<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">I'm not sure there's one libertarian agenda -- aside from pushing for the core libertarian principle of non-initiation of force.</SPAN></div>
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<div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">But, in this respect, the strict libertarian view on drug re-legalization is not pragmatic* and it's certainly not about taxing the drug trade. Instead, it's about allowing people to do as they please with their bodies, including injesting chemicals you and others might not approve of.</SPAN></div>
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<div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">Regards,</SPAN></div>
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<div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">Dan</SPAN></div>
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<div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">* Actually, the non-libertarian argument for an end to drug prohibition is that such prohibition doesn't work, makes things worse, and has other side effects. Implied in this view is that drug prohibition would for be fine and dandy if only it worked. In other words, whatever curtailment of freedom one desires is okay as long as one can achieve it. And one merely runs a cost-benefit analysis. That is not a libertarian view of things.<VAR id=yui-ie-cursor></VAR></SPAN></div>
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<DIV style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 0; MARGIN: 5px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 0px; BORDER-TOP: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=hr contentEditable=false readonly="true"></DIV><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy@gmail.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Dan <dan_ust@yahoo.com>; ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Wednesday, July 20, 2011 12:47 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [ExI] Libertarianism wins again...<BR></FONT><BR>2011/7/20 Dan <<A href="mailto:dan_ust@yahoo.com" ymailto="mailto:dan_ust@yahoo.com">dan_ust@yahoo.com</A>>:<BR>> And the drug cartels are creatures of the state. Were it not for the drug<BR>> war
and very strict gun control in Mexico, people wouldn't be killing each<BR>> other in such large numbers over who gets to sell recreational products in<BR>> this or that area.<BR><BR>This is a major point on the libertarian agenda. Get rid of the<BR>prohibition against drugs, and legitimize the cartels as legal<BR>businesses, tax them, and move on trying to educate people not to use<BR>drugs, even though they are now legal. Just as we do with cigarettes<BR>and alcohol. It gets rid of the requirement for guns (how many armed<BR>guards do you see at your local corn field?) and removes an important<BR>profit center from organized crime.<BR><BR>I think we could all agree at least that organized crime is bad... and<BR>it is not a huge difference between the organized crime in Mexico and<BR>Russia, and that in Washington DC... sigh.<BR><BR>-Kelly<BR><BR><BR></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>