# If Republicans only care about the rich... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 6, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759 "2011-08-06T18:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/141 "2011-08-09T21:07:03Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > This is typical of left-wing thinking. You just invented a ‘right to know’, which actually isn’t a right but a restriction on my rights. My ‘right to know what’s in the drug I take’ is actually my lack of a right to take the drug until YOU have decided that I have the information I need. Today I learned that information an infringement upon rights. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/142 "2011-08-09T21:11:59Z")
Gosh, Sam, I don’t know where we would find such a person in a crowd like this. I mean, someone who has actually smoked weed over a thirty year period? Could such a person type? But this: > [@](#): > > …This is typical of left-wing thinking. You just invented a ‘right to know’, which actually isn’t a right but a restriction on my rights. My ‘right to know what’s in the drug I take’ is actually my lack of a right to take the drug until YOU have decided that I have the information I need… He didn’t say anything about forbidding you to have it. Simply said you should know what it was, and what it would do. Period. Full stop. The rest is your own extrapolation and suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/143 "2011-08-09T22:24:47Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Gosh, Sam, I don’t know where we would find such a person in a crowd like this. I mean, someone who has actually smoked weed over a thirty year period? Could such a person type? Care to answer the question? In that totally unregulated market, is the quality of weed going up or down? Do you hear about people being killed by poisoned weed? > [@](#): > > He didn’t say anything about forbidding you to have it. Simply said you should know what it was, and what it would do. Period. Full stop. The rest is your own extrapolation and suggestion. Huh? If he wasn’t talking about a regulation, then it was a total non-sequitur. When someone from your side of the aisle says, “you have the RIGHT to know that you’re safe from the company’s product. You have a RIGHT to know what’s in it.”, it’s totally fair to think that they’re talking about safety regulation and information disclosure laws - especially in a discussion talking about government regulation vs market forces. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/144 "2011-08-09T23:45:53Z")
The Republican ascendancy that really began in 1980 cannot be attributed to benefits most Americans have received from Republican economic policies. Since 1980 real after tax income for eighty percent of the American population has declined, even as it has increased dramatically for the richest one percent. [http://investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=971&mn=389436&pt=msg&mid=10153698](http://investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=971&mn=389436&pt=msg&mid=10153698) Nevertheless, from 1960 to 1970 the crime rate doubled. During this time liberal Democrats told the American people that punishment was ineffectual in reducing crime, but that reducing poverty would cut crime. During this decade poverty declined because of a broadly based economic expansion, and because of War on Poverty programs. The prison population declined. Since 1980 poverty has increased, but the crime rate has declined, because the prison population has tripled. > **[United States Crime Rates 1960 t0 2019](https://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm)** > > United States crime statistics, United States , United States rape, United States murder, United States property crime, United States crime index, United States violent crime, violent crime in State, United States burglary, United States vehicle... [http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/issues/lawenforcement/punishment.pdf](http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/issues/lawenforcement/punishment.pdf) On issues of crime and punishment most of the voters trust the Republicans rather than the Democrats. They should. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/145 "2011-08-09T23:57:03Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > This is typical of left-wing thinking. You just invented a ‘right to know’, which actually isn’t a right but a restriction on my rights. My ‘right to know what’s in the drug I take’ is actually my lack of a right to take the drug until YOU have decided that I have the information I need. > > If I truly have a right to take that drug, then I have the right to take it whether or not you think it’s a good idea, or whether or not you think the company that made it jumped through the right hoops. Apparently you want a return to the days of the Snake Oil salesmen. They offered “medicine” when, in fact, there was very little to no medicinal effect. Often the remedies were toxic. But hey, at least you have your right to be fooled intact. > [@](#): > > Contrary to what is often believed, many patent medicines did, in fact, deliver the promised results, albeit with very dangerous ingredients. For example, medicines advertised as “infant soothers” contained opium, and those advertised as “catarrh snuff” contained cocaine. While various herbs, touted or alluded to, were talked up in the advertising, their actual effects often came from procaine extracts, or grain alcohol. Those containing opiates were at least effective in relieving pain, though they could result in addiction. This hazard was sufficiently well known that many were