Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

salon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 137 posts

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#121

Post by ed209 »

crag wrote: post #48
ed209 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders. Sure he's just one cog in a giant machine, but he's also responsible for death and hardship as a result of the drugs he moved. Society in general also carries some of the responsibility, as do those involved in his upbringing. But I know that if my child came to any harm as…

"until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders." And we'd have a hella better handle on it it it were legal. Right now, I can drink myself to death; or get piss-end drunk and smack my partner around; or get piss-end drunk again, hit a ball game and start a fight in the stands - none of these actions would gain me 25 year…

Cigarettes would not be legal if they were invented today. I've seen first hand what years of pot smoking does to people, it's not worth it.

Drinking to excess is a growing problem and one that should be tackled.

I can't really understand what point you're making, is it that you think class A drugs should be legalised?

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#122

Post by ed209 »

WA wrote: post #45
ed209 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders. Sure he's just one cog in a giant machine, but he's also responsible for death and hardship as a result of the drugs he moved. Society in general also carries some of the responsibility, as do those involved in his upbringing. But I know that if my child came to any harm as…

You make it sound like your children don't have a choice whether to take drugs or not. You could argue similarly by replacing drugs with anything (legal) that could harm your children. For example, do you blame motorcycle vendors for being responsible for deaths and hardship among the families of motorcyclists? Drugs and motorcycles are certainly different, but it's a bit too easy to blame drug traffickers or dealers…

Unlike recreational drugs, motorcycles are a useful tool that enables society to go about its business.

Knives also enable me to prepare dinner and surgeons to remove my appendix.

I don't think that class A drugs carry the same risk/benefit ratio, do you?

Also, I think you missed the part where I said that society and family carry some of the responsibility for that child taking drugs, but then you were too busy arguing the point you wanted to make rather than actually tackling what I said directly.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#123

Post by ed209 »

gnosis wrote: post #85
ed209 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders. Sure he's just one cog in a giant machine, but he's also responsible for death and hardship as a result of the drugs he moved. Society in general also carries some of the responsibility, as do those involved in his upbringing. But I know that if my child came to any harm as…

And how many lives and families have been destroyed by imprisoning or killing people involved in using or selling drugs? There is a very strong case to be made for the War on Drugs being far, far more harmful to society than drug use itself has ever been.

Please, give some details on that case, I'd be interested to read more.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#124

Post by ed209 »

zalew wrote: post #88
ed209 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders. Sure he's just one cog in a giant machine, but he's also responsible for death and hardship as a result of the drugs he moved. Society in general also carries some of the responsibility, as do those involved in his upbringing. But I know that if my child came to any harm as…

> until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders. luckily there are other fun and legal substances like alcohol that never cause such damage. oh, wait.

your sarcastic point doesn't change the fact that drugs destroy lives. Alcohol also destroys lives, so thanks for pointing that out.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#125

Post by mynameisvlad »

gijjk wrote: post #108
mynameisvlad wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't change the fact that the person, in most cases, had to make a choice to start taking the drugs. It's not as if you wake up one day, and you're now instantly addicted to cocaine and are destroying your life. You had to make the choice to start using the drugs.

All people make small mistakes all the time, and usually can recover. Few of them involve falling into an abyss, but tasting meth or heroin or maybe crack are among them.

It's not like the second you've had meth or heroin for the first time you're instantly and irrevocably addicted to it. There's definitely an ability to recover from that.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#126

Post by crag »

ed209 wrote: post #121
crag wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"until you see the many lives destroyed by drugs. from mothers abandoning their children, to ending up homeless and alone, to deaths and murders." And we'd have a hella better handle on it it it were legal. Right now, I can drink myself to death; or get piss-end drunk and smack my partner around; or get piss-end drunk again, hit a ball game and start a fight in the stands - none of these actions would gain me 25 year…

Cigarettes would not be legal if they were invented today. I've seen first hand what years of pot smoking does to people, it's not worth it. Drinking to excess is a growing problem and one that should be tackled. I can't really understand what point you're making, is it that you think class A drugs should be legalised?

Yes. All drugs should be legal. What I do in my own house to my own body is my business.

Not to mention, most of the violence caused by the illegal drug trade wouldn't exist.

My point is, in America it's legal for me to smoke cigarettes, carry weapons of mass destruction in my pocket, drink liquor (anywhere I please) but it's not legal for me to smoke a joint.

