[jensen123]

> Why does the general public consider drug prohibition to be that much different than alcohol prohibition??

The average IQ of most western countries, including the US, is around 100. That's probably significantly lower than the average reader here on Hacker News. I'm not sure if a person with an IQ of 100 ever asks themselves intelligent questions like yours...

[SixSigma]

That the average is 100 should come as no surprise, seeing as IQ is defined so that the median score of tests on the population is 100.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient

[rat87]

May I reccomend http://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/top/ to you?

Also you're assuming some sort of strong correlation between IQ or some other measure of intelligence and good political judgement.

[tracker1]

I was recently in a conversation where it was pointed out that my rather cold analytic nature when it comes to these kinds of things puts me at odds with more emotionally driven decisions. Even without agreeing, I can see the point.

That said, in my mind short of violent action, I find it hard to see how having to serve more than two decades in prison is any kind of justice for any kind of non-violent crime. I also find that seeing the U.S. prison population at near 1% is rather depressing, and that most drugs probably shouldn't be criminalized and their use are more representative of other social issues at hand.

When black markets exist to the extent that the drug trade does, it usually indicates that the law is probably wrong. A black market for anything will always exist, but when you're starting to see it affect even 1% of the population as it does in this case, that should indicate that legally, the position should change in a way that reduces the need for such markets. However, time and time again governments try to push in the other direction, the U.S. revolution from England is in a large part based on this.

[rorykoehler]

There is no justice in this sentencing. The sentence is to set an example (words of the judge) which by it's very definition is unjust. Regardless of what you think of the laws relating to this case everyone deserves the same treatment under the law.

[rbobby]

> having to serve more than two decades in prison is any kind of justice for any kind of non-violent crime

Bernie Madoff got 150 years.

[jensen123]

IQ basically measures the speed of the brain, so it seems likely that there is some correlation between IQ and good political judgement. High IQ people basically have a greater capacity for thought.

[rat87]

> so it seems likely that there is some correlation between IQ and good political judgement

Considering that many smart people believe in opposing ideologies, many of those being extreme and some which I think are really stupid, I can't believe that. I'd consider empathy and open-mindedness much more likely to correlate with support for good policies. Also people tend to disagree on what policies are good. People disagree on what good basic principles are, what the likely outcomes are, and whether those outcomes are good or not. There is disagreement even among smart people, even after the stupidity of much of the drug war.

[dasil003]

> IQ basically measures the speed of the brain

IQ attempts to measure the speed of the brain, via a proxy designed by humans who probably on average think a bit highly of their own intelligence. No risk of cognitive bias there....