advertised as causing none of the harmful effects of opium (though many of those so advertised actually did contain opium). In the case of medicines for “female complaints”, the principal “complaint” that the medicine was intended to treat was early pregnancy[citation needed]; such products contained abortifacients[citation needed], such as pennyroyal, tansy and savin. > > Until the twentieth century alcohol was the most controversial ingredient, for it was widely recognised that the “medicines” could continue to be sold for their alleged curative properties even in prohibition states and counties. Many of the medicines were in fact liqueurs of various sorts, flavoured with herbs said to have medicinal properties. Peruna was a famous “Prohibition tonic,” weighing in at around 18% grain alcohol. A nostrum known as “Jamaican ginger” was ordered to change its formula by Prohibition officials. To fool a chemical test some vendors added a toxic chemical, cresyl phosphate, an organophosphate compound that had effects similar to a nerve agent. Unwary imbibers suffered a form of paralysis that came to be known as jake-leg. Some included laxatives such as senna or diuretics, in order to give the compounds some obvious medical effects. The narcotics and stimulants at least had the virtue of making the people who took them feel better, and in the eyes of the advertisers this was scored as a “cure.” > > Clark Stanley, the “Rattlesnake King”, produced Stanley’s snake oil, publicly processing rattlesnakes at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His liniment, when seized and tested by the federal government in 1917, was found to contain mineral oil, 1% fatty oil, red pepper, turpentine and camphor. This is not too unlike modern capsaicin and camphor liniments. > > When journalists and physicians began focusing on the narcotic contents of the patent medicines, some of their makers began substituting acetanilide, a particularly toxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, discovered in 1886, for the laudanum they used to contain. This ingredient change probably killed more of the nostrum’s users than the narcotics did, since the acetanilide was toxic to the liver and kidneys. > > SOURCE: [Patent medicine - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_medicine) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/146 "2011-08-10T00:03:22Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > If I truly have a right to take that drug, then I have the right to take it whether or not you think it’s a good idea, or whether or not you think the company that made it jumped through the right hoops. I would also say that if certain (currently) illicit drugs were legalized that the government would likewise mandate that when someone sells you, say, cocaine of a certain purity that it is, in fact, cocaine of that purity and does not contain toxic substances used to cut it (as happened recently in California that [caused user’s skin to rot](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2006653/Cocaine-streets-New-York-L-A-cut-animal-deworm-drug-cause-skin-ROT.html)). Indeed avoiding such problems is one of the arguments for legalization. The government would regulate it. Lots of things that are bad for us are legal and you are welcome to choose to partake of it but you should know what it is you are taking is as advertised. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/147 "2011-08-10T00:33:32Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > …Since 1980 poverty has increased, but the crime rate has declined, because the prison population has tripled… There is little in the American prison system for a civilized nation to take pride in. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/148 "2011-08-10T01:36:02Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > There is little in the American prison system for a civilized nation to take pride in. I think we should take pride in the fact that the high incarceration rate in the United States has reduced the crime rate. The liberal approach to crime was an obvious failure. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/149 "2011-08-10T02:04:28Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > I think we should take pride in the fact that the high incarceration rate in the United States has reduced the crime rate. Good point. By that way of thinking if we were more aggressive in imprisoning Wall Street types and bankers and elected officials we’ll have a damn near perfect society. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/150 "2011-08-10T03:52:55Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > There’s a very large fight going on within the Republican party between the social conservatives and the fiscal conservatives. There’s a third group who is socially conservative but recognizes that fiscal issues matter the most and social conservative issues should be de-politicized in the interests of growing a coalition to fight bigger government. I don’t know which side is going to win yet. I think the fiscal conservatives and the libertarians are on the upswing at the moment, but there are a lot of big players in the social conservative movement who have a lot of clout. We’ll see. If there’s infighting between the socials and the fiscals, I haven’t heard much about it. They typically seem to be one and the same. When I started hearing about the tea party it was all about fiscal issues, which didn’t bother me much, but it wasn’t long at all before those same groups were yelling and carrying on about all of the same social issues taken up by the religious right. > [@](#): > > On the other hand, if you think people have a right