<story><title>Malaysian Grandfather Is Facing Death for Weed</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bexx/dr-ganja-death-penalty-weed-medical-marijuana</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nvilcins</author><text>Make no mistake, drug suppression benefits many parties: governments to have a tight control over the people (their consciousness), and entities that profit from the situation and would be harmed by drug liberalization (both &amp;quot;legal&amp;quot; businesses and underground drug industry). And they will hold the regulation tight as long as they can, regardless of what&amp;#x27;s actually best for people all things considered. Hence the absolutely disproportionate and draconic laws in many parts of the world (including the developed countries).&lt;p&gt;However, the biggest offenders in my view are the &amp;quot;unthinking masses&amp;quot; that dictate the overall view on drugs and drug use, hence, block reason and change. For some reason when it comes to drugs it&amp;#x27;s allowed to have a really strong opinion and say on how _others_ should live based on either absolutely nothing, or fear-mongering fuelled by the aforementioned beneficiaries.&lt;p&gt;Yes, drugs do harm people, but not intrinsically. People die from over-doses because of mis-information and not knowing what they get (from the random guy on the street). People get hooked but mostly as an expression of underlying problems. Why is alcoholism and gambling more OK? And do we help people by taking their substances but leaving them in the same shitty life situation? That&amp;#x27;s just patting yourself on the back for actually not doing anything.&lt;p&gt;At the same time people use responsibly as well, you just don&amp;#x27;t hear from them because, well, why would they tell you about it if it means getting ostracized, thrown in jail, or killed?&lt;p&gt;If you don&amp;#x27;t stay neutral if you haven&amp;#x27;t at all educated yourself about this fairly complex topic (which it totally fine), you are on the wrong side of history, the witch-hunter of today, and will be frowned upon by the future generations.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>passtheglass</author><text>I agree with your point, but many Asian countrys&amp;#x27; pouplaces&amp;#x27; attitudes to drugs are deeply influenced by the damage caused by British opium trade. It is more deeply rooted than a problem of education I think, unlike in the West.</text></comment>
<story><title>Malaysian Grandfather Is Facing Death for Weed</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bexx/dr-ganja-death-penalty-weed-medical-marijuana</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nvilcins</author><text>Make no mistake, drug suppression benefits many parties: governments to have a tight control over the people (their consciousness), and entities that profit from the situation and would be harmed by drug liberalization (both &amp;quot;legal&amp;quot; businesses and underground drug industry). And they will hold the regulation tight as long as they can, regardless of what&amp;#x27;s actually best for people all things considered. Hence the absolutely disproportionate and draconic laws in many parts of the world (including the developed countries).&lt;p&gt;However, the biggest offenders in my view are the &amp;quot;unthinking masses&amp;quot; that dictate the overall view on drugs and drug use, hence, block reason and change. For some reason when it comes to drugs it&amp;#x27;s allowed to have a really strong opinion and say on how _others_ should live based on either absolutely nothing, or fear-mongering fuelled by the aforementioned beneficiaries.&lt;p&gt;Yes, drugs do harm people, but not intrinsically. People die from over-doses because of mis-information and not knowing what they get (from the random guy on the street). People get hooked but mostly as an expression of underlying problems. Why is alcoholism and gambling more OK? And do we help people by taking their substances but leaving them in the same shitty life situation? That&amp;#x27;s just patting yourself on the back for actually not doing anything.&lt;p&gt;At the same time people use responsibly as well, you just don&amp;#x27;t hear from them because, well, why would they tell you about it if it means getting ostracized, thrown in jail, or killed?&lt;p&gt;If you don&amp;#x27;t stay neutral if you haven&amp;#x27;t at all educated yourself about this fairly complex topic (which it totally fine), you are on the wrong side of history, the witch-hunter of today, and will be frowned upon by the future generations.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>_fat_santa</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t help but imagine in 20-30 years the wold is going to on an &amp;quot;Apology Tour&amp;quot; over cannabis. The dam has broken on cannabis legalization, and the laws in some of these countries I feel is hanging on by a thread at this point.&lt;p&gt;At some point in the future everyone will come to their senses and were going to have days of remembrance for people that we harmed in the drug war, I hope.</text></comment>