❝❝Back during Prohibition, organized crime grew because U.S. law made selling alcohol extremely profitable when someone could pull it off.

It's no accident that the same thing has happened with other drugs. What's more, every time the U.S. escalates, the trade becomes that much more profitable. Without the armed distribution networks, the cost of production is pennies per pound.

U.S. drug policy has enabled the drug gangs and the narco-state and massive corruption, all without lowering the addiction rate.

What's more, most of the problems caused by drugs would be solved if there were standardized purity and portion controls. These things can only happen in a free market. Smart people don't buy aspirin that can kill them, anymore than they buy moonshine laced with lead because it was made in an old radiator. They buy the brands that they can trust. Companies keep customers and get new customers by delivering something better than the competition.

We could do more for addiction and to stop violence and corruption by stopping the war on drugs.

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I'm going to mention the late Peter McWilliams and his classic Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do.

A little bit of backstory. McWilliams was a very successful author and photographer. He contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and was using medical marijuana because unlike most meds he had tried, it actually reduced the pain and didn't cause disabling nausea. He was arrested by the Federal government and his computer seized. At his trial, he was prohibited from telling the jury about the benefits of medical marijuana. Later he was arrested again. His mother mortgaged her house to put up his bail.

He died, in the shower, vomiting.

Now I am not claiming that cannibas is a cure-all. We do know that the U.S. government has suppressed most independent research on the medical uses of cannibas. We do know that U.S. law treats marijuana proportionately worse than most other drugs. And we know that in the few studies that have been allowed, cannibas seems to be very effective for some patients with fewer side-effects.

Returning to the book, McWilliams lays out the problems with punishing people for consensual crimes and how that destroys a society's morality. If you are worried about the overregulation of society, this book can be a real eye-opener.❞ class="ghoster">❞

NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

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Tags: War on Drugs ∙ Prohibition ∙ armed distribution networks ∙ cost of production ∙ U.S. drug policy ∙ drug gangs ∙ narco-state ∙ corruption ∙ addiction ∙ purity controls ∙ portion controls ∙ free market ∙ competition ∙ Peter McWilliams ∙ Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do ∙ author ∙ photographer ∙ non-Hodgkin's lymphoma ∙ medical marijuana ∙ disabling nausea ∙ Federal government ∙ cannabis ∙ independent research ∙ consensual crimes ∙ society's morality

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