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Or end the futile prohibition on drugs and tax them instead. Worked for alcohol.
by tjmc 15y ago
Or end the futile prohibition on drugs and tax them instead. Worked for alcohol.
- handelaar 15y agoFor values of 'worked for alcohol' that include 'moved world's largest criminal organisation into non-alcohol-related activity without impacting its organisational capacity one jot'.
- dylangs1030 15y agoExactly. Crime would adjust itself, or find a new market. Compromising by legalizing something which has a purpose in being illegal is detrimental to solving the problem.
- r0s 15y agoBullshit. As if criminals simply avoid other vice because it's less profitable, totally false. Dangerously false. There are not open markets just floating around waiting for criminals to suddenly discover them.
- dylangs1030 15y agoI disagree. I believe there are plenty of avenues of criminal activity. Trouble is, most criminals aren't visionaries, and why would they have an incentive to fond other profitable crimes of they can practically earn money doing what they do now?
- r0s 15y agoBy that logic they will all suddenly take up investment banking.
- Karunamon 15y agoThing is, there is no real purpose for many/most controlled substances to be illegal, unless you choose from the following list: * Excuse for government overstep of constitutional provisions * Money to the prison-industrial complex (i know, trite, but it's true) * One more step in the notion that you don't own your own body And those aren't legitimate reasons, IMAO.
- dylangs1030 15y agoI agree with you on libertarian grounds that, in principle, a person should be free to ingest whatever he likes. However, looking at civilized society as a whole, I don't see making most controlled substances legal useful. With the exception of marijuana and a few anxiolytics (which I'd encourage to be legalized), I think they'd be counterproductive to the working order of a society. Society needs someone to clean the toilets, and do other labor intensive jobs. But if you have a legally accessible ticket to happiness through drugs, why go to work?
- epicureanideal 15y agoAren't you just making the argument that legalizing drugs would increase wages?
- Pheter 15y agoBecause they need to earn money to buy the drugs. By your logic anyone with a hobby wouldn't bother going to work because they also have a legally acceptable ticket to happiness.
- rayiner 15y agoEverything reaches an equilibrium. Taking away a high-profit/low-cost activity like drug trafficking will shift activity to something else, no doubt, but this alternate activity will likely be less profitable and support a smaller organization. We're seeing this with Wall Street. Dodd-Frank is raising the costs of doing business, causing the industry to down size.
- forensic 15y agoIf the law causes more harm than the drug in the first place, the law needs to go. Criminals are just people. They do what is most profitable for them given their circumstances. If you legalize drugs, most of the current drug criminals will get normal jobs at McDonalds or Wall Street or whatever.
- nikatwork 15y agoPeople drink and take drugs because they enjoy it. What illegal activity are you proposing people will seek if drugs are medicinalized/legalized? Saying "oh they'll just move on" is a bit hand-wavey.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- Avshalom 15y agoGun running, human trafficking, political corruption, extortion, kidnapping, straight up stealing shit, fencing, counterfeiting. You know all those crimes that aren't substance based. And depending on the terms of legalization, I'm sure drugs would always be a small part, whether that be black market to avoid taxes or prescription drugs.
- sliverstorm 15y agoWe should probably legalize all those too. They'll go away.
- r0s 15y agoThis is hyperbolic, unreasonable and valueless.
- sliverstorm 15y agoOr it could just be tongue-in-cheek
- yters 15y agoI like the way you think! I had the same idea. What makes something a crime is that it is illegal. If we make everything legal then there isn't any crime! I know, I know, I'm a genius.
- robotresearcher 15y agoNone of these things is as profitable as drugs. Tens of dollars per gram, of stuff that grows in the forest and requires but a little processing. There's nothing so profitable to move on to.
- dylangs1030 15y agoThat is an over-simplified solution to a complicated problem. Organized crime would change, not cease to exist. Countries where prostitution is legal still see organized abuses in the industry, like brothel owners not following regulations, etc. Moreover, marijuana has the highest likelihood of being legalized of any drug (still not likely) and yet, it is the lowest profit margin for organized crime. Cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, etc. are much more profitable, and legalizing these would be socially irresponsible, if fiscally lucrative.
- mdda 15y agoProfit margins should be expected to be proportionate to illegality : Since the threat of punishment forces vibrant competition out of the market. Similarly, one can track the effectiveness of the war on drugs by looking at the street prices of drugs over time. If the war was effective, prices would be rising. Unfortunately, basic economic theory shows that the war on drugs is a complete failure.
- sliverstorm 15y agoYou seem to think drugs are the only things sold on the black market.
- dylangs1030 15y agoRight. And like I said, it might be a fiscal improvement to legalize drugs. You could earn money from it. But, and i mean this in all sincerity, do you want to live in a society where they're freely accessible?
- munin 15y agoIt's entirely possible that you do already live in such a society
- robotresearcher 15y agoIn Portugal society didn't go to hell when they decriminalized many drugs. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.ht... Please realize that drugs are very accessible right now.
- jseliger 15y agoI was going to post something just like this, but mine went: "The only way to harm organizations of this size is to attack their funding source." In this case, that means, primarily, drugs.