Posts with tag: Drug Policy (page 2)

15 Jan 2009

New Think of the Children argument

Daniel Rodriguez said there’s no such thing as a healthy discussion about legalizing drugs because young people take their cues from adult conversation. “There are things I believe should not be open for discussion, and this is one of them,” he said. [El Paso Newspaper Tree] Thank goodness we now have more excuses to stifle [...]

13 Jan 2009

Effective Drug Warrior Posturing 101

When a policy doesn’t work no matter how many dollars and officers you throw at it, how do you keep the lights on and the citizens engaged? Well, histrionics, demonization, war propagandizing, and hysteria have worked wonders in the past. Let’s listen to the President of the Philippines give them a shot: … she ordered [...]

7 Jan 2009

40 Saves Lives

Suppose the federal government were to cap nationwide speed limits at 40 m.p.h. with the honorable goal of greatly reducing crash fatalities. They reason that being a little late is small price to pay for saving lives, and the public reluctantly agrees.

5 Jan 2009

Hopes for 2009

In no particular order, I hope… the release of IE8 will spur organizations currently standardized on IE6 to finally bite the bullet and either upgrade their users to IE8 or move them to other browsers. Killing off IE6 (and IE7 really) will significantly decrease web development costs and reinvigorate CSS by opening up a world [...]

13 Dec 2008

No Imagination Means No Change

“I don’t mind adopting a policy that seems strange to you if the result of it is going to make society improved…” – William F. Buckley Jr. re: drug legalization When drug policy reformers say “legalization”, it strikes fear into persons who have only experienced and imagined society under the effects of modern drug prohibitions. [...]

5 Dec 2008

Take his word, our drug policies are working.

Today’s Wall Street Journal features two opinion pieces, one by our commander of the War on Drugs, John Walters, and the other by one of the war’s most respected critics, Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance.

1 Dec 2008

Change I’d invest in

In the pursuit of drug law reform an acquaintance told me, “Having logic on your side is nice, but money and grassroots organization is better.”

30 Nov 2008

More Drug War Victims Pile Up

Our War on Drugs has turned Mexico into a real war zone. Five more dead in Tijuana; 685 in one city in the last year; young men in rival cartels are gunned down, tortured, mutilated, beheaded, found in mass graves. Those who can afford to have left town, while the rest of the city lives [...]

14 Oct 2008

Learning from the Free Market

When government regulation is completely removed from the picture, business thrives, and one industry has a particularly impressive success story. Its products are produced where costs are low and sold elsewhere with monumental margins. In fact these extraordinary profits help this industry overcome enormous hurdles of distribution; not even incredibly powerful organizations with endless supplies [...]