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Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

theguardian.com

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Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#171

Post by AdrianB1 »

Retric wrote: post #159
AdrianB1 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is so scary with open carry? We have policemen that open carry in every country, are they not scary? We are talking about humans with guns, not about Batmans and Jokers.

People with guns are significantly more likely and capable to commit crimes. Open carry in many social circles is like walking around in prison tattoos. Source: http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/jpj_firearm_owner... As this study points out no database of US gun ownership exists, which makes these studies harder to carry out. PS: Police are also a surprisingly violent group. Still unlikely to randomly shoot…

People with penis are significantly more likely and capable of committing rape. They are everywhere!!!

This is how your argument reads to me. Disclaimer: I live in a country with very strict gun control laws (East European, former Communist block. This is how they implemented it.)

Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#172

Post by AdrianB1 »

swiley wrote: post #165
AdrianB1 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is so scary with open carry? We have policemen that open carry in every country, are they not scary? We are talking about humans with guns, not about Batmans and Jokers.

To be honest, even as an American who grew up around lots of adults that carried: yes policemen (and anyone else) open carrying is scary and I personally dislike it.

For personal curiosity (that killed the cat): why is it scary? Growing up in a rural area with lots of bears and boars, having to go anywhere without any weapon (guns are banned) is very scary. A gun, a hunting knife or an ax are just tools to me, same as a screwdriver, a vacuum cleaner or a lighter.

Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#173

Post by brokenkebab »

phil248 wrote: post #150
weberc2 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this true? Almost no one in my social circles knows a victim of gun violence, and I live in one of the most violent cities in the country. Even if you count suicides (and you really shouldn’t), I would be surprised if this were true. I suspect most people in the country don’t know a victim or offender of gun violence, while they do know several law-abiding gun owners leading them to believe that inner city issues—…

Why would you arbitrarily exclude suicide from gun violence? Guns are a distinct problem because they make serious injury/death incredibly easy and simple. That's just as true for murder as it is for suicide, and in a world without guns both acts would have a far lower success rate.

That's just as true for murder as it is for suicide, and in a world without guns both acts would have a far lower success rate.

There are two logical mistakes in this reasoning: first, there's an implicit equation "prohibited guns"="no guns", and it's obviously not true, and explicit statement that less guns - less murders, and even less suicides, which is provably false. Right now, I live in a country where having just a knife in your pocket can land you in prison easily. Somehow, both murder, and suicide rates are still slightly above region's average. If you don't like my anonymous witnessing, you can arrange world countries by gun prohibition/severe restriction, then look at murder, and suicide rates - you'll find no correlation. Simple as that. And before tribal instinct pushes someone to downvote this, take into account: I'm not even a US citizen/resident, and have no stakes in your politics.

Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#175

Post by coretx »

dmix wrote: post #69
coretx wrote: post #40

Because half of the security industrial complex and the USA would go bankrupt.

It’s illegal in Canada (everything besides weed) and most of the western and non western world too. We don’t have private prisons or even a separate agency like the DEA whose job is directly tied to drugs. It’s very much still a cultural reality people haven’t accepted. Although it doesn’t help with the gov agencies constantly fear mongering or straight up lying.

Indigenous Canadians use ( not abuse ) drugs since forever. Traditionally, religion is the gateway to murderous drug policy almost everywhere; uphold by the highly profitable and rent seeking security industrial complex. It's a self reinforcing circle. One that's not likely to end anytime soon. Look at the downvotes i received on my previous post - one that is not only evident but can easily be proven to be true.

Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#177

Post by ganzuul »

cjblomqvist wrote: post #86

A lot of comments about why decriminalization of drug use is a no brainer. I'd like to point out that it's not that simple. From what I understand from different "experiments" like Portugal, it's a lot depending on context (eg culture) and how it's done. For example, easier access (lower taxes) on alcohol caused a rise in alcoholics and alcohol related deaths in Finland). Not everyone living in Colorado is happy abou…

Alcohol and nicotine are extremely addictive and damaging, and you know what happens during prohibition.

Same as cultures differ, so do the drugs. The effects of labeling sick people (I believe the rare fully healthy people don't get addicted easily.) as criminals are however the same everywhere.

Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#178

Post by the_gastropod »

weberc2 wrote: post #92
labster wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet most people in the USA know a victim of gun violence, yet we are unable to copy even a portion of the regulations used by a majority of our allies. There's also a point beyond which a problem is so endemic that people consider it the natural state of affairs.

Is this true? Almost no one in my social circles knows a victim of gun violence, and I live in one of the most violent cities in the country. Even if you count suicides (and you really shouldn’t), I would be surprised if this were true. I suspect most people in the country don’t know a victim or offender of gun violence, while they do know several law-abiding gun owners leading them to believe that inner city issues—…

Hmm.. Let's do some back of the napkin math, and see.

1. In 2013 (most recent data point I could find) in the US, 107,141 were injured or killed by a gunshot wound. [1]

2. There are currently 327 Million people living in the U.S. (0.033% of Americans are killed or injured by guns every year).

3. The median age of the U.S. population is 38.1. 38.1 * 107,141 = 4,082,072.1, or ~ 1.25% of the population.

My statistic-fu is pretty weak these days, but given this, I think it's fair to say most Americans do know someone who's been shot.

Just for more anecdata: I'm hardly that popular, and I know at least 4 people who have been shot (that I know of).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_Sta...

Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#179

Post by dang »

zcid wrote: post #112

Same-sex marriage never achieved enough support to be legalized [0][1]. It was voted against throughout the country including liberal states such as California. Same-sex marriage was legislated by a small number of judges. I'm not making an argument for or against so please don't debate me on the merits of this issue. I am merely pointing out that the people did not decide this issue. A very small number of elites di…

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20434037.

Re: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working (2017)

#180

Post by dang »

damnyou wrote: post #73

A lot of this depends on how evenly people suffering are distributed through society. One reason queer rights caught on so quickly is that LGBTQ people are evenly distributed across racial, ethnic and class boundaries. A rich white kid is exactly as likely to be trans, say, as a poor Brown or Black kid. People suffering from drug addictions in the US are more concentrated among certain communities.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20434037.
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