When doctors let emotions and not science run their brains, then they have abandoned their education!

Supporting prohibition just makes him an accomplice. He supports the criminal enterprise of drug dealing cartels. The, thirty year, war on drugs has failed to decrease supply. The drug war has made the cartels stronger and richer. Eventually it results in cheaper, and easier to obtain, drugs for our high school kids! The war has, also, lead to the deaths of over 5600 people, in Mexico, the past year,and close to, ten thousand in the past three years! Great success story, I’d say!

I guess the recession has been hard on them too…

Hey, it’s not THAT small.

“I don’t use iTunes because of the DRM. Is there any way to specify “Only buy songs that are DRM free”, How do I identify songs which are DRM free in the store (is it just by price)?”

The DRM-free songs are currently identified by a “+” next to the track. I’m pretty sure that every song that is DRM-free is only available as such, but I could be wrong.

I, too, prefer iTunes for the convenience. I also enjoy quite a few podcasts, and eventually want an iPhone for games and apps. Or perhaps just an iPod Touch. It’s just a great interface.

So basically, since (a) there are no people who might use the drugs without abusing them, (b) we don’t care what it costs and (c) any other indirect effects are inconsequential to the benefits the only logical conclusion is to ban drugs.
Sheesh!

Natural Selection is not often denied by government intervention

It’s great. I download the songs, they instantly appear in my WMP. I Sync them to my non-ipod MP3 player, and then I sync the same library from my MP3 player to my work computer for when I’m reviewing documents.

As such, the common utilitarian argument for banning drugs must balance externalities of the drugs on one side (effects on the individual abuser should not be considered, since he or she freely chose to use the drugs in the first place) against (a) the loss of freedom to others who might use the drugs without abusing them; (b) the direct costs of enforcing the prohibition (time and attention of police, prosecutors and judges); and (c) the externalities related to prohibition (organized crime, dead weight loss associated with the increased cost of drugs, associated loss of freedom for everyone in the name of enforcing prohibition, etc.).

In my experience, prohibitionists, without evidence, argue that the set of people described in clause (a) is empty and flatly ignore (b) and (c). They have never carried their burden of persuasion, yet, somehow drug laws were enacted and remain in place because most people just “know” that drugs are bad and no one should be allowed to use them. How you square that with the relatively common use of prescription drugs is beyond my meager reasoning.

Careful Michael Pack: You may be making an argument for banning books. I’m sure if I did enough research I could find at least one moron who was hit by a train or a car whilst reading a book.

Its nice to see our next surgeon general gets his facts from the ONCDP and DEA instead of more reputable sources. That statement, created by our friendly government drug warriors, is a myth and there is no hard proof that it is true. From anecdotal evidence, i would say the exact opposite is true. Most people who smoke pot are very laid back, chill and happy people. Not depressed and anxious drug fiends as Gupta, the DEA and ONDCP would like to have you believe.

Though he may be our next surgeon general, Gupta is a TV doctor with a few articles published in a few medical journals. His career in medicine is far from distinguished. I give him no more respect than i would give some one pretending to be a doctor on a soap opera.

And I dont disagree about The State :) Just thought this smart, charming guy, and an academic could make a solid argument.

And rick Caldwell, I totally agree. I use Rhapsody. Their full albums are just 8.99 and they have a free download of the day every day which, though still nascent, has actually been a bunch of decent songs so far (including the new Tv on the Radio single – rock!)

The only picture of the man that didn’t suggest a profound disconnect between the moods of each side of his face (and that suggested he was actually, well, human) was the official picture of him and his wife with their new grandchild.