Comment by dudurocha | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dudurocha | Hacker News Reader

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In the tv show The Wire, third season, a Police Captain tried to 'legalise' drugs sale. He put all the dealers, the little soldiers, and said "If you deal in the streets, we will arrest you. If you deal in the free zone, you are free to go". At first, the dealers were very distrustful, but after some days, all the dealers were in the same place. And the addicteds learned that they could only buy drugs in that zone. They even have the cops in the place, to prevent any thing from happen.

The streets became a better place, no more criminals in the corners. No more shots and dead bodies in the communities. The kids were playing again in the streets. And the cops wouldn't have to arrest minors selling drugs, they were able to focus in the big fishes, the head of the operation. The problem is, after some time, the town hall and the police chief started to not believe in the crime rates the captain was giving to them. They were TOO DAMN LOW. They tough he was manipulating, faking or someway, not giving the actual rates. But they were true, he just couldn't say that he legalized the drugs. After some time, he had to tall, and of course he was fired.

I think the series made a great simulation of what it will happen that we had in our city an area were drugs selling were legal. Everyone in HN should watch the show.

PS. I'm sorry for typos and bad grammmar. Not native speaker. I'll get better.

I think you're taking away too much from a TV show. The post you've made could possibly happen but how much would crime rates (robbery in the best scenario) rise because drugs are legal? I really don't know the answer.

One of the many things I've learned in my life is that criminals will go where the money is. In the early 20th century it was alcohol, prostitution, gambling, etc. They later moved on to drugs which was more profitable than alcohol, especially after prohibition ended. Criminals will always find a way to extort.

I think it's a little dangerous to think of the world as "criminals" and "non-criminals". There are people who commit crime who wouldn't commit them in a different context, and to say that whatever we do "they" will just find a way to keep things exactly as bad.. It doesn't feel like it's a good model of reality to me. There would still be lots of crimes, but the mega-drug-cartels that we're seeing now couldn't exist with legal drugs, and they couldn't be replaced with something else of that size unless we prohibit something else that has the attributes of drugs, and I don't really see it right now.

>There are people who commit crime who wouldn't commit them in a different context, and to say that whatever we do "they" will just find a way to keep things exactly as bad.

It's not as if I'm talking about a father stealing a loaf of bread for his family. The people I'm speaking commit the most vile crimes possible. They are deserving of the tag 'criminal' regardless of what position in life they started.

That said, this isn't really about defeating the drug cartels. It's about the putting an end to the violence that is behind it and stopping it from spilling out into the lives of law-abiding citizens.

In South America, criminals have turned to kidnapping family members of wealthy individuals and even talented baseball players who have signed deals with professional teams. Most baseball teams have backed out of looking for prospects in Venezuela because of these worries. There was even a minor league prospect who was kidnapped last year and held for ransom.

The Wire is excellent fiction, not a simulation.

Something similar ("Needle Park") was attempted in Zurich in the eighties: a place where drug sale and use was officially tolerated. It was closed after a few years. Opinions are mixed.

Just like in The Wire, except Zurich version lasted a few years longer :L)

the real effect of what is described on that show would be the opposite. you aren't taking away the 80% of crime where the proceeds go towards procuring the drug. you aren't taking away inter-supplier conflict. and you are decreasing the available drug turf thus increasing competition between suppliers and raising the stakes.

in short:

* same crime to supply addicts is there * inter-gang violence is still there * premium on drug territory increases, thus violence and competition increases

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