We have two pieces of evidence to offer, at two ends of the scale, from morons who can’t seem to grasp that legalization is actually a way to end the problems of the drug war, and so they reach deep inside themselves (apparently from the backside) to find a “solution.”
Exhibit 1: A Freshman at SMU. “Michael Dearman is a first year majoring in the pursuit of truth and the overthrow of systems”
Clearly he hasn’t found it yet.
We, American drug market fuel international war on drugs
It is generally common knowledge that there is a drug war going on in Mexico.
Cartels run rampant through the entire country, making unfath-omable sums of money from the drug trade. None of these drug cartels would exist if there was not a market for the illicit substances they sell.
We are their market. You see, America has a drug problem. No matter where you go, whether it is on the SMU campus or to the poorest neighborhoods in the United States, there will be drugs. […]
In particular, marijuana use is extremely high. By the time students graduate from high school 42 percent will have tried marijuana, says the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This is where the cartels come in. Marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines enter from the southern border and make their way to your home. […]
It is easy to ignore these deaths when we refuse to make the connection between our habits and the livelihood of others. What if a human face is put on the issue? Then it is much harder to ignore the facts. There are plenty of SMU students that are Mexican nationals with families in Mexico who are day in and day out affected by the drug war. […]
Every time someone offers you a hit, pulls out a bong or asks you to buy from them, there should be a constant reminder of the blood it took to put those drugs in your hands. Smoking marijuana is more than just a habit that is debated in Congress or in the student forum, it changes the lives of people, real people, with real lives.
And every time you take a drink, you have the blood on your hands from those alcohol cartels…. Oh, wait. Never mind.
Exhibit 2: A merchant of death by the name of Li Yuehu — an alum of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nations should take no prisoners in the war on drugs
No, he’s not advocating reducing our prison population by legalizing. He’s actually suggesting that we should kill them instead.
Proximity to powerful Mexican and other drug cartels has been a constant headache for the US for decades. But countries like Singapore and China are also close to the infamous Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent. Yet the situation there seems different. […]
But perhaps another factor is that capital punishment awaits drug traffickers in China. And Singapore greets visitors with a friendly message on their entry card that says “Warning, death for drug traffickers under Singapore Law” in nice bold red ink.
Indeed, Southeast Asia has some of the harshest laws on drug crimes. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are the other countries in the region that enforce to various degrees the death penalty for drug trafficking. […]
I am no law expert by any stretch, but the way the laws are written seems predicated on the concept of a life for a life. Lets ponder that for a moment.
When we spare the lives of those who peddle and smuggle illegal drugs again and again, are we indirectly extinguishing the lives of others? […]
In every war, there are casualties. For anyone who is foolish enough to defend this way of life, there is an unspoken appreciation of the potential to pay the ultimate price. Perhaps society should not stand in their way.
One wonders why Li Yuehu chooses to live in San Francisco, instead of one of those wonderful countries whose murdering governments he admires so much.
Fuck me.
He’s basically arguing that we adopt an oppressive regime of extermination.
Lin Yuehu can go jerk his 1 inch dick to his underage tentacle rape porn. Afterwards he can go deport his robotic ass back to the backwards Orwellian paradise he came from. Civilized societies don’t need genocidal ROBOTS like him.
@ Peter,
As you rightly point out, ‘Prohibition’ is the disease and the antidote is ‘Liberalisation’, not ‘War on Drugs’ policies. I would argue, however, that there are at least two instances in which calling the attention to the demand for drugs is entirely appropriate.
On the one hand, those who are against liberalisation, or are unable to view it as a solution, do believe that the root of the problem is the supply of drugs. In their minds, therefore, when it comes to explaining the current state of affairs regarding the ‘drug problem’ and how to deal with it, their demand for drugs is just a marginal, incidental factor. For those people, the War on Drugs is an article of faith. So, making the point for the demand is a way of calling their bluff.
On the other hand, even among those who believe, for genuine or pragmatic reasons, in liberalisation, there are people who believe that it is all well and good to liberalise the demand for drugs, but the supply should and must remain illegal. To see how at odds these two views are, just look at current depenalisation or decriminalisation policies and legislation in countries such as The Netherlands, Spain or Portugal. In this case, making the point for the demand reveals how inconsistent and contradictory their position is.
