[ExI] state of conflict technology

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Fri, Jan 10, 2020 at 8:27 AM John Clark via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:


>  Regardless of if the law says a drug is legal or not it's clear that
> nobody fails to become a drug addict because they don't have access to
> drugs with one important exception, people who are physically unable to go
> into the street looking for drugs, people who SHOULD become drug addicts,
> people like terminal cancer patients.
>

### Overall I agree with you but there is one important way in which drug
laws protect some vulnerable people from harming themselves - drug laws
stigmatize drug use, and thus act to deter their use by people concerned
about their social status. Striving lemmings or fearful lemmings pay
attention to what other lemmings do, and no doubt many who could go easily
buy some bath salts actually never do it, because of "what other people
would think if I get caught".

This said, stigma can be generated without using the blood-slicked axe that
is law. Smoking is perfectly legal and incredibly addictive but
nevertheless rapidly becoming less common, in part because of disapproval
at work that forces smokers to huddle outside the building rather than
blissfully inhaling during a business meeting. It's the social aspect of
smoking that made it an epidemic, when smoking was cool, and it's
manipulating the social aspect that made it into a lower-class vice of
little consequence.
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