QUOTES: Jonah Goldberg, currently Canadian Enemy #1, says a couple of quite significant things on the subject of drug prohibition:
"THIS IS YOUR BOYFRIEND ON DRUGS [Jonah Goldberg]
The fundamental assumption made by many pro-drug legalization advocates is that people are rational actors who can weight their interests on their own without the aid or hindrance of government or community. Admittedly, not all advocates of legalization make this assumption, but even they have a rosy optimism about what cheaper, more reliable access to more potent drugs would do to society (I include some NR editors here). It's a rich argument. But whenever I read stories like this , I become even more unconvinced they're right. "
"ONE MORE POINT [Jonah Goldberg]
People keep emailing me to ask sarcastically, Potato chips (or some other snacks) are addictive so why not outlaw them too? This is a response I get from college kids all the time and, frankly, I find it absurd and a little offensive. If you knew drug addicts, as I have, who stole from friends and family and ruined their lives and -- in one case died in jail -- all out of a desire for one more fix, you wouldn't make the comparison. Heroin makes you irrational in a way that potato chips simply do not. And to say there isn't a difference between UTZ pretzels and smack is to trivialize a lot fo tragedy for a cute debating point. I've never seen anybody steal their mother's jewelry or become prostitutes for some Pringles."
"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."
-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
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