
Cocaine Is Evil - ojbyrne
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/12/cocaine_trafficking_horrors_users_are_complicit_in_the_atrocities_of_the.single.html
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mullingitover
Every voter who voted for a pro-Drug War politician has blood on their hands.
This violence is part of a war that they demanded. The market has existed,
currently exists, and will continue to exist, regardless. It's like believing
that socialism (e.g. our socialized war on the very existence of the black
market) is going to somehow win against capitalism if we just sacrifice enough
innocent victims on the pyre.

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jgalt212
Indeed. Anyone who does Cocaine has blood, and lots of it, on their hands.

Of course that sounds a bit flip, but any moral drug user should think twice
about their "victim-less" crime and either A. stop using illegal drugs, or B.
campaign tirelessly for the mass legalization of drugs.

~~~
pedalpete
I'm amazed how many people don't see it this way, but I completely agree with
you, having seen lives torn apart by Cocaine when I was kid.

At the same time, the politicians have just as much, if not more blood on
their hands. It has always been in their power to make drugs legal, and having
seen the criminal effect the illegality created, they should have changed the
laws.

I'd rather see millions of damaged addicted people who have nobody but
themselves to blame, than deaths of people who are blameless.

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papaf
If anyone is interested in the logistics of the cocaine trade I recommend the
Dark Alliance book [1]. The book argues that when cocaine first appeared in
the US it was not considered so dangerous or addictive and the authorities did
not respond to it as a serious threat (at the time it was PCP that was being
demonised).

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-Contras-Cocaine-
Explosio...](http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-Contras-Cocaine-
Explosion/dp/1888363932)

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aaron695
What rubbish, paying for coke is like supporting the Nazi party?

It's basically saying the Jews are to blame for the Nazis being so bad.

If only they stoped being so Jewish there would have been no holocaust.

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rayiner
I see comments putting all the blame on the Drug War, but that doesn't quite
make sense. While the illegal status of drugs certainly contributes to the
criminal and violent nature of the cartels, it's naive to believe the cartels
would be upstanding, respectful organizations were drugs legalized. Diamonds
are quite legal
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond))
and so are bananas
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic)),
yet cartels dealing in those exports have been quite violent indeed. When a
high-value product can be grown or mined in a country with weak internal
security, the trade can often be taken over by violent gangs, whether or not
the product itself is legal. There's a lot to be gained by violently
controlling supply, even if the product is legal.

~~~
dragonwriter
> the illegal status of drugs certainly contributes to the criminal and
> violent nature of the cartels, it's naive to believe the cartels would be
> upstanding, respectful organizations were drugs legalized.

Were drugs legal, the same measures taken that constrain lawful business in
other industries could be brought to bear on the narcotics industry (which
would really, then, just be an offshoot of the pharmaceutical industry.)

Now, certainly, that doesn't _necessarily_ mean that there would be no bad
things associated with the industry -- particularly in developing regions
where the supply comes from, as you point out with diamonds and bananas (and
one could point to oil and lots of other things there, too.)

OTOH, _even_ in those developing world supply areas, pressure -- both
government and consumer -- in the developed market countries where most of the
retail dollars chasing the product comes from have often time been useful in
_curbing_ the worst abuses in many industries. But when there is already a
"war" on the industry, the marginal costs such pressure imposes doesn't exist.

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a3voices
Bad title. That's like saying guns are evil.

~~~
muzz
Agreed, although often the editors change/create the title rather than the
author. Even a simple change like "The Drug War is Evil" would be much more
befitting of the piece.

~~~
alecdbrooks
"The Drug War is Evil" is actually just as bad of a title as "Cocaine is
Evil." This article is about how buyers of cocaine support a system that has
caused (according to the author) millions of deaths, not about government
policy's role. The title "The Drug War is Evil" is appealing because it's 1)
correct and 2) somewhat relevant, but it's not actually what the article's
about.

