killing far more people than the illegals, both from patient abuse (Easily more deaths than from all banned drugs) and from chronic over-prescribing and incorrect diagnosis. Crack is not that far behind Ice. Both eat the Central Nervous System internally and make users psychopaths in deed if not always mentally. The prohibition on these has had No positive effects other than create a police/prison industry that is now a significant interest group fighting for it's survival. It also has made actual help for users far more difficult with it's vacuuming all available resources and stigmatizing not only the addicts but those trying to rescue them, as 'enablers'. And anyone who remembers middle and high school will testify anything prohibited is far more attractive than something just stupidly dangerous.
Drugs: generally a bad idea without real education and a positive agenda using them. (I was a Leary disciple and don't regret a dose)
Prohibition of drugs: a far worse idea and the real damage mechanism overall in the world today. Drug runners have more money than any defense budget in the Americas except the USA's! Ask Mexico about the US War on Drugs?
My alternative is to have an education system that respects our new recruits into society and attempts to actually educate the little bastards with good information on the various recreational habits of their predecessors. Such as having early middle school kids 'volunteer' in hospital and rehab wards so they see early on the real dangers of drink, smoke, drugs and mixing any of those with automobiles. And how much fun single parenthood really is for teenagers . . . and so on. Protect the little sweethearts? No way, toss them into the cauldron so they get the idea early that their decisions do have consequences and they better get it right as Mommy and Daddy can't fix a whole list of problems. Not the stupid DARE idiots that real kids ignore en mass, but giving them the truth and putting them where they see what really happens in life. Our prison system sure isn't working.
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