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From: jwl@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Re: Crime notes (was: Nothing to do with Gun Nuts)
Message-ID: <21354@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Tue, 20-Oct-87 00:37:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.21354
Posted: Tue Oct 20 00:37:14 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 22-Oct-87 05:28:04 EDT
References: <21300@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <3144@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: jwl@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (James Wilbur Lewis)
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Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 19

In article <3144@bellcore.bellcore.com> tr@wind.UUCP (tom reingold) writes:
>Also, James, I would contend with you that drugs are not always
>victimless crimes because addicts of heroin and crack often kill
>and assault people for their money so that the addicts can buy
>their fixes.

First of all, these people are not victims of drug use per se; they are
murder or assault victims.  If I stole money to buy a car, the person
I stole the money from could hardly be called a victim of car ownership,
right?

More importantly, the people who are victimized by drug addicts could
be considered to be victims of DRUG LAWS, not drugs!  Tobacco is more
addictive than heroin, yet no one is forced to steal to support a nicotine
habit; cigarettes are legal, and cheap. Heroin and cocaine would be cheap
if they were legal, and addicts wouldn't need to steal to support their
habits.

-- Jim Lewis
   U.C. Berkeley