to use drugs if they see fit, how do you justify the FDA’s control of the prescription drug market? Don’t I have just as much right to take an experimental drug for my cancer as I do to smoke weed for my Glaucoma? I am pro-legalization of all drugs, but I haven’t given much thought to the whole issue of access to powerful prescription drugs. I would like to see the power taken out of the hands of the pharmaceutical companies and lobbyists, and see the truth come out. Right now, it seems to be legal for them to exaggerate the benefits and downplay the side effects of all these prescription drugs, and that’s BS in every way. > [@](#): > > Unless you do any of the things THEY don’t like. Both sides are hypocritical. Both are trying to exert control over the public. They just choose different areas in which to do it. Michelle Bachmann doesn’t want gays to marry. Michael Bloomberg doesn’t want to allow you the choice of whether you want trans-fats in your diet. Republicans don’t want you to have an abortion, and Democrats don’t want to allow you to hire non-union workers or have a choice in what school your kid goes to. Bloomberg is trying to take away our choice to eat trans-fats? Cite? And I’m not aware of democrats being against us choosing where our children go to school. So I’d be interested in a cite for that as well. Basically, I think there’s a huge difference in taking away a woman’s bodily autonomy and fighting for fair working conditions. The two things aren’t even in the same universe, IMO. It amazes me how republicans have been critical of Michelle Obama’s healthy kids inititative (or whatever it’s called). They act like her encouraging a good diet and physcial activity is a socialist plot to control us and take away our junk food. I can’t find any fault with what she’s been doing, because it seems like a much-needed, and very positive plan. I guess the republicans don’t remember that Laura Bush’s cause was literacy, and implemented programs to encourage learning and education. I don’t remember anyone calling that a socialist plot, or assuming it was somehow an insult to those who can’t read. Both first ladies had good motives in doing these things, but someone always has to make it out to be more sinister than it really is. And that’s the stuff that gets under my skin. > [@](#): > > That article is a bigoted smear written by someone who doesn’t understand what the true self-interest of the right is. For many of us, it’s not about seeing how big a slice of the pie we can extract from the government. My self-interest lies in making sure that freedom from government interference in our lives is maximized and that my daughter grows up in a country where she doesn’t have to get approval from a government flunkey before she blows her nose, in exchange for being given unearned financial security. You can call it what you want, but there are tons of people who are just like the man described in this article. My state is full of people who feel this way, and blame every societal ill on the “other.” I don’t believe it’s in the interest of the poor and middle class to vote for a party that is consumed with fighting for the richest of the rich. They are more worried about tax breaks for their rich buddies than they are about the tens of thousands of people in this country who can’t even go to the doctor when they get sick. They don’t want to give us affordable, accessible healthcare. They don’t want to put money into our schools. And they have wet dreams about taking away any and all social programs that they don’t like (which seems to be all of them). I have a hard time seeing how voting for republicans serves these folks in any positive way at all. > [@](#): > > The Tea Party is marching for smaller government and more personal autonomy. . Except for that whole abortion thing. And trying to force their “christian” principles on the rest of us. And don’t think by me saying this that I’m 100% for the democrats either. I, like many others, have been voting for the lesser of the evils for as long as I can remember. But it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/151 "2011-08-10T03:59:42Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > I think we should take pride in the fact that the high incarceration rate in the United States has reduced the crime rate. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/152 "2011-08-10T04:03:15Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Cite? Comment #144. more punishment = less crime ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/153 "2011-08-10T05:38:04Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > I am pro-legalization of all drugs… While I am overall sympathetic I promise there are some you would not be cool with legalizing. The worst I have ever seen is [Krokodil](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2078355,00.html) which seems to be gaining popularity in Russia. It _literally_ disintegrates the meat off your bones. From what I have read it is nearly instantly addicting and takes weeks to months to kick the habit. Kicking the habit is apparently so painful and long lasting hospitals induce the patient into a coma because it is unbearable. The name comes from the scaly skin you get shortly before your tissue disintegrates. Following is video of a user. It is very, VERY graphic. I want to repeat that. VERY not nice. In spoiler box for a reason. If you are brave enough keep watching because a couple minutes in the damage is terribly apparent. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REP6NCDfAtg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REP6NCDfAtg) Make no mistake. I used to party…a lot (and miss it some now but growing older changes things) and I think marijuana is a no brainer to legalize. Just saying that there clearly have to be limits to that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/154 "2011-08-10T05:52:08Z")
