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Friday, April 29, 2005

Meet Matt Yglesias: The New Prohibitionist

I have no doubt that there are silly conservatives, but I'm not sure if making an argument against prohibition is all that silly. I can see why you weren't all that thrilled with the last season of "The Wire". That black police chief had the right idea. If you're interested, you can watch the opposite approach on "The Shield" this season. I thought it was telling and instructive when one of the black suspects referred to it as "the occupation". One day Bajor will rise...(obscure ds9 reference...my trek fu is strong..)

Your argument against free and available heroin is the same argument that the prohibtionists gave to keep liquor off the shelves. It was a silly argument, unless you're trying to create a massive criminal underground. I've heard that it props up the economy you never know...It's a silly argument on a number of levels. One, if it's legal you could, in theory, make it less addictive and thereby less lethal. Two, I would much rather have an Amsterdam style drug decriminalization system than what we have now. Of course, as black officers have noticed in both the The Shield and in the Wire, there is a racial component to these policies. It's a lot easier to criminalize these activities when the suspects are black. Of course, if you like locking up black kids to undergird the Red State industrial-prison complex then your point seems sound. Lock em up, especially the black underclass...not good for the Democracy, though.

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