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Comment by defrost | Hacker News Reader

> Most studies that look at long term usage conclude it affects the brain.

I take it then you're also in favour of the death penalty for alcohol consumption, distribution, and production then?

It would certainly be hypocritical if that were not the case.

Almost any type of contact sport too. Martial arts, boxing, football, all proven to cause permanent damage even when protection is worn.

Sports are virtuous, drunkenness is not.

Brain damage is virtuous to those that are probably brain damaged.

“One bad thing is too deeply rooted in society to remove, so we have to accept a different bad thing and allow it to take root?”

If that's the comment that you wish to make then by all means do so.

Adding quotes and a question mark makes it appear is if you are paraphrasing the comment that I made which I'd kindly ask you not to do as I can speak for myself and that's not what I stated.

Alcohol and tobacco are empirically worse than cannabis, which is just as rooted in society. The choices of what is legal and what isn't came down to class and politics, not medical evidence.

So yes? Acceptance, regulation and social safety nets are probably the way to go for a lot of drugs. The alternative is to indefinitely fight an unwinnable war, to perpetuate a cycle of death and murder seemingly oblivious that the fight itself and the consequences of a punitive system are the things taking most of those lives, not the drugs.

Opposition to cannabis use is deeper than “class and politics.” Its use was opposed by Islam 800 years ago. But who cares if the reason for the differential treatment is cultural rather than medical? Why do we need to normalize additional vices, on top of the ones we already have?

The war against drug use is not “unwinnable” for a disciplined society. There are many countries in the world that still manage to keep alcohol out of the hands of most people. In my home country, 95% of people report never having used alcohol or tobacco: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6349140.

95% of people will say a lot of things when they have a gun pointed to their head.

There is no gun to anyone’s head—in particular, tobacco use is neither illegal nor considered immoral, but people don’t smoke anyway. I know it shocks Americans to learn that people can exercise self control and refrain from vices.

I'm not an American, but Australian.

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