I must have just missed this intel because I haven't heard of this. I know smoking has got into the elementary schools around me. But as far as actual drugs like meth (which portland has a huge problem) I haven't heard of it hitting kids. I suppose it's possible, but like Kuzi said there isn't really any money with young kids. Though I never considered drug dealers smart.
I guess my point is that the "war on drugs" will never be enough. If you rid the world of drugs, something else will take over, the want, desire, ego, whatever that high gives someone will be found somewhere else and the obsession that makes "drugs" bad will be aimed in another direction. That is what has happened to me...now i'm hooked on cigars, which is legal and doesn't make my life as unmanageable.
Regarding the intelligence, etc., of dealers and drug gangs, as well as the economics of the drug trade, I highly recommend Freakonomics and Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day.
Any less important? NO. I'm pointing to the fact that by stopping child x's older brother, or his friend, by punishing them, you aren't going to stop child x from getting what he is looking for. The problem is not the supply, its the demand! Or both for that matter. If you want to look at it like economics, the only thing that is happening is that dealers are paying more (whether it be with cash, jailtime, or whatever, the cost is higher) for it when supplies go down, and they forward that to the consumer(this will only make the consumer do more for what they want, they tend to compromise their values and some get caught doing so). Think gasoline, prices have gone down that past couple weeks, everyone's getting their "fix" for cheap. And alot of the folks in the states think that getting MORE is the answer, but the first thing you learn in economics is the idea of scarcity. We will run out. The only thing that will help us keep going is a drastic change in our desires!
It's an interesting philosophy on prevention. Rather than applying effort to preventing people from wanting it, instead make it harder and harder for them to get it. That in and of itself is suppose to keep them from wanting it? Ok, i may have not have taken up smoking cigars if that were the case, but hearing you guys talk about how good they were, I would continue want them. If this theory is gonna work, it had better all be gone. Otherwise that desire will be passed along, it gets passed along in these forums, I just got my first shipment of GOFs in today, something I would never have tried if it weren't for the great talk her on the forum. (btw I'm excited)
There's a measure on my ballet in portland that allows for treatment of drug users instead of locking them up over and over, and though I am not entirely on board, I still think it's better than locking them up all the time. Treatment is a good idea, but after one gets out, if they go back to "their old lives" then I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
I never said they were brilliant, I just said they aren't total idiots. They are pretty sharp to come up with some of the ways to smuggle things. I've seen hidden compartments in arms rests there you have to turn the heat all the way up and turn the windshield wipers on to open... Thats pretty good. If these guys would have gotten an engineering degree they could have done something with their lives! haha
Tuesdays ballot in MA will have a question requesting to lower the penalties and fines for anyone caught with under an OZ of weed! Im all for it, to unclog the jails and get us closer to leagalizing this stuff.
I knew it was from before the Gulf War and it wasn't from Niger, but I didn't realize it was known about and monitored by the UN inspectors. Well, until Sadam kicked them out of the country
Of course, he did let them back in. Then we kicked them out.
PuroFreak:
I still believe there were chemical weapons in the country that were hidden and smuggled out through Syria, but regardless if it is ever proved, i believe the world in general and the Iraqi people BY FAR are much better off with Saddam.
If that's what you believe, Puro, then, well, that's what you believe. I haven't seen any evidence for it, and it's not the kind of thing I can just take on faith. There seem to be lots of issues like this, these days, where one side or the other just has a firm belief that something's true, the other side doesn't share that belief, and then the national conversation pretty much breaks down; empirical evidence is something people of differing views can discuss back and forth, but beliefs are impenetrable.
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