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LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

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Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#251

Government policy: prevent people from ruining their lives with drugs by ruining it for them with prison.

This arguments applies to the criminalization of possession and use, not manufacture and distribution.

Manufacturing a substance harms no one. Distributing a substance to willing participants harms no one. possession harms no one. Use may harm the willing participant but I would argue for the freedom of that participant to make that choice.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#252
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you have your logic backwards. The conclusion that with lax drug laws, there'd be less violence associated with drug manufacturing and selling is correct. But the laws don't cause the violence, they make it so violent individuals are the only one's willing to fill the supply. If I outlaw [drug], I'm not responsible because you kill someone trying to sell [drug].

I understand where you're coming from, but it doesn't seem so clear cut to me. Let's say: I have a choice to outlaw drug X or not. I can infer with near certainty that this policy will lead to a black market run by violence that gets people killed. Nevertheless, I outlaw drug X. People get killed. What responsibility do I bear? I honestly don't know, but neither "none" nor "100%" sounds right to me.

It's not clear cut, but the metrics chosen are important. If you care about drug use more than violence, it does seem to be clear cut. Same for the inverse.

You bear no responsibility. Everyone must take responsibility for their own actions.

I have a kid, I raise him to the best of my ability, and commit no egregious mistakes. He grows up and murders someone. Am I at fault? Obviously not, just because I'm a part of the equation, doesn't mean I also should be assigned blame. If I didn't have a kid, [person] would still be alive. That doesn't mean I'm responsible.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You see giant protests occupying cities for weeks and your first thought is that americans are totally OK with the state of things? All those folks on the street in Hong kong - they must just be out there celebrating their loss of liberties! It's a big party!

There may be giant protests, but Americans continue to elect leaders that refuse to serve their interests.

There are serious structural problems with American elections - it is not as simple as that.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#254

Government policy: prevent people from ruining their lives with drugs by ruining it for them with prison.

There should be no victimless crimes! This man made a product that others willingly wanted for themselves. There are no victims here. This can be applied to seatbelts, helmet laws, etc.

As a practical matter, helmet and seatbelt laws are effective and drug prohibition is not.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#255
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Crack" and cocaine are literally the same drug.

How come we hear about dangerous meth-heads and crack-heads, but not about coke-heads?

The thing that makes meth heads and crack heads dangerous is primarily that the users are desperate for money to feed their addiction and thus more likely to commit crimes to make money. Coke heads probably started out fairly wealthy, since it's a more expensive drug, so they are less likely to resort to theft to pay for their addiction. It's probably also somewhat of a social class issue. Crack and meth users are probably more likely to have grown up in rough circumstances that make them more likely to commit violence whether or not they are under the influence of drugs. Reporting bias is probably also a bit of an issue. If a rich coke user assaults someone they may be able to sweep it under the rug by writing a big check to the victim, whereas a poor user would be thrown into the criminal justice system. A final hypothesis is that cocaine users have more resources for dealing with addiction (such as rehab) than other drug users. That would skew the population of active coke users towards recreational users rather than addicts.

There are chemical differences between crack, meth, and cocaine, so it's likely that, ceteris paribus, crack users are more violent than coke users, but it's not the only factor. It's really hard to tease out differences in the effects of the drugs when the populations of users are so different.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The laws don’t directly cause the violence, by they do create an environment in which violence is more likely (or violence around drug manufacture and trade).

Absolutely. Violence related to drug dealing is a result on the insane profit margins on heroin, cocaine, and meth. It’s possible to make 70-90% net profit on cocaine if you can get it at wholesale, which is nuts. Of course people will kill each other for the chance to make 90 cents on the dollar. If you bought some Chinese fentanyl and made “heroin” I bet it’s closer to 95-99% net, imagine having a money machine tha…

> Of course people will kill each other for the chance to make 90 cents on the dollar.

I was going to argue with you. Something something... not everyone is that bad. But then I considered all the harm large corporations do... Shit man wtf is wrong with humans?

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There should be no victimless crimes! This man made a product that others willingly wanted for themselves. There are no victims here. This can be applied to seatbelts, helmet laws, etc.

>> This man made a product that others willingly wanted for themselves. There are no victims here People may think LSD or cocaine is all well and good, but there are far more dangerous substances out there. Things like Carfentanil need to be regulated. So too all the so-called "date rape" drugs. Just because some guy wants a powerful, tasteless, anesthetic that can be readily dissolved in water doesn't mean we should…

Control the action by the bad actor, not the drug. This same thinking was applied to LSD. “What if they put LSD in the water supply!”

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#258
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more acceptable and state-sanctioned to sell drugs that kill people while keeping them subdued, than ones that keep them alive and open their minds. I don't want to sound like a crazy 'conspiracy theorist' or a 'hippie', but I don't know to distill this sad and truthful statement more simply than that.

You might sounds less like a 'hippie' if you avoid the phrase 'open your mind'. It implies that psychodelics provide users with some kind of enlightenment rather than just hallucinations and euphorea. Makes it seem like anti-drug politicians are trying to hide some sort of dark secret which can only be unlocked by taking LSD.

LSD literally makes you acutely aware of your perception. Things get put into perspective.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#259
post #155
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're not okay with this but we have no way to change the laws that are made by our Lords.

Well to be fair. If more population were concerned an actively participating in democracy, by at the least get out and go to vote, some thing would change, for sure. USA has the lowest participation on any democracy I know. Universal obligatory vote is something that does wonders and produce actual change.

In large portions of the country, there is nothing contested and nobody to vote against.

Structural problems can cause lack of participation.

I don't know if I would want voting to be obligatory, but it certainly should be universal.

Re: LSD chemist William Pickard to be released from prison

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you have your logic backwards. The conclusion that with lax drug laws, there'd be less violence associated with drug manufacturing and selling is correct. But the laws don't cause the violence, they make it so violent individuals are the only one's willing to fill the supply. If I outlaw [drug], I'm not responsible because you kill someone trying to sell [drug].

You’re not responsible legally/morally, but you did create an incentive for those things to happen

Not incentive, but environment. Yeah that's why drug laws are worse than drugs.

Drugs do destroy lives, and cause real societal harm. But it was never as destructive as what making it illegal has been able to achieve.

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