Quote from: BitterTea on June 06, 2011, 05:28:23 PM

Quote from: greenfloyd on June 06, 2011, 04:39:19 PM

Seems to me government has already abandoned drug control

In what sense?

From Federal drug control spending by agency:

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(Budget Authority in Millions) [...] FY 2010 Request [...] $15,069.1

15 billion FEDERAL dollars spent on drug control in the United States.

From FBI arrest statistics:

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The highest arrest counts among the Part I and Part II offenses were for drug abuse violations (estimated at 1,663,582 arrests), driving under the influence (estimated at 1,440,409), and larceny-theft (estimated at 1,334,933).

The arrest rate was 4,478.0 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants of the total estimated United States population. The arrest rate for violent crime (including murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) was 191.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the arrest rate for property crime (including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) was 571.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.

That second point isn't specifically drug related, but it's interesting to see that violent and property crimes account for a very small portion of the number of arrests (17%). Wonder what the rest were from...

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the actual number of people caught and drugs interdicted are but a small fraction of the total consumer market.

That just means that their enforcement is not effective as per their stated goal. They can still be effective at ruining the lives of a significant percentage of the population simply for choosing to attain an altered state of consciousness or helping others do so.

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A market SR and Bitcoin seem to embrace, despite the low-life thugs and psychopathic killers who populate it.

Utter bullshit. Using Silk Road dramatically lowers the chance of having a drug trade turn violent. Furthermore, its use of reputation, escrow, and arbitration dramatically lowers the chance of fraudulent behavior by either party.

I should have better qualified my comment. Yes the spending is outrageous, it's now over a trillion since Nixon first declared this stupid "war" back in 1972. Most of it a complete waste. Bear in mind the vast majority of drug users, manufactures and distributors go undetected and thus render the law unenforceable by any legitimate measure. That's not to suggest enforcement and imprisonment has not effected many, many people, with a disproportionate number being poor and minorities. This part is, of course, by design.

While I don't suggest SR or Bitcoin would actively participate in acts of overt violence. I still think we need to ask if selling tar heroin to a young teen isn't a from of violence in and of itself?