It seems to me that both instances clearly illustrate the fact that the debate on drugs is still surrounded by a thick cloud of hypocrisy, cynicism and self-interest.
Gart Valenc
http://www.stopthewarondrugs.org
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Is there any point in posting a comment on Mr. Li’s story? I’m presuming that unless one grovels in agreement to his idiocy that the comment would be censored. I’ve got to admit I’d like him to explain the long line of people waiting to be executed in these countries that have “solved” their (some) drugs “problem”, and the prevalence of drunken people. Gosh, who wouldn’t want their country to be swimming with drunken drivers?
http://shanghaiist.com/2009/08/25/shanghai_is_swimming_with_drunk_dri.php
Oh well, fortunately I don’t have to worry about it one way or the other.
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I’ve just realized I may never be able to enjoy a drink of Yoohoo again. Damn you Mr. Li.
http://ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com/files/2009/02/yoohoomartini.jpg
Dearman’s article is the more breathtaking for
totally missing the point. He almost touches on the horrors of the drug war with “Smoking marijuana is more than just a habit that is debated in Congress or in the student forum, it changes the lives of people, real people, with real lives.” Yes, real people are affected by it, and not just Mexican people. Real people, good people with real jobs and real families, are crushed every day by law enforcement and the judicial system, their lives ruined forever. Mr Dearman evidently thinks that this is how things ought to be done.
Logic doesn’t exist to these people. I had to experience this firsthand yesterday. I know everything I need to know about drugs and drug policy to win over any rational, logical thinking person, but when my mom was going on about how “doing drugs” (drugs being defined by how scary and illegal they are) is going to get me killed and how wrong it is, I have nothing. Every time I reached for a logical argument I could see her just start to tune it out. I eventually had to hug her because she looked liked she was going to start crying and tell her I would stop smoking weed, even though I can smoke legally under state law, can buy it directly from growers or from a storefront, and could smoke it in the safety of our home if only she would allow it. It doesn’t matter that she has no legitimate argument against it, because it’s drugs and 30 years of propaganda has brainwashed her so that they scare the hell out of her. I’ve noticed that how my parents respond to the fact that I smoke weed is kind of a mirror image of what society at large does.
But anyway, I chose to always be honest where most people would just lie and hide their drug use to my parents, because I have all the facts, all the correct arguments. But that doesn’t matter to a hysterical, emotional mother. It’s as impossibly difficult as you’d imagine it would be.
Hear you Chris. Nice attempt at getting your mom to see the light. I’d suggest not discussing it with her for a long while though, go silent. We, meaning those who want to see the war on drugs ended, have got to pick our battles wisely.
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While my parents were living I was always honest with them about my cannabis use. Yes, from the first time I tried it. Had I ever promised to quit enjoying cannabis though, that would have made me a liar. After awhile, they at least tacitly accepted reality.
The only time I seriously considered quitting was after getting popped in 1989. I knew they were going to make me do so, so I went looking for facts to support my decision, i.e. finding out about the proven dangers. I expect most here know what I found instead. For those who don’t know what I found, I’m still enjoying cannabis. I’m still willing to quit when I find some real proof that it’s what they claim it is, but I’m sure as heck not holding my breath waiting on the evidence, LOL.
We in the Netherlands can smoke or not we all have jobs our death rates are much lower then US in fact we are closing some
of our prisons,as one who has lived in US NY & NJ I think the
problem is your black people (the poorer ones)really don’t like
white people this cause’s crime,read on internet “crime and race
in America”we don’t really have that problem here.
So I don’t think weed is the problem its a social problem.
Idiot.
Johan, You wrote: “I think the problem is your black people (the poorer ones) really don’t like white people, this cause’s crime.”
You appear to be claiming the following: The violence surrounding the illegal market in drugs is caused by Blacks hating Whites as opposed to the violence being caused by the dynamics of prohibition.
Would you please provide the evidence in support of this rather striking statement.
BTW; are you aware of the racial disparities in convictions and sentencing due mostly to prohibition?
