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The problem with black markets - of pretty much any kind - is that they soon attract most things illegal. A good chunk of the population would probably be OK wi

The problem with black markets - of pretty much any kind - is that they soon attract most things illegal. A good chunk of the population would probably be OK with them only selling weed, but then you have stolen credit cards, weapons, and what not. And the more unscrupulous the seller is/becomes, the worse it gets. It's like with small-town drug dealers. Kids seek them to purchase weed, but then after a while the dealer is trying to push other stuff on them. If anything, the world needs to legalize a lot of drugs, properly regulate them. Keeping things illegal will only result in all things illegal being centralized, and more available to those seeking those markets.

redisman 6y ago
> It's like with small-town drug dealers. Kids seek them to purchase weed, but then after a while the dealer is trying to push other stuff on them. This sounds like one of those 90's scary stories. Do you also believe that the first dose is free?
- TrackerFF 6y ago
  Coming from a very small village (population around 3000), that was absolutely the case back then. The very few people that were dealing, sold everything they could sell.
- jokethrowaway 6y ago
  Anecdotal evidence: I met someone on the road (massive city, never saw the guy again) who tried to sell me some weed. I didn't want it and he ended up gifting me a small amount. That said, I think the gateway drug phenomenon is a ridiculous theory. There are people who are going to try any drug they can and there are people who are going to research the subject and just do drugs they deem to be safe / not addictive.
  - TrackerFF 6y ago
    I don't think that the gateway drug theory holds any water. With that said, I do think a lot of users end up trying harder stuff because they're with the wrong crowd. For what it's worth - I don't use anything. But I have friends who are regular users. Some use a lot of different stuff. I've been told that whenever cannabis (here in Europe, that's usually hashish) dries up, there's always going to be people that turn to harder stuff. Apparently after COVID hit, hashish became very difficult to get, and people started dabbling with speed, etc.
Nextgrid 6y ago
> they soon attract most things illegal "Most things illegal", at least the violent kind (weapons, etc) is typically related to the war on drugs. If we stop the war on drugs, the demand for weapons will fall dramatically. Most violence you get in major cities is drug gangs fighting each other. The war on drugs ending would also put an end to that and their demand for weapons. Fraud can be dealt with technical improvements. There's no reason card fraud is still a thing in today's day and age. You're telling me I can buy a ~50$ smart card, put a client certificate in it and nobody else can login as me without physically having the card but banks can't do the same? Come on. Whatever remains then (which is going to be in much lower volume) can be dealt with later.

redisman 6y ago

> It's like with small-town drug dealers. Kids seek them to purchase weed, but then after a while the dealer is trying to push other stuff on them. This sounds like one of those 90's scary stories. Do you also believe that the first dose is free?

TrackerFF 6y ago
Coming from a very small village (population around 3000), that was absolutely the case back then. The very few people that were dealing, sold everything they could sell.
jokethrowaway 6y ago
Anecdotal evidence: I met someone on the road (massive city, never saw the guy again) who tried to sell me some weed. I didn't want it and he ended up gifting me a small amount. That said, I think the gateway drug phenomenon is a ridiculous theory. There are people who are going to try any drug they can and there are people who are going to research the subject and just do drugs they deem to be safe / not addictive.
- TrackerFF 6y ago
  I don't think that the gateway drug theory holds any water. With that said, I do think a lot of users end up trying harder stuff because they're with the wrong crowd. For what it's worth - I don't use anything. But I have friends who are regular users. Some use a lot of different stuff. I've been told that whenever cannabis (here in Europe, that's usually hashish) dries up, there's always going to be people that turn to harder stuff. Apparently after COVID hit, hashish became very difficult to get, and people started dabbling with speed, etc.

Nextgrid 6y ago

> they soon attract most things illegal "Most things illegal", at least the violent kind (weapons, etc) is typically related to the war on drugs. If we stop the war on drugs, the demand for weapons will fall dramatically. Most violence you get in major cities is drug gangs fighting each other. The war on drugs ending would also put an end to that and their demand for weapons. Fraud can be dealt with technical improvements. There's no reason card fraud is still a thing in today's day and age. You're telling me I can buy a ~50$ smart card, put a client certificate in it and nobody else can login as me without physically having the card but banks can't do the same? Come on. Whatever remains then (which is going to be in much lower volume) can be dealt with later.