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The reference, for all those who think this comment is off topic, is a blog post by yegge in 2009 entitled "Have you ever legalized marijuana?"[1] [1]: http://

by helper 11y ago

The reference, for all those who think this comment is off topic, is a blog post by yegge in 2009 entitled "Have you ever legalized marijuana?"[1] [1]: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2009/04/have-you-ever-legalized-marijuana.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2009/04/have-you-ever-legali...

jdminhbg 11y ago
That's fun to go back and re-read now. He correctly describes "Shit's Easy" Syndrome, but maybe there's an opposing fallacy that's heavily status quo biased. Legalizing marijuana is in fact pretty easy, as bureaucratic undertakings go. Lots of his "what ifs" only make sense for something that's illegal in the first place -- What if illegal smugglers just pull up on the beach and start selling coffee? Why would they do that if you can just stop in at Starbucks?
- caskance 11y ago
  That's the whole point of that list. Transitioning from illegal to legal is complicated in ways that don't affect things like coffee that have always been legal - and therefore, many people don't think about, claiming it will be treated "just like legal thing".
  - jdminhbg 11y ago
    I understand the point of the list, it's just that most of the items on the list are not actually issues, or at least not difficult issues, and legalization has gone pretty smoothly in multiple states now. What he fails to take into account is that it actually is easy to just stop throwing people in jail for possession whenever we feel like it, and then take a year or so setting up a licensed legal distribution system.
    - caskance 11y ago
      It doesn't sound like you do understand the point of the list then. The point is not that any particular issue is unsolvable or even difficult. It's that laymen eagerly suggest naive solutions without even realizing that these issues exist. That's why you need to plan out your project and devote resources to executing it. Amendment 64 was not a single line "marijuana is now legal". The governor even set up a task force to oversee its implementation. And there are still complications due to its contradiction with federal law.
- ufmace 11y ago
  I kinda see the point of it, that it is indeed complex, but it's not like we have to be paralyzed by complexity. Once the political momentum is there, you throw a dozen or so congressional aides in a room for a week and tell 'em to write the new law, and they'll probably come out with something that's at least a reasonable starting point. Revise it a couple of times, then put it in place and see what happens. It won't be perfect, but it's tough to be worse than the prohibition status quo. They can always fix whatever ends up being troublesome in a year or two.

by helper 11y ago

jdminhbg 11y ago

That's fun to go back and re-read now. He correctly describes "Shit's Easy" Syndrome, but maybe there's an opposing fallacy that's heavily status quo biased. Legalizing marijuana is in fact pretty easy, as bureaucratic undertakings go. Lots of his "what ifs" only make sense for something that's illegal in the first place -- What if illegal smugglers just pull up on the beach and start selling coffee? Why would they do that if you can just stop in at Starbucks?

caskance 11y ago
That's the whole point of that list. Transitioning from illegal to legal is complicated in ways that don't affect things like coffee that have always been legal - and therefore, many people don't think about, claiming it will be treated "just like legal thing".
- jdminhbg 11y ago
  I understand the point of the list, it's just that most of the items on the list are not actually issues, or at least not difficult issues, and legalization has gone pretty smoothly in multiple states now. What he fails to take into account is that it actually is easy to just stop throwing people in jail for possession whenever we feel like it, and then take a year or so setting up a licensed legal distribution system.
  - caskance 11y ago
    It doesn't sound like you do understand the point of the list then. The point is not that any particular issue is unsolvable or even difficult. It's that laymen eagerly suggest naive solutions without even realizing that these issues exist. That's why you need to plan out your project and devote resources to executing it. Amendment 64 was not a single line "marijuana is now legal". The governor even set up a task force to oversee its implementation. And there are still complications due to its contradiction with federal law.
ufmace 11y ago
I kinda see the point of it, that it is indeed complex, but it's not like we have to be paralyzed by complexity. Once the political momentum is there, you throw a dozen or so congressional aides in a room for a week and tell 'em to write the new law, and they'll probably come out with something that's at least a reasonable starting point. Revise it a couple of times, then put it in place and see what happens. It won't be perfect, but it's tough to be worse than the prohibition status quo. They can always fix whatever ends up being troublesome in a year or two.