Let’s look at those statistics together shall we:
(2008 – illicit drug use by race) Current illicit drug use among persons aged 12 or older varied by race/ethnicity in 2008, with the lowest rate among Asians (3.6 percent) (Figure 2.9). Rates were 14.7 percent for persons reporting two or more races, 10.1 percent for blacks, 9.5 percent for American Indians or Alaska Natives, 8.2 percent for whites, 7.3 percent of Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, and 6.2 percent for Hispanics.”
That’s 8.2% of whites and 10.1% of blacks using illicit drugs. Now look at the incarceration statistics:
(2007 – incarceration rate by race) “The custody incarceration rate for black males was 4,618 per 100,000.
while the incarceration rate of white males was 773 per 100,000.
This means that there are at least 5 times more blacks incarcerated for drug offenses than should be expected. This is clearly a gross injustice!
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/64
Granted, the racial disparities could well cause many blacks to hate what they perceive to be the “white oppressors” but I’m sure that the majority of us don’t think that this same community is responsible for the violence that is clearly engendered by the failed and dangerous policy of prohibition.
Thank you very much, Malcolm. I was trying to find the words to say just that, but all I could type were obscenities. I finally had to delete and just go with “idiot”.
I HAPPEN TO NOT LIKE WHITE PEOPLE EITHER…
I dont like black, browns, reds, orange, blue pink purple poka dots…
I think humanity is just stupid period.
We shit in the waters we drink. kill our children. Enslave our brothers through a mulitiude of laws no one can follow, believe changing weather is a sign we are doomed….shall I go on?
Humanity ….ya ok.
OMG ! These are our future leaders?! Freedom and this republic is in grave danger indeed! Do these people realize they would be condeming there own friends..their own family members…their children…future children..grandchildren. How blind you all are. you can never grarentee drugs wont be available to them. There have been drug since the begining and there will always be drugs. You can burn this planet to a cinder and plants will return.
How blind to the bigger picture you are.
If you dont like the fact there are drugs in AMerica…move to one of those countries!
By the way…there ARE drugs there tooo!
… and we do have a death penalty for drugs here… ask Peter McWilliams, Donald Scott (oops! he didn’t have any drugs), Charity and Veronica Bowers (oops! they didn’t have any), Patrick Dorismond (oops! he didn’t have any), Accelyne Williams (oops!…), Kathryn Johnston (oops!…)…
Question to moron #1 what if you grow your own? Neuter #2 this would make this person less MEAN.
and the folks in Pete’s post turn into these folks:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n118/a02.html
I agree with Michael Dearman.That’s not to say that legalization shouldn’t or won’t happen, but consumers do have a responsibility to consider the costs of the drugs they’re taking.Whether this compels them to do anything about changing the laws or changing their behavior, is a personal choice, but drugs are not fair-trade, and contributing to the demand is contributing to the violence. As for the other dude, well…yeah…he’s an idiot.
oh really?
Please explain
“but drugs are not fair-trade, and contributing to the demand is contributing to the violence”
Befuzzled, following your logic: If we were foolish enough to prohibit alcohol again, we could blame the consumers for the aftermath and not our own foolish attempt to implement a policy which we know will have a disastrous outcome.
You have a very interesting way of looking at things. You’re not Dutch as well are you?
“When our own students and friends are hurt because of the drug use that our culture glorifies”
It’s the War on Drugs that glorifies the use.
Legalize, period.
Tempted to say more but I won’t, done arguing with little people who don’t know their arse from a hole in the ground.
Befuzzled, it may make you feel better to personally refrain from using drugs because of the violence connected to the trade, but don’t delude yourself that such an act will have any effect on the trade or the violence. There’s no practical way to get the demand lowered enough to have an impact, whereas legalization will greatly solve the problem. So if you are personally refraining from using drugs without pushing for legalization, you’re actually contributing to the violence.
It’s interesting that you talk about Fair Trade. One of the products that we often think about when we talk about Fair Trade is the dependency-producing drug coffee. When people started being concerned about how coffee was being produced in terms of social and environmental standards, they didn’t (unless they were stupid) tell the world “Stop drinking coffee. It’s produced in a way that isn’t Fair Trade.” No, they rightly realized that such a notion would be ignored by coffee drinkers. Instead, they built up a Fair Trade system of producing coffee and then worked on convincing coffee drinkers to switch to the Fair Trade version. Much more effective.
