Friday, December 14, 2012

Constitutional Carry of Schedule I Narcotics

Data are your friends.  They tell you things that seem counter-intuitive, which tells you that you really don't understand the situation at all.

For example, the violent crime rate has plunged at the same time that the number of legally owned and carried firearms has soared.  That's a fact - the data are clear.  While this doesn't necessarily prove the "more guns, less crime" thesis, it sure demolishes the "more guns, more violent crime" thesis.

Likewise, decriminalizing drugs - basically all drugs, including not just weed but heroin, cocaine, and crystal meth - results in lower addiction rates:
In most respects, the [2001 Portuguese] law seems to have worked: serious drug use is down significantly, particularly among young people; the burden on the criminal-justice system has eased; the number of people seeking treatment has grown; and the rates of drug-related deaths and cases of infectious diseases have fallen. Surprisingly, political opposition has been tepid and there has never been a concerted repeal effort.
This will strike some as counter-intuitive.  If it does, it means that's because some of the information you thought was true isn't.  Or it is true but there is more important information that you're not considering in your analysis.

The data suggest a program of Constitutional Carry of decriminalized drugs.  Seems a lot of folks might want to think about this.

We now return you to our regular scheduled blog.

1 comment:

Old NFO said...

Interesting, very interesting...