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I think you're mischaracterizing people here. I think everyone would agree drug addiction is a problem that requries some government intervention. But clearly t

by pzone 10y ago

I think you're mischaracterizing people here. I think everyone would agree drug addiction is a problem that requries some government intervention. But clearly the policy we have right now is not great. The argument is that legalization + prevention + treatment would be, overall, better than prohibition. Not perfect, but better.

jshevek 10y ago
I absolutely agree that the parent didn't do justice to the range of opinions, and your post improves on the discussion. I'd like to nitpick the word "requires" (vs "is best served by") > everyone would agree drug addiction is a problem that requries some government intervention. Personally, I believe that it is absolutely theoretically possible to address our societies drug addiction problems without any government intervention, if only we as a culture were willing to do so.
hasenj 10y ago
Addiction is a personal psychological problem. How can the government intervene? The government cannot make you happy. Look at obesity rates. People get addicted because their life sucks. How can the government make their life not suck?
- pzone 10y ago
  Sometimes government can solve problems, other times it can't. Even in the case of obesity, the government at least tries to educate people. But addiction is not so similar to obesity, because it's much easier to monitor and control people's drug use through regulation than it is to monitor and control people's food intake. I think drug use is more like payday lending. Payday lending a shady industry, people who take advantage of it are often not too well off, and sometimes people make terrible decisions and screw up their lives, to the profit of the lenders. (or drug dealers.) But people are always going to want to borrow money for short periods of time just like people are always going to want to use drugs. No government policy is going to make everyone in the world happy, but we can try to minimize the number of miserable outcomes with some careful intervention.
  - hasenj 10y ago
    The only viable intervention is education. Case in point: school lunch in Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vwC51FxP10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vwC51FxP10 I have an eery feeling that something like this will never fly in the US. People will complain about 'muh freedom'.

by pzone 10y ago

jshevek 10y ago

I absolutely agree that the parent didn't do justice to the range of opinions, and your post improves on the discussion. I'd like to nitpick the word "requires" (vs "is best served by") > everyone would agree drug addiction is a problem that requries some government intervention. Personally, I believe that it is absolutely theoretically possible to address our societies drug addiction problems without any government intervention, if only we as a culture were willing to do so.

hasenj 10y ago

Addiction is a personal psychological problem. How can the government intervene? The government cannot make you happy. Look at obesity rates. People get addicted because their life sucks. How can the government make their life not suck?

pzone 10y ago
Sometimes government can solve problems, other times it can't. Even in the case of obesity, the government at least tries to educate people. But addiction is not so similar to obesity, because it's much easier to monitor and control people's drug use through regulation than it is to monitor and control people's food intake. I think drug use is more like payday lending. Payday lending a shady industry, people who take advantage of it are often not too well off, and sometimes people make terrible decisions and screw up their lives, to the profit of the lenders. (or drug dealers.) But people are always going to want to borrow money for short periods of time just like people are always going to want to use drugs. No government policy is going to make everyone in the world happy, but we can try to minimize the number of miserable outcomes with some careful intervention.
- hasenj 10y ago
  The only viable intervention is education. Case in point: school lunch in Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vwC51FxP10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vwC51FxP10 I have an eery feeling that something like this will never fly in the US. People will complain about 'muh freedom'.