From: Ray Arachelian <sunder@brainlink.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 00:50:42 +0800
To: Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Welfare Solution #389
In-Reply-To: <3.0.2.32.19970822102741.0075f710@netcom10.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.970825121329.13246D-100000@beast.brainlink.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Fri, 22 Aug 1997, Lucky Green wrote:

> As ususal, the government created the problem and then proudly comes up
> with a solution involving even more government. As the case is in
> Switzerland. First they make it too expensive to buy and then they discover
> they have to give it away to reduce the negative consequences of a
> situation they created in the first place.

Making things more expensive rarely works.  Infact, it has the opposite
effect.  Case in point: I recall many years ago back in high school one of
the first business simulations out there came out; the class was split up
into different teams, each a company selling competing products.

Our team won by raising the cost of the items to the highest price
possible.  We still had enough simulated suckers purchasing the product to
make more money than all the other corporations. 

Not that this is reflective of real life, but the point is that if you
make something very very expensive and hard to get, then you will still
have people buying it, not as many as if it were free, but if there is
enough demand, you'll make a lot more money than if you were selling
volumes of the stuff.  Hence the illegalization (is there such a word?) of
drugs serves only to make the drug dealers rich.  The mob got rich the
same way durring prohibition.

Want to end the drug problem?  Sell the drugs dirt cheap.  Treat driving
while high the same as driving while drunk.  Treat drugs the same as
alcohol.  Treat junkies the same as alcoholics.  

The dealers will go out of business, or give them drug selling licenses -
same as liquor licenses, and yes, the junkies will get even more addicted,
but at least the ones that OD will be evolution in action and will be
removed from the gene pool.   Certainly, you'll no longer have drug
related murders, or dealers buying BMW's.

(On a side note: Though I still think selling alcohol on Sundays should be
legal, especially to non-xians.  This is one law that certainly crosses
the separation of church and state...  If one isn't Xian, non drinking on
Sunday mornings being enforced is discriminatory against non-Xians.)

=====================================Kaos=Keraunos=Kybernetos==============
.+.^.+.|  Ray Arachelian    |Prying open my 3rd eye.  So good to see |./|\.
..\|/..|sunder@sundernet.com|you once again. I thought you were      |/\|/\
<--*-->| ------------------ |hiding, and you thought that I had run  |\/|\/
../|\..| "A toast to Odin,  |away chasing the tail of dogma. I opened|.\|/.
.+.v.+.|God of screwdrivers"|my eye and there we were....            |.....
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