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Who here thinks either Prohibition or the War on Drugs has been good for society?

Jensson 4y ago
Those things tend to work well in other countries. USA just did it so badly that they made it worse. New Zealand for example has gone a very long way towards eliminating smoking in their country so far, their laws works.
Karsteski 4y ago
People whose livelihoods depend on such policies existing, I imagine.
hulitu 4y ago
I do. Not for society as a whole but for some, selected, societies.
- RunSet 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones
pydry 4y ago
Prohibition wasnt quite the abject failure it was made out to be: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibition-alcohol-public-health-crime-benefits https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibit...
refurb 4y ago
I was going to say the same, but vaping and other nicotine replacement is still legal. It’s basically trying to push people to “less harmful” forms of nicotine. But yeah, no doubt there will be a black market for real cigarettes, especially when they are still legal for people over a certain age.
- viraptor 4y ago
  It seems very close to quality control on alcohol production. Pretty much "you can't sell alcohol with mud in it"... which I assume would be illegal for health reasons already.
dredmorbius 4y ago
Note that this isn't a criminalisation of use but against vending to persons born after the cut-off date. The War on Some Drugs is widely recognised to be a war-against-some-drug-using-demographics, and has generally omitted or treated far more leniently drugs-of-choice of the rich and powerful (tobacco, alcohol, powdwered cocaine, highly asymmetric prosecution of marijuana, and wink/nod treatments of opiates use by dominant classes) whilst cracking down hard, so to speak, on drugs of the poor and minorities: crack cocaine, meth, black use of heroin (see especially the case of Billy Holiday), and the like. Even grey-market sales of cigarettes have proved lethal if your skin is the wrong colour within the US. Lee Atwater's infamous comments identify this as a deliberate race-based political strategy: <https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwa...>

Those things tend to work well in other countries. USA just did it so badly that they made it worse. New Zealand for example has gone a very long way towards eliminating smoking in their country so far, their laws works.

Karsteski 4y ago

People whose livelihoods depend on such policies existing, I imagine.

hulitu 4y ago

I do. Not for society as a whole but for some, selected, societies.

RunSet 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones

pydry 4y ago

Prohibition wasnt quite the abject failure it was made out to be: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibition-alcohol-public-health-crime-benefits https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibit...

refurb 4y ago

I was going to say the same, but vaping and other nicotine replacement is still legal. It’s basically trying to push people to “less harmful” forms of nicotine. But yeah, no doubt there will be a black market for real cigarettes, especially when they are still legal for people over a certain age.

viraptor 4y ago
It seems very close to quality control on alcohol production. Pretty much "you can't sell alcohol with mud in it"... which I assume would be illegal for health reasons already.

dredmorbius 4y ago

Note that this isn't a criminalisation of use but against vending to persons born after the cut-off date. The War on Some Drugs is widely recognised to be a war-against-some-drug-using-demographics, and has generally omitted or treated far more leniently drugs-of-choice of the rich and powerful (tobacco, alcohol, powdwered cocaine, highly asymmetric prosecution of marijuana, and wink/nod treatments of opiates use by dominant classes) whilst cracking down hard, so to speak, on drugs of the poor and minorities: crack cocaine, meth, black use of heroin (see especially the case of Billy Holiday), and the like. Even grey-market sales of cigarettes have proved lethal if your skin is the wrong colour within the US. Lee Atwater's infamous comments identify this as a deliberate race-based political strategy: <https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwa...>