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There might be a ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin in Calfornia in 2018

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Re: There might be a ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin in Calfornia in 2018

#21

Post by manyhands »

dang wrote: post #13
manyhands wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a rather lazy analysis. Would you like to consider any more than a single act of terrorism on the other side of your accounting? 'All of the death [or violence] south of the border' is also rather imprecise and self-generous.

Your comments are breaking the HN guidelines by crossing into incivility. Would you please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow them when commenting here?

It is not my intention to hurt any feelings. I apologize if I have been interpreted as personally hostile. I will take care to avoid any further confusion. Thanks.

As a side note, this is my tenth+ (stopped updating this) attempt to post this comment due to the slowban you've imposed on my account, so I would like if you clarified to readers that my ability to comment further here has been impaired, contrary to the plain subtext of your post.

Re: There might be a ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin in Calfornia in 2018

#22

Post by manyhands »

equalunique wrote: post #15
manyhands wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people do you wager bled any amount over the half century in this 'war'? It is my understanding that a lot of people (rightfully) faced criminal penalties, and even that number pales in comparison to the victims of actual violence in real wars.

Imagine if I actually linked to cartel machete execution videos right here on HN just to give you some real examples.

When cartels can't sell drugs, they sell organs, arms, and women. We have lawlessness in countries hosting organized crime and a troubled, self-destructive underclass driving demand for their product to blame, not drug laws themselves. Those laws are almost the only good thing about the situation.

Re: There might be a ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin in Calfornia in 2018

#23

Post by manyhands »

nitrogen wrote: post #18
manyhands wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP chose to talk about bloodshed. We are now characterizing how bloody the 'war on drugs' has been. We are not characterizing how bad it might be in any other sense. This is a focused argument intended to examine something precisely. I asked about bloodshed in response to a claim about bloodshed. I don't want to hear about 'trickle down punishment' in response. Do you understand how inadequate that is?

Nobody wants to engage in debates over arbitrarily specific terms just to satisfy one person's pedantic beef. Also, you don't own the thread; people can respond as they please and the votes and mods will sort it out.

It is my hope that the power of our words will sort things out. I'm here to argue in the original sense of the word, and while I am ultimately interested in the broad consequences of drug laws in the US, I consider it healthy and productive to first focus on an indisputably negative consequence, physical harm -- especially when it has been proposed that these laws have resulted in more of this than any war in recent history. If we can't talk through this point, a fair treatment of broader and less easily chracterized consequences is hopeless.

Re: There might be a ballot measure to decriminalize psilocybin in Calfornia in 2018

#24

Post by Clubber »

manyhands wrote: post #22
equalunique wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if I actually linked to cartel machete execution videos right here on HN just to give you some real examples.

When cartels can't sell drugs, they sell organs, arms, and women. We have lawlessness in countries hosting organized crime and a troubled, self-destructive underclass driving demand for their product to blame, not drug laws themselves. Those laws are almost the only good thing about the situation.

But the drug money funds them and funds them well. It's just too lucrative. That money comes from the illegality of the inelastic demand product. You don't see people cutting off heads for the cigarette or alcohol trade.

The cartels are only powerful because they have the money to be powerful. I can't imagine selling organs would be nearly as lucrative.

I mean Pablo Escobar was worth $30 billion dollars in 1993, which is around $51 billion today. For reference, Gates is worth around $86 billion, and Gates operates within the law while Escobar could buy off entire countries and was, for the longest time, immune from real prosecution. You can't buy that by selling organs.

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