[siegler]

I haven't studied Prop 19 at all, but my guess is that its primary purpose is to get democrats to the polls. It's just like all the 'defense of marriage' propositions that were on the ballot when Bush was trying to get reelected to get republicans to the polls.

If so, that's quite a way for a libertarian to waste $100k.

edit: I love the open debate. Yeah, legalizing pot is definitely the most pressing problem facing our nation, so let's downvote anybody who says differently. HN is turning into Reddit.

[alan-crowe]

I recommend that people never use sarcasm in an online discussion, because the inversion makes it hard to check ones logic before clicking reply.

For example, just what is the most pressing problem? Well, the answer is pretty obvious: people get old and die.

What is also obvious is that we don't know what to do about this. More funding for research on Alzheimer's disease looks correct, but beyond that it gets very unclear.

So immediately you reject sarcasm it leaps out at you that "most pressing problem" in the simple sense of "most important" isn't a good criterion. You need to be thinking about whether a problem can be fixed or not. Repealing bad laws is a very attractive focus for activism because it is such a practical step; it will actually work.

Your own errors can only leap out at you before you click reply if you state your position directly. Once you give in to the lure of sarcasm, you bind yourself to smug stupidity.

[prodigal_erik]

Consider how many people are stuck in cages for no good reason over this. If some organization other than the government were kidnapping that many people, solving that problem would be a high priority.

Besides, the opportunity cost is zero to not lock these people up. It's not as if some other problem is going unsolved in favor of taking this law off the books.

[rick888]

"Consider how many people are stuck in cages for no good reason over this. If some organization other than the government were kidnapping that many people, solving that problem would be a high priority."

Consider how much money the government is stealing from its citizens for no good reason. If some organization other than the government were doing this, solving the problem would be high priority..

The reason it's not high priority is because those people knowingly used an illegal substance and got caught. I also think you are over-estimating the amount of causal drug users in prison.

[prodigal_erik]

> knowingly used an illegal substance and got caught

That can be a reason to believe they should remain imprisoned, but not a reason to believe they should be released but it's not a priority to do that anytime soon.

> over-estimating the amount of causal drug users in prison

It's possible. The drug war has vastly increased prison populations, but it's hard to come by unbiased statistics about how many of those people committed any non-victimless crimes.

[einarvollset]

I love the open debate. Yeah, my opinions is obviously right, so if I get downvoted it must be because HN is turning into Reddit.