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If what you are selling is illegal, there is nothing but a black market on which to sell. There is nothing stopping the liquor store from selling alcohol to wi

If what you are selling is illegal, there is nothing but a black market on which to sell. There is nothing stopping the liquor store from selling alcohol to wife beaters and child abusers. On taxes, to be honest I don't like those either, although I pay every dollar I am legally required to and actively avoid paying all taxes I can legally avoid paying. As I'm someone publicly arguing for the legalization of all drugs, my stance on that issue is not surprising. > Not to mention that some drugs are so addictive and destructive that jurisdictions have good reason to stop their distribution. Honestly I would rather ban videogames. I have seen many smart, hard working people whose lives have been ruined by videogames. So much wasted potential.

Barrin92 6y ago
all the things you mention are regulated. At least known criminals usually are drug tested and so on, it's not perfect but there are rules and ways to reduce harm. In most countries if you have a criminal record you can't get a gun, someone who sells on the dark web can't even do a minimal amount of due diligence. Of course you can say well screw it I don't like the rules I'm just going to sell it anyway but then really you can't be surprised if the gov. brings the hammer down on you. I think Ross Ulbricht's sentence is too high, I'm generally not a fan of lifelong imprisonment, but he engaged in lawlessness and crime on a very large scale and that deserves punishment. If people aren't punished for breaking the rules tomorrow someone will break laws that you actually think are valuable.
lordnacho 6y ago
> Honestly I would rather ban videogames. I have seen many smart, hard working people whose lives have been ruined by videogames. So much wasted potential. Me too, I've also seen a lot of life wasted on games. Some of it my own! But isn't this much the same line of reasoning as with drugs? Some people just can't control it. I'm all for adults being adults and making adult choices. But clearly there's people who can't deal with games as well as drugs. Where I grew up, you can get weed without a problem. I just somehow never thought it was worth the money, and though I had a few friends who'd buy they never got into any trouble with it. Perhaps it's also a function of your environment what you find destructive. Like many kids, I grew up in the middle class where games would eat more time than drugs. I wonder if you are the same? There are others who grew up much more exposed to drugs and drug addiction, who maybe didn't have a computer to waste time on. I'm also in favour of legalization, but mainly for practical reasons. We've tried making hard drugs illegal, and people aren't satisfied. Maybe try a different approach and see if there's a better balance there. My main issue with it is that I don't really want to give the drug lords a head start on a business that we want non-criminals to run, but that's something else to thing about.

Barrin92 6y ago

all the things you mention are regulated. At least known criminals usually are drug tested and so on, it's not perfect but there are rules and ways to reduce harm. In most countries if you have a criminal record you can't get a gun, someone who sells on the dark web can't even do a minimal amount of due diligence. Of course you can say well screw it I don't like the rules I'm just going to sell it anyway but then really you can't be surprised if the gov. brings the hammer down on you. I think Ross Ulbricht's sentence is too high, I'm generally not a fan of lifelong imprisonment, but he engaged in lawlessness and crime on a very large scale and that deserves punishment. If people aren't punished for breaking the rules tomorrow someone will break laws that you actually think are valuable.

lordnacho 6y ago

> Honestly I would rather ban videogames. I have seen many smart, hard working people whose lives have been ruined by videogames. So much wasted potential. Me too, I've also seen a lot of life wasted on games. Some of it my own! But isn't this much the same line of reasoning as with drugs? Some people just can't control it. I'm all for adults being adults and making adult choices. But clearly there's people who can't deal with games as well as drugs. Where I grew up, you can get weed without a problem. I just somehow never thought it was worth the money, and though I had a few friends who'd buy they never got into any trouble with it. Perhaps it's also a function of your environment what you find destructive. Like many kids, I grew up in the middle class where games would eat more time than drugs. I wonder if you are the same? There are others who grew up much more exposed to drugs and drug addiction, who maybe didn't have a computer to waste time on. I'm also in favour of legalization, but mainly for practical reasons. We've tried making hard drugs illegal, and people aren't satisfied. Maybe try a different approach and see if there's a better balance there. My main issue with it is that I don't really want to give the drug lords a head start on a business that we want non-criminals to run, but that's something else to thing about.