Most everyone in this list is familiar with the Prohibition back in the 20īs in the USA. Some very pious church ladies persuaded their politician husbands to pass a law banning the sale of all forms of alcohoolic drinks in the USA. We all know the results: people drank like never before, illegal trade flurished, curruption at all levels, murders,etc. , until finally they came to their senses, and reversed the ( very, very, stupid !!!) law. The drug problem today is not very different : the very fact that it is illegal ( as in my country Brazil, and most others in the world) is one of the biggest atraction. It is a self defeating situation : if the police is successful in keeping the drugs off the streets, price goes up, trade is more atractive and drug dealers will find a way to serve their custumers. If they would legalize the trade, at least there would be much less corruption ( although there is a big chance that Colombia , for ex., might go broke ;<) ) . Human nature as such ( since Adam and Eve )makes some people want or crave the " forbidden" fruit. I agree with many people on the list that CITES by making it harder to trade plants ( worst yet , it hinders the trade both of illegal AND legal plants through a horrible bureaucracy) only makes the problem worse , as can be seen by this recent Peruvian Phrag. mess. I havenīt seen a picture of this plant yet , but I would bet that there must be many other hybrid or species Phrags on the market as beautiful or even more so than the P.K. I have no doubt the craziness for this plant is based infinitely more on itīs rarity than itīs beauty. If there were thousands of P.K. plants over at KMart or Home Depot for $12.99 people would bearily even look at it. For heavens sake, why canīt we have a program to "promote" the multiplication AND trade of desirable plants - that is an ANTI-CITES trade agreement. The native plants would sure be left alone! Julio, From Brazil
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