From: starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr)
Subject: Re: Drug Legalization & Taxation, Drug Use
Organization: UDel, School of Life & Health Sciences
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 10:51:53 GMT

In article <BxEz4s.H1r@unix.amherst.edu> pfcouvar@unix.amherst.edu (Peter F. Couvares) writes:
}starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr) writes:
}>pfcouvar@unix.amherst.edu (Peter F. Couvares) writes:
}>>
}>>> Read my lips: less taxes, period.
}>>
}>>	I don't agree. Although the government has absolutely no legitimate
}>>authority to prohibit drug use, that doesn't necessarily mean that it
}>>shouldn't try to offset some of its negative consequences.
}>
}>And where does this power derive from?  Certainly not from the Constitution or
}>the common law.
}
}	Oh give me a break. First of all, while the Consitution nowhere
}guarentees your right to drug purity, accurate labelling, or whatnot, it
}certaintly doesn't forbid it either.

I call your attention to the 10th amendment to the Constitution of the USA,
which states that powers not delegated to the Federal government are reserved
to the states or to the people.  We're not talking about rights, we're talking
about powers, and the power to regulate drug quality, purity, etc. is in
violation of the US Constitution.

}>>I don't think taxation for the purposes of
}>>education, quality & quantity regulation, and rehabilitation poses any
}>>threat to people's freedom, and I think such programs do an enourmous
}>>amount of good.
}>
}>That's precisely how we got into this mess.  The premise that the goverment
}>has the just power to regulate quality, quantity, potency, and to indoctrinate
}>is the top of a slippery slope.
}
}	Slippery slope arguments are easily abused, Tim. I don't buy that by
}doing _anything_ you're risking doing something bad, so therefore you should
}do nothing. Slippery slope arguments are effective when people claim that,
}"doing something a _little_ wrong is worth it because of all the good that
}will come from it".

But this is precisely what you're saying, except that you don't grant that
usurpation of power is wrong, apparently.

}	Food (meat in particular) has been regulated for quality for decades,
}and I don't see any imminent danger of beef becoming illegal. Speaking of
}food...

Just give the radical vegans like Jeremy Rifkin enough rope, and they'll hang
us all on this.

}>How do you know a restaurant has good quality food?  You hear about it from
}>those who've tested it, either direct acquaintances, or professional
}>reviewers, food critics.  There's no reason to abrogate the free market in
}>either regard.
}
}	I trust they have good quality food because they'd be shut down if
}they didn't, especially when I'm traveling and don't know the area. You're
}giving the free market credit for something the government has had quite a
}large part in -- in fact, you've given a prime example of effective
}government policy. Especially in cities, where there's an eternal supply of
}new, locally clueless people, a restaurant could easily serve unhealthy food
}and stay in business if it weren't for health inspectors.

Have you ever worked in the restaurant industry?  I have.  Even assuming
that the regulations were for the proper levels of safety, their application
and enforcement leaves much to be desired.  This goes beyond restaurants.  I
had a friend who worked for the UA movie theater in Berkeley, who told me that
they "recycled" used popcorn and drink cups in order to save money.  No,
they didn't have them chewed up and processed into new cups, they just
collected them off the floor of the theaters after showings and stacked them
at the condiments counter.

Because of incentive traps, public health and safety inspectors tend to
over-regulate and under-enforce, often because it's better for their private
interests to collect bribes not to bear down on those under their bureaucratic
thumbs.  Then there's the anti-competitive nature of many of these regulations,
a topic I shouldn't even have to go into.


Tim Starr - Renaissance Now! - Think Universally, Act Selfishly
starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu

"True greatness consists in the use of a powerful understanding to enlighten
oneself and others." - Voltaire
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs