Good evening Ed! Ed Fischang aka shadow wrote to Conster...
Conster wrote in part: > I don't mean going in there with guns blazing, but if that is > C> the only means available to get these chemical brewing freaks out of the > C> neighborhood, so be it. I wouldn't think it bad if a little vigilantism > C> was involved. No one wants a Meth lab in their neighborhood. To which you replied: > In a Libertarian world, your neighbors wouldn't be making meth next door - > Eli Lilly and Company would, in a proper chemical plant, and its products > would be available at 7-11 and Circle K, cheaper and cleaner than your > neighbors could make. Thanks Ed. That's part of the argument I didn't get into last night; maybe I should have, but didn't want to suggest for some who might be thinking about that, that the Libertarian Party supports usage and mainstream production of dangerous killer drugs. You are correct, and history collaborates that this would ultimately become reality, vis-a-vis the lifting of prohibition virtually ended the crime wave surrounding the production and distribution of bootleg whiskey and other alcoholic beverages. I am certainly not trying to place alcoholic beverages in the same category as Meth either, only pointing out that if prohibitions against drugs were lifted, then mainstream corporate interests would step in and drive the current crime ridden underground network out of business practically overnight. Prices for such substances would also plummet making illicit manufacturing less attractive. If there would be any positive side to this, it would certainly be a vast reduction in overall capital crime rates, safer streets, and less emphasis upon recruitment and sales to young people. I am not so sure that this would either raise or lower overall consumption rates, however. But as I pointed out last night, it would provide an opportunity for ordinary people to step in and make a difference is sales and consumption of very dangerous drugs. Let's assume, just for starters, that legalization could be implemented starting tomorrow morning. What would really happen? Let's check it out: 1. Most courts would no longer be crammed with frivolous drug possession, sale and distribution cases, and free up space for real crimes wherein real victims can be identified; 2. We would need far less police officers on the streets, and far less investigators wasting time and taxpayer dollars prosecuting cases where no victim of a crime could be identified; 3. We could largely empty a large percentage of overcrowded prisons, and maybe close many of them down instead of spending billions on constructing new prisons and incarceration facilities; 4. The draconian vehicle and property confiscation process would end, and normal, law abiding, citizens would no longer lose their cars, boats, homes and other possessions in confiscations; 5. Midnight police gestapo raids on homes, sometimes the wrong homes, would largely become a thing of the past; 6. Police would have more time and manpower to go after real threats, such as terrorists, murderers, rapists and burglars, and other crimes in which leave victims who otherwise would be forced to compete for attention from the justice system with now voluminous drug related cases. Of course there are a lot more benefits that we could cite. Many of our civil liberties could be restored, since they were taken away from us in the first place under the false pretext of aiding efforts to track down and identify drug criminals. So, although we do have a drug problem in America, we would be much better able to end most of the violence associated with it by simply legalizing drugs and enabling the free market to regulate such trade. It would also open a plethora of opportunities for ordinary people to work in the direction of lessening drug abuse without the government becoming the chief part of the problem, as it is now. Kindest regards, Frank _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list Libnw@immosys.com List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
