From: eyc@acpub.duke.edu (EMIL CHUCK)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Let's get real about AIDS shall we?
Date: 19 Aug 92 01:09:03 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.

tedwards@src.umd.edu (Thomas Grant Edwards) writes:
*In article <4643@news.duke.edu> eyc@acpub.duke.edu (EMIL CHUCK) writes:
*>	Repeat the statement that you won't support any strategy that
*>anyone forms ... to parents whose kids have been shot at in drive-by
*>killings, gang wars, or overdoses. Tell that to the medics and the
*>policemen in Washington DC and Los Angeles and Miami who see
*>drug-related crimes day after day, night after night.
*
*You don't get it?  There is no longer drive-by shooting and gang wars
*over alcohol, but there WAS when it was illegal.
*Drive by shootings are caused by market forces, not drugs themselves.
	Drive-by shootings are (also) caused by the elimination of
competition from one's turf. There is also petty crime (theft) and some
assaults caused by addicts who are either high or are trying to get
enough money to get high before withdrawal.
	On the other hand, though we have no more drive-by shootings and
gang wars over alcohol, we have deaths caused by drunk drivers and
homicides caused by those under the influence. We may not have gang
wars, but we have rapes by drunks from college campuses to inner city
homes. There is also many reports of child abuse from parents who
couldn't stop getting away from the bottle.
	It is currently unfeasible to make alcohol and nicotine illegal
as we would bankrupt those businesses that produce these legal drugs as
well as encourage the illicit production of these products. The problem
about making all drugs legal is that all drugs can kill. You can still
die from drinking too much. You can still suffocate from inhaling too
much nicotine.

>> The government
>>deems those appropriate drugs illegal because they can affect behavior
>>and they are very lethal.
>
>Only a few drugs have any significant lethality.
>Stiff competition due to illegality of drugs requires entrepeneurs
>to use automatic weapons to grab market share.
	Again, all drugs are lethal in sufficiently high doses. The
problem is how quickly one tends to reach these high doses and what the
effects of these high doses are on human behavior and its manifestations
on society.

>>	The War on Drugs begins with each one of us. My cited paragraph
>>says it all for me.
>
>The war on drugs must begin with each one of us, but the government
>MUST get out of it.  I never encourage _irresponsible_ drug use of
>my friends, including any use of cocaine, MDMA, and over use of
>alcohol and nicotine.
	I agree that advocating responsible use of drugs is essential.
On the other hand, it will be interesting to see how advocating
responsibility will play on teenagers. I hope they will listen.


-- 
Emil Thomas Chuck		DUKE BLUE DEVILS: 1992 ACC CHAMPIONS!
Biomedical Engineer 1993	1992 EAST REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!!
Duke University, Durham, NC	AND 1992 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!
August 31, 1992 - May 16, 1993	Duke football? What's that?
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