From: nobody@shell.portal.com
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 94 17:00:05 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: We get the government we deserve
Message-ID: <199408282359.QAA18741@jobe.shell.portal.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Tim C. May wrote:

> We get the government we deserve. The Drug War is happening because
> Americans shrilly say "Do something!" and would rather have the D.A.R.E.
> commandoes educating their kids than do it themselves. Ditto for most of
> the laws passed by the tens of thousands every year. (Ever wonder why we
> need thousands of new laws? I do.)

DARE really isn't so bad...  Just because we recognize that people should
have the freedom to use drugs if they choose to do so, doesn't mean that
such drugs are good.  Maybe a lot has changed since the DARE program
was given at my school, but it mostly focused on why drugs were bad,
allowing people to make a more informed decision about using drugs.
That seems to me to be protection against fraud...

I was talking about this with a cop recently, and he said that the DARE
program was the most effective tactic against drug abuse.  He admitted
that busting drug dealers wasn't really effective (for several reasons).
So maybe attitudes are changing.  I asked him about legalization.  He was
somewhat hesitant on this point.  His only objection was that he was
afraid that it would "send the wrong message."  However, he did admit,
that everyone he had ever picked up for drug abuse was also involved in
other crimes, theft being most common.  So even if drugs were legalized,
the same criminals would still get arrested for their crimes.