If a legalized approach to drugs offered consumers a choice between Fair Trade produced drugs and those promoted by criminal cartels, there would be an incredible rush to partake in Fair Trade certified.
This is why suggesting that drug users take responsibility for the evils of prohibition is an empty and false choice. It provides no benefit and can delude people into thinking they’re helping a problem when they’re not.
fair points, well made.
Befuzzled? Our government is contributing to the violence and deaths. Its very obvious people are not going to stop using drugs of any kind, yet government still supports the very laws that enrich drug cartels and allows them to work with Hamas and other other enemies of the US. Our government is obligated to change how they do things because what they are doing is not stopping drug use or drug trade. They either have to start shooting to kill all drug users or change the laws… the former is not recomended in a free republic if it is to remain a ‘free’ republic.
So please befuzzled, rethink this.
You’re most welcome DC!
I was also very tempted to start throwing suchlike epithets. I even know how to do it really well in Dutch, which usually entails wishing several contagious or deadly diseases on your opponent. You can’t begin to imagine how strong the temptation was ;>)
to explain: it’s the basics of supply and demand. The traffickers sell, because there is demand. There is demand, because consumers in the US want drugs. Sure, the violence exists because of prohibition, and because of all of the problems that come with an illegal black market trade in countries where the profits are high, and lives are cheap, and sure, they have to produce more than necessary because of seizures, and sure, it would all be better if it were legal, but none of it would be happening if people in the US (or other consumer countries) weren’t buying drugs. Therefore, contributing to the demand is contributing to the violence. I don’t buy paper from unsustainable wood supplies, because I’m concerned about illegal logging. Obviously, there’s not an equivalent ethical alternative for drugs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ignore the social impact of your choices as a consumer.
“none of it would be happening if people in the US (or other consumer countries) weren’t buying drugs. Therefore, contributing to the demand is contributing to the violence.”
While you’re asking the Tooth Fairy to stop people taking drugs, the rest of us who don’t believe in fairies have decided it may be a better proposition to regulate them properly.
“I don’t buy paper from unsustainable wood supplies, because I’m concerned about illegal logging. Obviously, there’s not an equivalent ethical alternative for drugs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ignore the social impact of your choices as a consumer.”
As Pete just pointed out to you; “suggesting that drug users take responsibility for the evils of prohibition is an empty and false choice. It provides no benefit and can delude people into thinking they’re helping a problem when they’re not.”
What is it you don’t understand about failure?
I do believe that legalization is the best approach, and I’m not asking anyone to stop taking drugs- each to their own and all that. I’m just suggesting that maybe if people thought about the consequences of their actions, or the wider implications of their actions, they’d be more inclined to actively participate in the debate? Everyone on this blog clearly thinks and cares a lot about these issues, and hopefully is active in promoting some kind of change for the better. But there are a lot of happy drug users (and some unhappy ones as well I’m sure) who are naively oblivious to or ignorant of the wider harms caused by the war on drugs, and their role in that as consumers.
Befuzzled:I’m just suggesting that maybe if people thought about the consequences of their actions, or the wider implications of their actions, they’d be more inclined to actively participate in the debate
Lol, people have decided. Either they could care less about what their’demand’ does to the rest of the world around them or people have deciced they care about it and have decided to force government to change the laws so theri demand is not harming anyone. How is this not clear? Grow your own weed and no one profits or dies from it. Hard drugs? they also can be made right here in the USA. Problem solved for the most part. Yes there WILL be drug trade world wide, but we can effect drug trade in our part of the world by responsible actions in regulation and legalization.
Sorry to say but you sound like a prohib trying to argue his view is right by using our view(reformers)on drug policies.
But what’s that got to do with the price of tea in China? Arguing personal responsibility of drug consumers is merely a semantic game and a distraction. We have been telling people for years to “just say no”, we have been fighting the war on drugs since the 60s, we threaten people with incarceration, losing their job, losing their children, heavy fines and even civil forfeiture of their belongings. And thru all this Americans STILL use drugs! Therefore talking about consumers causing violence in Mexico is beyond pointless because it is something we obviously can do nothing about. There IS something we CAN do to end the violence though, legalize the production, distribution, and possession of drugs thereby taking the business out of the cartels’ hands and taking away the whole purpose for the violence. (By the way, not that it matters but, I use no illegal drugs so I am not excusing my own behavior)
Four days before the ‘Take No Prisoners’, plea for all nations to adopt capital punishment as a culture war tactic, the Global Times had some good news to report in the business section. The Chinese pharmaceutical sector is about to receive just under $780 million in an effort to boost “total export volume of more than $4 billion.â€
http://business.globaltimes.cn/industries/2011-02/624416.html
Allegedly, China already produces most of the world’s ‘active pharmaceutical ingredients’, although because of the inferior quality of their product, the majority of these drugs have to be exported to Africa.
