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Comment by praet | Hacker News Reader

I'm pretty confident he's not suggesting a rapid death-penalty for drug-offenders

Hey it works for Singapore, Indonesia, and probably the Philippines.

I think people are easier to control, but less productive when they have drugs. So it's really a question of what your nation is optimizing for at the time.

Of course having a sub-class of previously convicted minor offenders, who as a result struggle with work/life, can also be fairly effective. It's not exactly slavery - that was mostly their ancestors.

https://ramio1983.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/image1df.jpg

People in the US have a lot of drugs and are also very productive. Your assertion makes no sense. I don't know much about Indonesia, but Singapore is an authoritarian state, and Duerte is trying to turn the Phillipines into a dictatorship. Tyrants like drug laws, and especially death penalty for drugs because it gives them an easy way to keep their thugs in practice, remind the populace that they are ready to kill, and gives them an easy way to assassinate troublemakers.

Thanks. This is 100% accurate. I think OP was either a troll or we have Duterte on HN.

"""I think people are easier to control, but less productive when they have drugs. So it's really a question of what your nation is optimizing for at the time."""

This is an opinion.

My opinion about your opinion is that your opinion is completely dumb and completely unfounded.

Michael Phelps smokes marijuana...along with countless other extremely high performers, doctor's, lawyers, politicians,movie stars, scientists Nobel prize winners, etc.

As for saying that executing drug offenders 'works'....I can't think of anything I've ever heard that's dumber in my life.

Especially when you could just execute ANYONE for breaking a law and keep the jails completely empty!

Why would you be so weak on crime?

There is a middle ground here, folks. Legalize some less-addictive and -harmful drugs like marijuana. Legalize possession of small quantities of others. Get rid of three strikes laws.

It's not easy, but we can work toward a compromise that recognizes both that drug use can cause harm to society, and that it often does not. We can punish people who push opioids, while leaving harmless users alone.

No matter which way you look at it, drug policy enforcement causes more harm and costs more dollars than the problem it purports to alleviate. Take a look at Portugal where all drug possession was decriminalized and drug-related crime went down.

This is not a complicated problem, the solution is clear and well documented. The only obstacle is multi billion dollar sector that exists only because of the prohibitive drug policy. That sector won't just dissolve without putting up a fight.

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