Prostitution, drugs, and agents of social darwinism

[m_the0ry]

All drugs - and prostitution - should be made legal.

It is without discussion that both drugs and prostitution carry negative connotations with regards to violence, death, disease and lawlessness.

Think about why there is violence and disease in prostitution and drug use. It isn't because of the inherant nature of the activities, it is because they are forced into the extralegal sector - the 'black market'. As the saying goes, there is no honor among theives. There is no reason to uphold a contract in drug trade other than the risk of being shot and killed. If drug trade were made public and legal, there would be prosecution for violence and legal violations. All kinds of inhumane things happen in illegal prostitution. If prostitution were made legal, prostitutes would gain rights and be protected by the law. That is, after all, the objective of federal law - to protect its citizens.

Making felonies out of the professions of substance dealing and prostitution forces them into the extralegal market (good book on extralegal economics here: http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Capital-Ca...8&s=books). This is directly related to the violence and lawlessness in both practices. They operate outside the normal social circle and thus get to invent their own rules. The only way to stop the killing, disease, violence and rape in these markets is to bring them into society where they obey normal rules. You cannot bring litigation against a drug dealer or pimp because their business is staying invisible to the law. When it's profitable for them to operate in the visibility of the law is when we are truely protecting our citizens from prostitution and drug dealing.


Both drugs and prostitution will continue to carry a negative connotation, however, and this is a desired effect. There is no predatory force for humanity and thus the only kind of natural selection lies in social darwinism. The man who spends all of his money on methamphetamine and becomes a hopeless addict will become sterile or die and never reproduce. The man who hires prostitutes every night will be sued for spreading diseases and considered a degenerate by society. He also will never reproduce. Both act as agents of social darwinism in this sense.

I honestly cannot think of a reason not to make prostitution and drug sale completely legal. Obviously some rules would be adopted to protect the youth, but that's it. It would be self regulating and actually put an end to disease and violence by placing both markets subject to litigation.

[chezlaw]

Absolutely, the only people who gain from prohibition are organised criminals.

Dont agree about the negative connotations in all cases, alcohol and dope could probably have net positive connotations, maybe xtc as well.

peanuts however should be banned, far too dangerous.

chez

[yukoncpa]

If it were made completely legal, it would be taxed to death, thus increasing the cost of the product. If public policy is to reduce consumption of these products, then perhaps legalization is the best course.
However, I’ve always favored decriminalization. If these items were legalized, only larger companies or those granted government monopolies would be selling. I like the idea of letting poor people have a method of making a living that isn’t subject to predatory bosses and predatory FICA taxes. Also, decriminalization keeps the price of the product down, which I favor, since I don’t necessarily see many of these items as bad.

[m_the0ry]

From a business standpoint I think the cost of keeping drugs out of the view of the federal government is about equal to the taxation on the drugs that would occur were they legalized as products.

Note this also takes power away from big medicine by allowing small startups to produce drugs instead of having to go through insurance companies which are a monopolistic bottleneck.

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
If it were made completely legal, it would be taxed to death, thus increasing the cost of the product. If public policy is to reduce consumption of these products, then perhaps legalization is the best course.
However, I’ve always favored decriminalization. If these items were legalized, only larger companies or those granted government monopolies would be selling. I like the idea of letting poor people have a method of making a living that isn’t subject to predatory bosses and predatory FICA taxes. Also, decriminalization keeps the price of the product down, which I favor, since I don’t necessarily see many of these items as bad.

[/ QUOTE ]Possibly but I'm not sure I care very much about that. However much they tax it, like alcohol it will still be pretty cheap.

I'm more concerned that the mindless fools provide so much assistance to organised crime. Wouldn't seem so bad if they did it on purpose but to do it accidently whilst harassing perfectly decent folk is too sad.

chez

[yukoncpa]

[ QUOTE ]
From a business standpoint I think the cost of keeping drugs out of the view of the federal government is about equal to the taxation on the drugs that would occur were they legalized as products.



[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. I don’t think I’m disagreeing with that. The cost of drugs are sky high because we are fighting a war on drugs. The government vigorously pursues distributers then punishes them rather severely. The expected punishment is what drives the price so high. Suppliers demand a high price because of the considerable risk they are taking.
If drugs were decriminalized, then the war on drugs would be over and sellers would be subject to much less risk. Therefore the price of product would come down. Of course, in the case of legalization, the government would then step in and through taxation, get the cost right back up to where it was - or higher.

[yukoncpa]

[ QUOTE ]
Possibly but I'm not sure I care very much about that. However much they tax it, like alcohol it will still be pretty cheap.

I'm more concerned that the mindless fools provide so much assistance to organised crime. Wouldn't seem so bad if they did it on purpose but to do it accidently whilst harassing perfectly decent folk is too sad.


[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this. It's just that Op mentioned that he can't see a single reason not to totally legalize. I was just offering one reason.

[schaef]

Illegality certainly isn't the only determining factor for the violence, is it? You also seem to connote that "social darwinism" within the framework of legalized drug use, prostitution, etc. is a positive thing, but I think you should think that through. First, will everyone be given the same opportunity to make good choices in their lives?

[MidGe]

[ QUOTE ]
First, will everyone be given the same opportunity to make good choices in their lives?

[/ QUOTE ]
Are you interested in drugs or prostitution? Not necessarily a bad choice, I agree.

[bkholdem]

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
www.leap.cc

they have an informative 12minute video on their site outlining why the drug war is a failure.