Re: The Second American Civil War

Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Sun, 29 Dec 1996 14:03:19 -0500


Kennita Watson wrote:
>
> >I have lived in crack neighborhoods. Most of the problems were do the
> >fact that crack users could not afford their habit. If cocaine were legal
> >it would be dirt cheap and not provoke the robbery, gang warfare, slavery,
> >kidnapping, forced prostitution, crack houses, destruction of
> >neighborhoods, etc. that it does now. [By the way, it is the brutal police
> >raids on "crack houses" that destroys most of the property!]
>
> Crack _is_ dirt cheap. Cocaine may cost hundreds -- crack costs maybe $5
> per "rock" (which I think is a single dose -- it may be more).

It typically about $10 per rock, and that is a single dose, which lasts
between 15 minutes and 2 hours, depending on your sensitivity. So its a
little more than going to a movie...with no real experiences at the end
of it...

The biggest impact that crack has is the impurities are so toxic that
they frequently short circuit the brain, causing losses in IQ. This sort
of damage is in my my the real tragedy, where you have people destroying
themsleves one dose at a time. If it were a commercially available
product, powder coke would be $10 a gram, with fine quality and not
dangerous impurities, as suffficient public standards would ensure
product safety. People would avoid street crack like the plague....
> >
> >People who use too much and go "raving paranoid" would be primarily a
> >danger only to themselves and those who choose to associate with them.
>
> It's not so neat or so fair as that. What about the unfortunate people
> who happen to be on the bus, train, or street, or in the store or post
> office or bank, or wherever such people show up and start shooting
> everybody in sight? Also, you may underestimate the strength of bonds
> of love (familial and romantic), of codependency, even of friendship.
> "It's their own fault" is disturbingly easy to say.
>

This is where the substance is being blamed for the shortcomings in the
familial relationships. If they weren't screwed up to begin with,
substance abuse would not be a problem.

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!

Michael Lorrey --------------------------------------------------------- President retroman@tpk.net Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/ --------------------------------------------------------- Inventor, Webmaster, Ski Guide, Entrepreneur, Artist, Outdoorsman, Libertarian, Certified Genius.