Those prosecuted for distributing information on the use of E and other club drugs would face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years along with fines. He points to studies from England showing that frequent weekend users of ecstasy are depressed by midweek, every week. He has no doubt that if the legislation becomes law, the courts will throw it out. They can vote for this knowing it s going to get thrown out, but then they get to go home and tell their constituents that they re doing something about drugs. He draws an analogy to safe-sex programs.
People make better decisions when they have better information.
There is no good research on the effectiveness of harm-reduction efforts. But there is solid evidence that the official approach to drug information has done nothing to stop drug use. Use of cocaine more than doubled in the same period. Calif. Young people, he says, don't fall for scare tactics, and often turn to uninformed sources who may downplay the risks. Sferios and others point to a recent example in Florida, a hotbed of rave culture, of what happens when the government tries to control information related to drugs.