'DREADED' WEED WAR

New York Post ^ | 12/23/02 | LARRY CELONA and TODD VENEZIA

[muir_redwoods]

Virtually every problem you cite, from gang wars to underage sale is directly related to prohibition. Unregulated sale, with all of the carnage and destruction of young lives, is what you are voting for when you favor prohibition. The blood is on the hands of the prohibitionists. It was so with alcohol in the 20's and it is so with so-called recreational drugs today.

I do not favor the use of such hideous chemicals but no one has been legitimately appointed the guardian of adults who choose to poison themselves. If you believe that you are not responsible enough to make such choices for yourself that's your analysis. I am worthy of freedom and object to others deciding for me and making me pay for the enforcement.

[robertpaulsen]

I understand what you're saying. But if the fine were moderate and constant, the user would just consider it a cost of smoking. Many would gladly pay a moderate fine if and when they're caught, assuming there were no other consequences.

[humblegunner]

The Jamaican posses are the No. 1 wholesale and street-level pot dealers in New York

Dey all cra-zee, mon!

[A. Pole]

But if the fine were moderate and constant, the user would just consider it a cost of smoking. Many would gladly pay a moderate fine if and when they're caught, assuming there were no other consequences.

But they would stay in the closet and would be circumspect while many others would not bother to use it. I think that this would be enough.

[Gianni]

I don't believe the claim that if pot were legalized, all gangs would just move on to selling a different drug.

The demand side of the market is essentially fixed in size, so for a brief period there would be an increase in drug-turf violence while those gangs who have other 'wares' to peddle attempt to expand their zone to a size sufficient for financial sustinance.

Even illegal trade is subject to market principles.

[SauronOfMordor]

The Bloodstains, Pelpa and the John Shop Crew will sell any drug you choose not to legalize. We are fighting a war on drugs, not a war on marijuana.

Prior to about 1911, the US did not have any drug laws. You could buy opium, cocaine, or whatever. The concept of things requiring a doctor's prescription is also a 20th Century invention. Yet we did not have a massive drug problem in the pre-20th-century. Why is that?

My speculation is that the incentive structure was different. If you took drugs or alcohol to the point to where you were unable to work, you went hungry. Eventually you might starve. Sooner than that, your family would leave you. This was an incentive to not go that far.