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If Ulbricht is guilty for providing a safe place to buy illegal drugs then aren't San Francisco and other cities complicit since they hand out clean needles fre
by Evolved 12y ago
If Ulbricht is guilty for providing a safe place to buy illegal drugs then aren't San Francisco and other cities complicit since they hand out clean needles freely for addicts to use? Sure the idea behind it is noble but aren't both still technically illegal whether you supply the paraphernalia and you absolutely know what will be done with it or whether you provide a safe environment where people can trade $ for drugs?
- refurb 12y agoOne of those actions is allowed by the law and the other isn't. I would say that's the distinction.
- hawleyal 12y agoLaws belong to us. We change them all the time.
- refurb 12y agoWhen they are changed then I'll agree.
- atom-morgan 12y agoAre you skeptical that the law will change or do you agree with whatever the law is?
- duaneb 12y agoI'm sceptical that any number of people disliking a law will lead to it being changed.
- Evolved 12y agoThe problem becomes when the laws are structured to favor certain entities or when the laws purposely aren't changed because they're a very useful financial tool for 3-letter agencies.
- paxcoder 12y agoNoone is being favored here. Silk road would not have been shut down had it been selling needles. Likewise, whoever sells illegal drugs, delivers drugs, or knowingly fascilitates either of those things is held accountable. Two disclaimers: 1. Not all favoring is inherently evil. Eg. favoring based on objective criteria. 2. Not all things that are legal are morally justified. Eg. abortion.
- Evolved 12y agoYou seem to like the word "facilitate" as you used it in both your replies to my post. If I were to ask you if it is easier to mail vacuum-sealed drugs across the U.S. or to drive them there yourself then what would you say? Mailing is obviously easier. Therefore I could say that UPS/FedEx/USPS facilitate the sale of drugs. They most certainly know they do it as well as it is common knowledge and drugs have been successfully mailed for years. They also take actions to try to prevent it though. Is that where the difference lies? Silk Road doesn't engage in drug trafficking as it does NOT: cultivate, manufacture, transport, deliver, distribute or sell drugs. Those actions are solely up to the sellers.
- paxcoder 12y agoSR is a marketplace. The postal services are excused by the same logic that manufacturers of knives are from their misuse. On SR, however, the contents of each advertized item are public knowledge. SR is therefore accountable. If the postal service knew any particular package carried contraband, they too would be obliged not to deliver it, and to report it. Disclaimer #2 withstanding.