Damn, just when you think you’ve seen and heard of the worst drugs, something even more heinous comes out. I’ve never heard of this, but it sounds terrible. I’m not going to watch the video, but I did read the article. I guess I should be more specific when I say I’m pro-legalization. I do feel that currently illegal drugs should be legalized for basic reasons of human freedom, and also in an attempt to reduce harm. Obviously, this is an oversimplified way of explaining my reasoning, but it would take hours to write out exactly why/how/when I think it should be done. Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/155 "2011-08-10T05:58:07Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Damn, just when you think you’ve seen and heard of the worst drugs, something even more heinous comes out. I’ve never heard of this, but it sounds terrible. I’m not going to watch the video, but I did read the article. > > I guess I should be more specific when I say I’m pro-legalization. I do feel that currently illegal drugs should be legalized for basic reasons of human freedom, and also in an attempt to reduce harm. Obviously, this is an oversimplified way of explaining my reasoning, but it would take hours to write out exactly why/how/when I think it should be done. > > Anyhoo… I hear ya. I am all for freedom to do what you want (as long as you cause no harm to others) but unfortunately I watched that video and that thing is messed up (guy is receiving medical treatment in video but Russian medical treatment…a horror on a horror). It is seriously messed up. I appreciate you not wanting to watch it. I wish I hadn’t (but I am a sucker for watching things people tell me I shouldn’t watch). Never outgrew that. Anyway, I am mostly with you on the legalization front. Just figure there really is a line to be drawn somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/156 "2011-08-10T14:25:41Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > The Republican ascendancy that really began in 1980 cannot be attributed to benefits most Americans have received from Republican economic policies. Since 1980 real after tax income for eighty percent of the American population has declined, even as it has increased dramatically for the richest one percent. > > [Investor Village: Stock Message Boards | Exclusive Community](http://investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=971&mn=389436&pt=msg&mid=10153698) > > Nevertheless, from 1960 to 1970 the crime rate doubled. During this time liberal Democrats told the American people that punishment was ineffectual in reducing crime, but that reducing poverty would cut crime. During this decade poverty declined because of a broadly based economic expansion, and because of War on Poverty programs. The prison population declined. > > Since 1980 poverty has increased, but the crime rate has declined, because the prison population has tripled. > > [United States Crime Rates 1960 t0 2019](http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm) > > [http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/issues/lawenforcement/punishment.pdf](http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/issues/lawenforcement/punishment.pdf) > > On issues of crime and punishment most of the voters trust the Republicans rather than the Democrats. They should. Crime dropped steeply during Clinton. Incarcerating a huge chuck of the population is expensive and a stupid way to mend a society. A third of those jailed are there for using or selling weed and drugs. I am sure you can point out how that has ended our drug problem in America. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/157 "2011-08-10T16:31:00Z")
The Repubs announced their picks for the “super committee”. Every one signed the Nordquist pledge to not raise taxes, that means deficits can not be dealt with in an intelligent manner. It guarantees a stalemate. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/158 "2011-08-10T21:05:41Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > While I am overall sympathetic I promise there are some you would not be cool with legalizing. > > The worst I have ever seen is [Krokodil](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2078355,00.html) which seems to be gaining popularity in Russia. It _literally_ disintegrates the meat off your bones. From what I have read it is nearly instantly addicting and takes weeks to months to kick the habit. Kicking the habit is apparently so painful and long lasting hospitals induce the patient into a coma because it is unbearable. > > The name comes from the scaly skin you get shortly before your tissue disintegrates. > > Make no mistake. I used to party…a lot (and miss it some now but growing older changes things) and I think marijuana is a no brainer to legalize. Just saying that there clearly have to be limits to that stuff. I’m not arguing one way or another on the legalization issue, but based on the article it sounds like this drug is so harmful because it is made at home in the kitchen of some severely toxic stuff. The only reason people use it is that its cheaper than heroin. If drugs were legal, and regulated so that standards could be maintained I doubt that anyone would use Krokodil, preferring instead to stick to safer\* heroin. \*Hard to believe I’m using the words safer and heroin in the same sentence ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/159 "2011-08-11T03:01:49Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I’m not arguing one way or another on the legalization issue, but based on the article it sounds like this drug is so harmful because it is made at home in the kitchen of some severely toxic stuff. The only reason people use it is that its cheaper than heroin. If drugs were legal, and regulated so that standards could be maintained I doubt that anyone would use Krokodil, preferring instead to stick to safer\* heroin. > > \*Hard to believe I’m using the words safer and heroin in the same sentence If drugs were legal, would you take them? Lots and lots of people would not. You could leave a brick of coacaine on a street corner with a sign and the majority would walk -past it. Some might take a chance to get rich. But the vast majority would have no interest. