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From: anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson)
Newsgroups: net.general
Subject: Re: The war on drugs
Message-ID: <273@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 20-Sep-86 18:15:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.273
Posted: Sat Sep 20 18:15:33 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Sep-86 22:04:26 EDT
References: <5305@decwrl.DEC.COM> <7222@sun.uucp> <937@tekig4.UUCP> <1583@curly.ucla-cs.ARPA>
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 45

> In article <937@tekig4.UUCP> maxg@tekig4.UUCP (Max Guernsey) writes:
> >In article <7222@sun.uucp> falk@sun.uucp (Ed Falk) writes:
> >>Now, there are some drugs that *deserve* to be outlawed, [...]
> >>I refer to the *very* addicting [...] Heroin etc.
> [virtues of heroin vs morphine as analgesic edited out]
> Heroin is said [...]
> to be about as addictive as nicotine [...].

Until the advent of crack, I believe nicotine has had the (I think,
deserved) reputation of being the *most* addictive substance known.
According to "Licit and Illicit Drugs," published a number of years
ago by Consumer's Union (hardly junkies themselves :-), most people
who become nicotine addicts (here speaking of smokers, not dippers)
are addicted by the third cigaret. 

BTW, I believe the drug discussion merits its own talk group, as it
will become a major focus in the months and years ahead. I'd like it
not to get lost amid the other political, legal, social, and medical
topics.

Also BTW, I cast one vote for total legalization of *all* substances,
an appropriate government-sponsored system of nonthreatening clinics,
an appropriate tax-supported system of honest and open drug research
(distinct and with an obviously different purpose from the pharmaceut-
icals industry), a tax-supported, full-disclosure drug education and
awareness system, a long-term social development program
that seeks to minimize substance abuse by addressing contributing
social/economic factors, a conscious, deliberate effort as an matter
of public policy to maintain the cost of all drugs at a price that
makes it unprofitable (price supports from the public purse as needed)
for organized crime to be involved, and I believe all of this can
very easily be paid for by a minor reduction in enforcement budgets.
In short, people have always used substances that affect their
consciousnesses, and I believe they always will. We should promote
the safer ways of doing so, tell our people the truth, put crime
out of business by underbidding them, and divert the funds now used
for (utterly fruitless) drug enforcement be used to defray most if
not all of the associated costs.
-- 
==ARPA:====================anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu===Jess Anderson======
|      (Please use ARPA if you can.)                     MACC              |
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==The sage acts without choosing.=========(Chuang Tsu)======================