Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by JumpCrisscross 1842 days ago
> That last 5% are not going to handle psychedelics well

I imagine the ratios are similar for alcohol, cannabis and tobacco. Subjecting the 95% to threats of fines and jail time for the 5% is wrong. But it would make sense to use this new tax base as a platform for addressing our homeless and mental health problems.

1 comments

Kamala Harris sent Californians away for long haul prison sentences on drug-related infractions. Anyone here who thinks mass incarceration improves society should explain their reasoning, because I really don’t understand.

Also the parent commenter on “tax base” is misguided. We’re not talking about legalizing and taxing drugs, just not locking people up for victimless crimes.

> We’re not talking about legalizing and taxing drugs, just not locking people up for victimless crimes

This bill isn’t. I am.

Fair enough. I fully support legalization and deregulation of all "controlled substances"
I mean mass incarceration for "long haul" (lets says 30+ years) prison terms absolutely could be argued to "improve" society by removing people who have broken the social contract.

The classic problem with prison is short and frequent sentences that fuck someones life up just enough to prevent them from being a "good" member of society but not long enough to really keep them away from the general population.

What’s this here about a social contract, hmm? I never signed any contract.
Who exactly considers that the "classic problem" of prison? Your reasoning strikes me as perverse. This "social contract" is the rule of a few elites with racially charged political agendas over the many, look into the history of drug laws. It's not a just contract if you are manipulated with false propaganda and coerced by force into signing.
> "social contract" is the rule of a few elites with racially charged political agendas over the many, look into the history of drug laws

There are a lot of violent crimes with shockingly short terms. Including for repeat offenders. This isn't a problem for elites, who can afford to stay away from these problems. It's a problem for common, law-abiding, unexemplary Americans.

We were talking about drugs, not violent crimes. I believe the police should focus on violence and ignore individual consumption of drugs.