The lesson here kids is: If nobody cares for your product uptown, you can always build your empire on the fiends down in the pit.
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It is untrue that there is no “fair trade” cannabis. At least 30% of those who enjoy cannabis never touch cartel brick weed, and know precisely where their cannabis originated. Calling cannabis “Mexican” is a significant denigration in Northern California. From San Jose north there is very, very little cartel brick weed to be found.
Just because someone has never seen an ad or documentation of “fair trade” cannabis doesnt mean that it doesn’t exist.
Befuzzled and Johan personify the Dumb and Dumberer in Pete’s post.
Yeah Fuck me too,Hey Eric Arthur Blair known has George Orwell
come back baby from the grave or where ever the HEll you and Bitch slap This not his one inch but this Dickless Jerk out of Extermination Tendencies until He gets a well needed Paradigm Shift.
These Idiot Jerks solutions are beyond Barbaric are not just anti-Drug they anti-medicine of the Future,.which encompasses Hormone Therapy,Nutrition,Mushrooms,LSD Ectasy being studied now at Harvard for Depression and other Ailments,
These guys are like Flat Earthers, Wake Up besides Nana-technolgy Etc , Brain Chemicals being used to keep Folks young,better Muscle toned, Cancer Free,and Pain Free.
Cannabis medicine of past and future,God its like we are going back to Salem and lets
Hang all the Witches and Undesirables that threaten profound Ignorance in folks about drug use,that they are oblivious too.
Think about it why is America so creative and smart EXCEPT FOR pRO-HIBS, maybe it the huge variety of chemicals we ingest,yes addiction is bummer,why do so many use drugs we are a curious and industrious bunch it Drugs offers some relief and sanity from the likes of Li. attitudes and Michael
Sometimes, Occam’s Razor can cut into the hands of those wielding it…when they’re not careful in their assumptions.
Or as the late, great social critic HL Mencken put it: “For every complex problem there is a simple solution… and it is wrong.”
When one examines the history of any chemical prohibitions, one finds essentially two camps demanding it. The first are usually the earnest, blinkered altruists who believe themselves to be ‘better’ than those whose conduct they seek to control.
The second, more dangerous sorts are those who share no such beliefs but desire the control that the first group seeks to attain, and thus they make common cause with the first group out of self-interest.
Both groups are responsible for the mess prior to any purchases having been made.
So, you have to ask: who’s more responsible for the carnage? The ones who buy, or the ones who made that commerce criminal to begin with?
Clearly, it’s demand that drives this war, and it’s UP TO SANTA CLAUS to remove it. All of you poor deluded saps blaming the tooth fairy for a decision that clearly rests with Father Christmans can get f**KED.
The tooth fairy is an innocent victim.
And the Easter Bunny, Too!
How can you blame em Johan,
I don’t like white people either.
Just happened to be stuck in one’s body.
We’re born pink and then we bleed red,
choke us and we turn blue,
not really white.
Randy Raunchy Hearse first hated Asians and stigmatized them as opiate heads to the point of gaining the title from Pulitzer as king of “Yellow Journalism” Yellow pertaining to the mostly Chinese immigrants building the roads and railways. Then it was Cocaine and blacks. Same lines used by Rayguns Boosh about pcp, making darkies 10 times stronger. Then it was booze until the farmers gave up their ethanol and started crude oil after the repeal. Then Dupont crude oil fibers removed Hemp and the new Pharmaceutical Cartels pushed out Ganja as a deterrent to Mexicans. Hearse had as many Nazi’s at San Simeon as were in Berlin bunkers. Also industry tycoons the same as any modern think-tank. Planning wars to profit on. Planning staging and “coup”ing. All I wanted to do was smoke a joint without fear of persecution 40 years ago. Who knew it takes such an enormous expensive infrastructure just for lil ole me staying sober. They must really really care. What a wonderful country.
