> Legalization is a pipe-dream (pardon the pun). It would be a public > health experiment of such a massive and dangerous scale, and we can't > take the risk.
I would challenge this 'risk' assumption. Currently it is easier for your child to buy heroin at their high school than it is for them to buy a fifth of Jack Daniels at the corner liquor store. Which approach -- total prohibition or controlled access -- has worked out best? Akin to gun control (and the mythical balancing acts prescribed by Alzheimer inflicted judges), the "risk" must be quantified. Narcotics were largely legal in the U.S. until the 1960's. Anecdotal reading indicates that the risk was lower than today (granted, we have more exotic and power drugs today that before the 1960's, but we also have more exotic and powerful guns than before). On the risk side, one element can be demonstrated, and it works in favor of eliminating risk through legalization. While plotting U.S. homicide rates one day, I noticed a distinctly odd U-shaped curve. It wasn't covariant with economics, wars or any other large scale event. But when I laid-in federal legislation on drugs (and I include the 18th Amendment in that list), the curves show a possible cause/effect relationship. http://www.guysmith.org/images/drug-violence-big.jpg Thus, narcotic prohibition may be include a grave (pub intended) risk and thus ending prohibition is a reasonable approach. Allow me to tie this back to gun control, another prohibitionary enactment. The Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that around 80% of all homicides are gang/drug related. We can safely assume then that roughly 80% of all _gun_ homicides are as well. Felon-in-possession rates are extremely high despite firearm restrictions applied to the entire populace. As Ray indicated, it is not a supply-side issue. Hence, legalization may be the direct path to eliminating approximately 9,200 homicides every year. Guy Smith "Gun Facts - Debunking Gun Control Myths" www.GunFacts.info _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
