I feel somewhat qualified to speak on this since my startup, Pembient, biofabricates rhino horn. Basically, rhino horn has been banned in China since 1993. Desp

I feel somewhat qualified to speak on this since my startup, Pembient, biofabricates rhino horn. Basically, rhino horn has been banned in China since 1993. Despite that prohibition, much rhino horn still ends up in China, where it is used primarily for decorative purposes and not medicinal purposes as is widely reported [1]. From a policy perspective, bans often don't work because they induce a "forbidden fruit" effect [2]. Or, in the words of Walter Lippmann [3]: "We find ourselves revolving in a circle of impotence in which we outlaw intolerantly the satisfaction of certain persistent human desires and then tolerate what we have prohibited. Thus we find ourselves accepting in their lawless forms the very things which in lawful form we repudiate, having in the end to deal not only with all the vices we intended to abolish but with the additional dangers which arise from having turned over their exploitation to the underworld." It is especially strange seeing wildlife policy push further towards a "war on drugs" stance at the same time that many are claiming that war has been lost [4]. It will be interesting to see how things play out, but I believe policy in this area is fundamentally flawed and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, the animals will survive our blundering. [1] https://wildlifejustice.org/cn/overlooked-rhino-horn-demand-decorative-purposes-china/ https://wildlifejustice.org/cn/overlooked-rhino-horn-demand-... [2] http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=335 http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=33... [3] http://www.unz.org/Pub/Forum-1931feb-00065 http://www.unz.org/Pub/Forum-1931feb-00065 [4] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/war-on-drugs-legalization https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/war-on-drugs-legaliza...