Melanie Phillips writes:
One of the most striking things about the Ipswich prostitutes was that drug addiction — as often as not starting with cannabis— led them straight into the trade that in turn led them to their terrible end.No, that's not the argument made by proponents of legalisation; it is generally along the lines that when consensual activities between adults are prohibited, more harm than good is done.
This has caused some to conclude that both illegal drugs and the prostitution trade should be legalised. Quite apart from the fact that prostitution itself is legal, this is based on the utterly misguided belief that if sordid and destructive illegal activities are legalised and regulated, the damage they do will be minimised.
She goes on:
The idea that legalising drugs would get rid of crime is simply risible. Legal drugs would always be undercut — both by lower prices and higher strengths — by a black market.This is impressively stupid. The only valid comparisons here are alcohol and tobacco and both exist on the black market in Britain purely because they are available cheaper twenty miles away from Dover, across the channel in vast warehouses in France. There is no black market in illegally made booze or fags - though prohibition would ensure that this developed.
1 comment:
You don't sound like a supporter of prohibition but if anyone proposes it for the UK, just tell them to study the results of the US prohibition. It lead to an incrase in the alcohol levels of booze, lead to the consolidation of little gangs into massive criminal gangs and a general disregard for law. One of my grandfathers made bathtub gin (he was trying to support his family) and my other grandfather rowed from Detriot Michigan to Canada and back with a case or two of canadian whiskey on foggy nights. He quit this when the criminals made it too dangerous (he was trying to support his family also). Who benefits from a prohibition? Those who chase and catch smugglers and lawyers on both sides of the issue!
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