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759/160 "2011-08-11T18:48:32Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > This is typical of left-wing thinking. You just invented a ‘right to know’, which actually isn’t a right but a restriction on my rights. My ‘right to know what’s in the drug I take’ is actually my lack of a right to take the drug until YOU have decided that I have the information I need. We haven’t taken away your right to buy, we have taken away the company’s right to sell. This impacts your ABILITY to buy but even after approval your RIGHT to buy is truncated by the fact you need a prescription. The concept of self medication is not a working model for medical dispensation of drugs for shit like cancer or heart disease especially if the side effects of these drugs is significant or is contraindicated if you have some other condition. > [@](#): > > As for my right to not take the drug unless I know what’s in it - I still retain that right. Not in any meaningful way you don’t. > [@](#): > > I can choose not to take it if I’m not satisfied that I have the information needed to do it safety. And if I feel I’m not qualified to judge, I have the right to seek out the advice of a doctor, or perhaps look to an agency like Consumer Reports to advise me. So you think that consumer reports would be able to step in and do what the FDA does? Come on, pull the other one. Is consumer reports going to gather up a bunch of cancer patients and perform trials for every drug that comes along to see which ones actually do anything? > [@](#): > > Let me ask you - should pot be legalized? And if it is, should marijuana have to go through the same process? Should there be government regulators inspecting pot farms? Should it be kept off the market for 10 years while the EPA demands for safety and efficacy tests be done? Or would you just legalize it and let people simply buy it from local growers or grow it themselves? If you want to prescribe pot for some therapeutic purpose then yes it absolutely should jump through hoops to be able to claim it does what it says it does. If it is merely for consumption then it should jump through the same hoops that we make other foods jump through. Perhaps we have a huge surgeon generals warning about the health effects of smoking pot. > [@](#): > > If the latter, then I would suggest that you’re the one not being consistent. What if the growers spray it with pesticide? Who is going to ensure quality? What if unscrupulous operators start selling crappy ditch-weed instead of righteous bud? Don’t consumers have a right to be protected? Yes labelling requirements should be required under law (perhaps a THC content like we do with alcohol) and food safety shouold eb observed just as much for pot as for other stuff, perhaps there will be a market for organically grown pot compared to stuff that is produced with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Quality on the other hand is largely a matter of taste, perhaps there will be magazines that rate different brands. > [@](#): > > By the way, if any of you smoke pot, can you tell me if the quality of it has gotten better or worse over the years? Do you know anyone who has died from poisoned pot? If not, how do you reconcile that quality and safety with the fact that it’s completely unregulated? Hell, it’s even got very weak market regulation, because the illegal nature of it means it gets sold by fly-by-night dealers and people not trying to build a reputation as quality growers and sellers, because they can’t publicize their quality. If it’s pretty good now, wouldn’t it get even better once it was legal and people could gain market advantage by improving quality? I don’t know about now but back when i was in college, you had two choices, you could go to Pico Blvd and get what could be oregano or really shitty ditch weed or you could go to your neighborhood pot dealer who DID have a reputation to protect. My understanding is that the quality of pot increased dramtically when it was decriminalized in California and a lot of the pot isn’t smuggled in or grown locally so much as it is imported from california. > [@](#): > > I’ve known pot smokers all my life, and what I hear from them is that the quality of pot has improved over the years, and the consistency is very good. And I’ve never heard of anyone being poisoned by tainted pot - except in the 70’s, when the _government_ intentional sprayed Malathion on it in an attempt to disrupt the market by injecting uncertainty about quality and safety. I don’t think it was malathion (which was a pesticide used to combat the medfly). If they could spray pot farms with malathion, they could just bust those guys. There is no real incentive to sell poison when you can just sell Oregano or basil. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-republicans-only-care-about-the-rich/591759.md?page=9)