Interesting, but I think it’s the other end of the equation where the real problem lies: voting. Given the facts that
1) A surprisingly large fraction of the US population has tried hard drugs of one kind or another.
2) Even those who haven’t almost surely know people who have and seem to find it interesting/fascinating/etc.. not horrifying behavior that deserves prison time.
So why is it that people who would never dream of sending their friend who tried coke to prison or even the friend who sold that friend some of his stash how do we end up with draconian drug laws?
I don’t have an easy answer. I’m sure the overton window and a desire to signal that they themselves are not pro-drug or drug users is part of the answer. It’s like lowering the age of consent for sex. As long as the loudest voices arguing it should be legal for 40 year olds to sleep with 16 year olds are creeps few people will make that argument no matter how good.
But this doesn’t really seem like enough to explain the phenomena.
So why is it that people who would never dream of sending their friend who tried coke to prison or even the friend who sold that friend some of his stash how do we end up with draconian drug laws?
There’s really nothing left to explain here. They would never dream of sending their friend who tried coke to prison because they’re friends. The same doesn’t hold for strangers. Similarly, you’d probably let a friend of yours who just lost his home spend the night at your place, but not any random homeless person.
Interesting, but I think it’s the other end of the equation where the real problem lies: voting. Given the facts that
1) A surprisingly large fraction of the US population has tried hard drugs of one kind or another.
2) Even those who haven’t almost surely know people who have and seem to find it interesting/fascinating/etc.. not horrifying behavior that deserves prison time.
So why is it that people who would never dream of sending their friend who tried coke to prison or even the friend who sold that friend some of his stash how do we end up with draconian drug laws?
I don’t have an easy answer. I’m sure the overton window and a desire to signal that they themselves are not pro-drug or drug users is part of the answer. It’s like lowering the age of consent for sex. As long as the loudest voices arguing it should be legal for 40 year olds to sleep with 16 year olds are creeps few people will make that argument no matter how good.
But this doesn’t really seem like enough to explain the phenomena.
There’s really nothing left to explain here. They would never dream of sending their friend who tried coke to prison because they’re friends. The same doesn’t hold for strangers. Similarly, you’d probably let a friend of yours who just lost his home spend the night at your place, but not any random homeless person.