[If not clearly stated otherwise, I'm now talking only about Cannabis
(Hemp, Marijuana or Hashish). One of the biggest mistakes of all drug
discussions is to think of all illegal drugs as "equally evil"]
>> I honestly believe that the best way to tackle the drug war would
>> be to legalize it.. Put strict taxes on all drugs (except
>> Marijuana) and sell them
>
> That's called surrender. You don't win like that. Also the attendant
> social problems.
You're surrendering to who? To the mafia? Once legalized, they
wouldn't have any source of income anymore. To the drug users? They
don't fight, they're just victims here.
As long as drugs are very well available on the black market, do you
think anyone is protecting your childs? I don't. Only when the
market those things are available on is controllable, we can try to
protect our children. That's not possible on the black market.
>> The fairy tale that if it were legalized everyone would do it is
>> false.
>
> Since we don't have a nice statistical correlate for American
> behaviour and we don't have a nice contemporary example I can't
> believe this. I am a serious person after all.
In Holland, cannabis products are available for sale, and free to use.
They have about 2.5% cannabis users. In America, you can get a life
sentence for dealing with cannabis -- still, 5% of all americans are
regularily using cannabis.
And if you want to have facts about america alone -- during the
prohibition of alcohol, the use of alcohol *rose*. The effects of the
prohibition are well-known. Gangsters fighting on open streets,
corrupt policemen, etc. The alcohol consumed was bad self-made stuff,
instead of good wine or beer. Only after the prohibition, the use of
alcohol began to decline again. I think this is a pretty good
evidence that prohibition is not the ultimate answer to problems.
>> I truly believe that a good majority of drug use is harmless.
>
> hard data is needed not just by people from California who want to
> totally decriminalize all drugs
Just a few excerpts: "... few marijuana users develop dependence...",
"There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana
are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.", etc.
Please also note the following reports, only available on paper:
Roques, B., et al.: Problèmes posées par la dangerosité des drogues.
Rapport du professeur Bernard Roques au Secrétaire d'Etat à la Santé.
Paris 1998.
(french report about cannabis)
Auswirkungen des Cannabiskonsums. Dieter Kleiber, Karl-Artur Kovar
(german report about cannabis effects)
Almost all major reports issued by governments all over the world come
to the conclusion that cannabis is one of the most harmless drugs
available. The war on drugs and the whole illegalization causes a lot
more harm, death and destroyed lifes and families than cannabis ever
could.
> Nothing positive can come from drugs.
The most negative thing that comes from drugs is the total devotion to
ideals, even if they're proved wrong.
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will
lose both, and deserve neither"
-- Thomas Jefferson
Noone is forcing anyone to anything. The KDE people had the full choice of license, but they chose the GPL. All the KDE people have to do is to change their license slightly, to add an exception for the QPL. Nothing else. Until they do so, distributing KDE binaries violates their license, and KDE's refusal to change the license is a direct attack on the credibility of the GPL. This has nothing to do with wether the GPL is a good license or not.
Slashdot Mirror
You're surrendering to who? To the mafia? Once legalized, they wouldn't have any source of income anymore. To the drug users? They don't fight, they're just victims here.
As long as drugs are very well available on the black market, do you think anyone is protecting your childs? I don't. Only when the market those things are available on is controllable, we can try to protect our children. That's not possible on the black market.
In Holland, cannabis products are available for sale, and free to use. They have about 2.5% cannabis users. In America, you can get a life sentence for dealing with cannabis -- still, 5% of all americans are regularily using cannabis.
http://www.frw.uva.nl/cedro/bookstore/20.html
http://www.csdp.org/research/us_euro.pdf
And if you want to have facts about america alone -- during the prohibition of alcohol, the use of alcohol *rose*. The effects of the prohibition are well-known. Gangsters fighting on open streets, corrupt policemen, etc. The alcohol consumed was bad self-made stuff, instead of good wine or beer. Only after the prohibition, the use of alcohol began to decline again. I think this is a pretty good evidence that prohibition is not the ultimate answer to problems.
At least for Cannabis, here you are: http://books.nap.edu/html/marimed/
Just a few excerpts: "... few marijuana users develop dependence ...",
"There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana
are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.", etc.
Please also note the following reports, only available on paper:
Almost all major reports issued by governments all over the world come to the conclusion that cannabis is one of the most harmless drugs available. The war on drugs and the whole illegalization causes a lot more harm, death and destroyed lifes and families than cannabis ever could.
The most negative thing that comes from drugs is the total devotion to ideals, even if they're proved wrong.
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither"
-- Thomas Jefferson
Greetings,
-- Jorgen
Noone is forcing anyone to anything. The KDE
people had the full choice of license, but they
chose the GPL. All the KDE people have to do
is to change their license slightly, to add
an exception for the QPL. Nothing else. Until
they do so, distributing KDE binaries violates
their license, and KDE's refusal to change the
license is a direct attack on the credibility of
the GPL. This has nothing to do with wether
the GPL is a good license or not.
It's cracker not hacker, in this case. I always thought slashdot gets this distinction right quite well. :)