3 ms·

the conversations seem to stay focus on e2ee good or bad; it’s important to question - is this the correct focus? Drugs should not be illegal in the first place

the conversations seem to stay focus on e2ee good or bad; it’s important to question - is this the correct focus? Drugs should not be illegal in the first place; decriminalising them is known to have good results, (look at Portugal) it weakens organised crime and black markets, less costs for the justice system, less health issues and less need for public health money to be spent on dealing with resulting issues, the list goes on. E2ee is essential for a society to protect itself against internal threats like tyrants.

aucisson_masque 2y ago
> Drugs should not be illegal in the first place; decriminalising them is known to have good results, (look at Portugal) I have no knowledge on the impact of that policy. On the other hand bruno Retailleau said at National Assembly that this kind of policy doesn’t work. What happens is that there are expensive legal drug and cheaper illegal drug that organized criminals provide. Hence there are more drug user but barely less income for drug cartel. He gave for instance the tobacco example. It’s legal in France yet it’s so expensive that black market has never flourished so much. Without knowing much about that subject, I must admit it makes sense.
- rdm_blackhole 2y ago
  Tobacco is expensive because the French government is using the taxes on it to make up the overall shortfall of tax revenue. See the budget deficit from last year. Obviously the French government is saying that this is for health reasons but that reason has gone out of the window when a pack of smokes is 13 euros. So the black market flourishes. You can't keep increasing the price of a good without making sure that it can't be imported from elsewhere and since France is part of Europe and it no longer has any border checks, it very easy to smuggle cigarettes from Portugal or Spain. This tactic of increasing the price of cigarettes or alcohol works in a place like Australia where it's orders of magnitude harder to smuggle things since stuff has to come either through airports or boats which are both watched carefully by the state.
  - letsownmeansofp 2y ago
    Good point. Lots of reasons to love France. Also some good amount of things they get very wrong. Inheritance tax hitting the low class a lot these days, especially as house pricing is up through the roof.

aucisson_masque 2y ago

> Drugs should not be illegal in the first place; decriminalising them is known to have good results, (look at Portugal) I have no knowledge on the impact of that policy. On the other hand bruno Retailleau said at National Assembly that this kind of policy doesn’t work. What happens is that there are expensive legal drug and cheaper illegal drug that organized criminals provide. Hence there are more drug user but barely less income for drug cartel. He gave for instance the tobacco example. It’s legal in France yet it’s so expensive that black market has never flourished so much. Without knowing much about that subject, I must admit it makes sense.

rdm_blackhole 2y ago
Tobacco is expensive because the French government is using the taxes on it to make up the overall shortfall of tax revenue. See the budget deficit from last year. Obviously the French government is saying that this is for health reasons but that reason has gone out of the window when a pack of smokes is 13 euros. So the black market flourishes. You can't keep increasing the price of a good without making sure that it can't be imported from elsewhere and since France is part of Europe and it no longer has any border checks, it very easy to smuggle cigarettes from Portugal or Spain. This tactic of increasing the price of cigarettes or alcohol works in a place like Australia where it's orders of magnitude harder to smuggle things since stuff has to come either through airports or boats which are both watched carefully by the state.
- letsownmeansofp 2y ago
  Good point. Lots of reasons to love France. Also some good amount of things they get very wrong. Inheritance tax hitting the low class a lot these days, especially as house pricing is up through the roof.