That's my point.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#127

Post by GFischer »

GhotiFish wrote: post #114

"Staff members oversaw policies that placed enormous barriers between the people inside boundaries and society. In the prisons where I served my sentence, prisoners were even prohibited from accessing electronic typewriters. They had their reasons, I suppose, but blocking people inside from using technology did not go far in preparing them for success upon release." They have a very good reason actually. Any mechanis…

Well, they could work harder on the 2nd part and relaxing the first.

Prisions have a LOT of wrong things with them, which vary from country to country.

In my country there's so much overcrowding that Human Rights people aren't exactly clamoring for Internet access - there was an atrocious fire a while back which killed a lot of inmates, there simply aren't enough prisions.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#128

Post by asveikau »

ghotli wrote: post #98
asveikau wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So patronizing. I was born in DC; I don't need the Wikipedia article on the crack epidemic. You really think locking people up is what solved that problem?

The first two sentences in this comment add nothing to the discussion. Is this kind of thing ok on HN these days?

I felt the comment was talking down about the crack epidemic. It's probably a function of age and location, but for some people (such as those with a history in the hardest-hit cities) it isn't that distant, as if to be something you'd look up on Wikipedia because you've never heard of it. I don't think that's all too unreasonable.

Your comment, on the other hand, does nothing but say that my comment is worthless.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#129

Post by ed209 »

crag wrote: post #126
ed209 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cigarettes would not be legal if they were invented today. I've seen first hand what years of pot smoking does to people, it's not worth it. Drinking to excess is a growing problem and one that should be tackled. I can't really understand what point you're making, is it that you think class A drugs should be legalised?

Yes. All drugs should be legal. What I do in my own house to my own body is my business. Not to mention, most of the violence caused by the illegal drug trade wouldn't exist. My point is, in America it's legal for me to smoke cigarettes, carry weapons of mass destruction in my pocket, drink liquor (anywhere I please) but it's not legal for me to smoke a joint. That's my point.

and my point is that smoking should not be legal, carrying weapons should not be legal, pot should not be legal.

Drinking is difficult because there are reported health benefits as well and most of the world does not drink to excess.

You may think that doing those things in your own home, with your own body is nobody's business but yours. That, however, is naive. Let's say you overdose on cocaine or you get lung cancer from smoking, that is not a burden only you will carry, that is a burden on society.

Money spent on your treatment could be better spent elsewhere. This isn't about personal freedoms, it's about being a responsible member of society and unfortunately talking about it on the personal scale is totally different to talking about it on a national scale.

Re: After 25 years in jail, the Internet blew my mind

#130

Post by crag »

ed209 wrote: post #129
crag wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. All drugs should be legal. What I do in my own house to my own body is my business. Not to mention, most of the violence caused by the illegal drug trade wouldn't exist. My point is, in America it's legal for me to smoke cigarettes, carry weapons of mass destruction in my pocket, drink liquor (anywhere I please) but it's not legal for me to smoke a joint. That's my point.

and my point is that smoking should not be legal, carrying weapons should not be legal, pot should not be legal. Drinking is difficult because there are reported health benefits as well and most of the world does not drink to excess. You may think that doing those things in your own home, with your own body is nobody's business but yours. That, however, is naive. Let's say you overdose on cocaine or you get lung canc…

"... there are reported health benefits as well and most of the world does not drink to excess..."

Ahh when was the last time you been to a football game in Europe? Or heard about a fight breaking out in the stands? Trust, they aren't smoking pot. So yes the rest of the world does abuse alcohol.

Oh and by the way, cocaine and pot also have health benefits. In fact, cocaine is still used today. And I doubt anyone will debate the health benefits of marijuana today.

"Let's say you overdose on cocaine or you get lung cancer from smoking, that is not a burden only you will carry, that is a burden on society..."

Let see; drunk driving; domestic abuse, liver damage, kidney failure - on and on. So don't give me this BS about the "burden on society". Go tell that to the many mothers against drunk driving.

"Money spent on your treatment could be better spent elsewhere. This isn't about personal freedoms, it's about being a responsible member of society and unfortunately talking about it on the personal scale is totally different to talking about it on a national scale."

There are more folk in treatment for alcohol abuse than drug abuse. And yet alcohol is legal. More people are shot by people drunk than people high. And yet alcohol is legal. More deaths are due to cigarettes than drugs (and alcohol). And yet cigarettes are legal.

And if we did end the drug war - over right the deaths in mexico would end. It's just that simple.

There is no reason to maintain the drug war except that every cop, every firefighter; every city, town, and state shares in the drug war pot. It's become a revenue stream. And the "war" part the the "Durg War" was lost decades ago.

Post reply on HN