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from the stop-treating-medical-issues-as-legal-problems dept.
The old rat-with-drug-laced-water "experiment" is a sham. The only choice the rat in the empty cage has is drinking plain water or drinking drugged water. They never show you a CONTROL where there is a rat with a cage full of cool rat toys and rat friends.
Johann Hari reports via Alternet:
The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection. [...] just 17.7 percent of cigarette smokers are able to stop [smoking by] using nicotine patches.
[...]Nearly 15 years ago, Portugal had one of the worst drug problems in Europe [...] They decided to do something radically different. They resolved to decriminalize all drugs and transfer all the money they used to spend on arresting and jailing drug addicts and spend it instead on reconnecting them--to their own feelings and to the wider society.
[...]The [sic] most crucial step is to get [addicts] secure housing [as well as] subsidized jobs so they have a purpose in life and something to get out of bed for. I watched as they are helped, in warm and welcoming clinics, to learn how to reconnect with their feelings after years of trauma and stunning them into silence with drugs.
[...]An independent study by the British Journal of Criminology found that, since total decriminalization, addiction has fallen and injecting drug use is down by 50 percent.
[...]The main campaigner against the decriminalization back in 2000 was Joao Figueira, the country's top drug cop. He offered all the dire warnings that we would expect: more crime, more addicts; but when we sat together in Lisbon, he told me that everything he predicted had not come to pass--and he now hopes the whole world will follow Portugal's example.
(Score: 2) by pnkwarhall on Friday February 13 2015, @05:35PM
It's pretty obvious to me (and I would hope most people) that biological "descendents" tend to share more of a heritage than just genes. In fact, the word 'descendent' is often used to describe relationships based on the passing down of ideas, traditions or other shared traits in many domains, not just people.
Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday February 13 2015, @05:39PM
I distinguish casual use of descendants from that of progeny. :-)
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by moondrake on Friday February 13 2015, @06:11PM
So..please can you share your views on the current citizens of Australia [wikipedia.org]?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday February 13 2015, @06:16PM
Descendents of those who wouldn't be content under the yoke?
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 1) by BK on Friday February 13 2015, @10:07PM
Not remotely! Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows! And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals...
Classic... [youtube.com]
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Friday February 13 2015, @10:16PM
Let's see, not over fond of titles and other tall poppies. Not over fond of being told what to do. The sort of things that could get you branded (however unfairly) as a criminal at one time.
(Score: 1, Troll) by ikanreed on Friday February 13 2015, @07:34PM
Sure, but the implication was there, and I hope you can I understand how I misunderstood you.
(Score: 2) by pnkwarhall on Saturday February 14 2015, @03:23AM
I understand your point about beliefs (/culture/mores/etc) not being passed down in the same manner as genes. But your use of the word "beliefs" suggests that your referring to something internal to an individual. An individual's belief is, of course, internal to him, but these beliefs tend to be small but contributing parts of much greater wholes. You may maintain that you don't share the POVs of the "extremist" family members you mention, but I would almost guarantee that you share more "beliefs" and cultural similarities w/ one of them than someone picked at random from the world population.
Society/Culture pass on tons of data -- enough that the nature/nurture debate is still very much alive. You're the "progeny" of many people that you don't have a blood connection with, or even know about!
Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven