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Re: You can Still Have Your Joint, but Only if it's Pure!
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Originally Posted by TSGracchus
I don't think we can conclude that, unless we assume up front that public policy is always made in a way that makes sense. It's entirely possible that the goal IS to improve public health, but also that politicians in Holland are as stupid as the ones we have here. Also, remember that when crafting legislation, competing interests are always weighed against each other and compromised; Holland has been a haven of sensible libertarian drug policy for many years now and to retreat from that even in a way that actually makes sense would be difficult and provoke opposition.
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I can't speak to the particulars of Holland's politics, I suppose. And, I won't dispute that bans on cigarette smoking are supported by a lot of people because of public health concerns, whether their information is sound or the result of "ends justify the means" public lobbies aside. My point here is that bans on cigarettes, in many places, seemed to be fueled more by the recent trendiness of assigning a social stigma to smoking. I believe that this takes precedence over substantive discussions of public health versus rights in general.
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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."
-Thomas Jefferson
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