DdC Cybrary & Gallery
CENSORSHIP
Afghanistan, the CIA, bin Laden, and the Taliban
“But there are a lot of happy drug users (and some unhappy ones as well I’m sure) who are naively oblivious to or ignorant of the wider harms caused by the war on drugs, and their role in that as consumers.”
My dear Befuzzled, how many times do you need to be reminded of Pete’s very adequate and wise response to your suchlike statements?
Anyway, for you to ignore and the rest of us to admire, here it is again:
“suggesting that drug users take responsibility for the evils of prohibition is an empty and false choice. It provides no benefit and can delude people into thinking they’re helping a problem when they’re not.â€
Keep the nickname; it quite suits you!
Read Allans Link to : US mt oped “Nighmare of Medical Marijuana Threatens kIDS: WHOA, THEY deserve a bIG PROPAGANDA Award for propulgating the most Bullcrap in a small OPED.
I shudder to think Hubby and I almost moved theretoMontana a few years ago.I know one day I will escape the Dead Zone of Utah, even though Beautiful State,They Propulgate non-sense on the hour,every hour, Good Grief.
Looking at article they worried about so many young folks doing Pot, call me crazy but I’d rather have kids Smoking Grass than doing tons of Ritalin,a legal form of Speed, Yeah maybe its an outdated saying but remember Posters back in Seventies Speed Kills, If I was parent of youngsters I’d rather they do Cannabis than Ritalin regularly.
Oh yes I’m not completely knocking Ritalin it works great for some folks,but I would rather Adults use it than teens if really needed.Here is Link to article showing some switches from Ritalin and used Marijuana with better results
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may012009/adhd_pl_5-1-09.php
I dont know, maybe its me folks…but there seems to be a be wave of idiocy sweeping this nation. 2+2 just doesnt equal 4 to many folks for some reason.
What do those on Petes couch say?
Yes, and you have legal alternatives which are readily found. You might have a valid point if everyone had the choice of where to buy. Yes, I said above that fair trade cannabis exists, but you have to know where it is because you can’t look up alternative vendors in the yellow pages. Well except in California, and we see that people like non-cartel weed so much more than that nasty Mexican that they’ll pay $250 a year to avoid the possibility of a getting a civil fine of $100 once every 3 1/2 decades or so. Not even the most brain dead people would prefer to cough up $8,250 over 33 years to avoid a $100 fine.
Trying to talk people into quitting partaking of cannabis for enjoyment because those who do buy cartel weed are responsible for the violence actually cause by prohibition is absurd in the extreme.
An equivalent notion is that in order to cure global warming/cooling/climate change whatever the politically correct choice is nowadays, retrofitting the planet with thrusters in order to manipulate the distance from the earth to the sun is a valid potential solution. After all, if the Sun were just a little bit closer/farther away we could eliminate the hypothetical potential damage caused by man made carbon dioxide and cow farts.
Too warm, icecaps melting? Move the Earth a bit further away from the Sun. Too chilly? Move the planet closer. Just right? Oh well it looks like we wasted money on this boondoggle but at least we helped stimulate the economy.
Let’s not forget to mention that we do get to keep those really cool planet standard thrusters that we installed. How many planets in the universe have installed thrusters? Hey, maybe we could install one of those hydraulic bouncing thingies. We’ll win every planet show that we attend. We’ll be the envy of the galaxy because of how we’ve pimped our ride.
http://www.boomclips.com/videos.aspx/video~dancing_hydraulic_car/Dancing_Hydraulic_Car/Funny_videos/
When we spare the lives of those who peddle and smuggle illegal drugs again and again, are we indirectly extinguishing the lives of others?
No, asshole. People get to choose to fuck up their own lives or not. You cannot blame the purveyor of a product for the stupid things users of said product may do with it. I could easily poison myself with a bottle of aspirin right now if I chose to. Should the clerk who sold it to me be executed?
I really hate the attitude that every life that could possibly be saved should be by some sort of government action. Some people don’t want to save, and sometimes it is nobody else’s goddamn business.