This isn't a perfect solution, but ultimately, I think, we are going to have to move in the direction where 13 year olds don't want to buy heroin. And that's g

This isn't a perfect solution, but ultimately, I think, we are going to have to move in the direction where 13 year olds don't want to buy heroin. And that's going to be based not on punishment, but on better alternatives and honest information. And a better community of stronger social connection. I think of the whole "sex ed" debate. Studies and statistics show that providing information -- and practical alternatives, such as birth and disease control -- works. "Abstinence only" does not. Hell, even our "War on Drugs". Turns out that maybe my friend who grew magic mushrooms -- of which I never partook -- was doing better for himself than those turning to the nascent Prozac revolution. We're seeing reporting now that, under some conditions, those hallucinogenic experiences may be more effective at combating depression. As for myself, I've come to think that the ever increasing "IP rights" are becoming an increasing burden on society and technology's development. Creative people are running up against walls hindering their creativity, walls that seem to be increasingly sold to "rent-seeking" holding companies. To some extent, maybe those companies are useful and productive -- arbitraging initial creativity into a more reliable source of cash and/or cash flow. But when they turn around and push for laws that continue to increase the tenure of their holdings and monopolies... They are using their position to further entrench their position, rather than foster free-flowing development. For a long time, I tried -- more than many around me -- to "play by the rules". Belatedly, it seems, I've been becoming more aware of just how rigged "the rules" are and are becoming. Free-flowing heroin's a scary thing. But, so's the law and order crowd -- or some of its more extreme aspects. I realize my musings here are probably controversial. And I guess I'll add, for the sake of balance as well as whoever might be monitoring threads like these, that I continue to live a rather "squeaky clean" life. But I can't buy in to the law and order rhetoric, any more.