Re: How Views Cause the Situation to Change (was Re: Cheney's...)

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On Sunday 11 May 2003 06:07, Neil Stevens wrote:
> > Liberalization, however often has the opposite effect because there's
> > less to police. If you legalize marijuana, for example, firstly you
> > don't need extra police officers to arrest users and dealers. Secondly,
> > because it can be produced and sold openly, the price goes down and it's
> > no longer a viable source of income for terrorist and criminal
> > organisations and the like, and so you have less such groups to deal
> > with.
>
> So if we legalized murder, there would be no more murder, right?  Because
> hit-men would no longer be able to charge so much?  And our streets would
> be safer since we wouldn't spend so many resources tracking down,
> arresting, and trying murderers?

there is a case being argued in the Canadian upper courts right now where the 
defendants are arguing, and doing a good job of it, that the Canibis laws in 
Canada are unconstitutional.

the measuring sticks they are using are based on Canadian law, but it is 
similar in nature to the viewpoint the American founding fathers had: to 
legislate controls on something, the government must first show there is a 
non-trivial negative effect on society (not the individual committing the 
act). their main points are:

 o canibis is no worse than alcohol or tobacco, and every study the Canadian 
government has commissioned comes back saying that. we have learned how to 
deal with both of those lethal and addictive substances (lung cancer, 
alcoholics, etc).

 o at least over 1 million Canadians use Canibis, and even the "upper 
echelons" of our society see the laws against Canibis to be trivial and 
silly. there is a subculture around Canibis, with its own magazines and 
conventions. this demonstrates that the law is inspiring a general disrespect 
for the law.

 o as in illegal substance, it creates a black market. this brings people into 
a criminal element unnecessarily, and makes it impossible to ensure the safe 
handling and sale of the substance. it also syphons money out of the economy.

 o given the above, Canibis use is a personal liberty. the government can not 
legislate against its use without trampling personal liberty with no real 
gain in return

and while you can apply the above to Canibis, you can't to murder. the line is 
pretty clear and simple, really. applying it can be tricky, but the line is 
there. 

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
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