<story><title>The New York Times Calls for Marijuana Legalization</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-marijuana-legalization.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>javert</author><text>&amp;gt; a crime and punishment issue, but rather one of public health&lt;p&gt;Not disagreeing with anything you said, just providing a thought.&lt;p&gt;Common opinion dictates that we need the state to take care of public health; thus, in common opinion, public health &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; an issue of crime and punishment.&lt;p&gt;If you take it as a principle (as I do) that we need sepration of state and public health (as with church, as with education), it has interesting implications.&lt;p&gt;Update: Most glaring example is Obamacare. You have to pay a fine (punishment) if you don&amp;#x27;t get insurance and it imposes massive burdens on doctors. I am only adding this because I got massively downvoted. I guess people didn&amp;#x27;t understand that what I said was just a matter of fact. Our society &lt;i&gt;does&lt;/i&gt; support the idea that public health is actionable on a &amp;quot;crime and punishment&amp;quot; level and in general that is still the modus operandi.</text></item><item><author>sharkweek</author><text>Two plugs I always make during any drug law discussion on HN:&lt;p&gt;One - The Economist&amp;#x27;s 2009 article &amp;quot;Failed states and failed policies&amp;quot; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/node/13237193&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.economist.com&amp;#x2F;node&amp;#x2F;13237193&lt;/a&gt; (you might have to Google the title to get around a paywall)&lt;p&gt;Two - The documentary, The House I Live In - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125653/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.imdb.com&amp;#x2F;title&amp;#x2F;tt2125653&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; (trailer - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0atL1HSwi8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=a0atL1HSwi8&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;p&gt;Both make such a fascinating case that drugs should have never been a crime and punishment issue, but rather one of public health. I highly recommend both for a read and a watch, and both will articulate the case far superior to anything I would be able to write here.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>GuiA</author><text>&amp;gt; in common opinion, public health is an issue of crime and punishment.&lt;p&gt;Mh? It isn&amp;#x27;t illegal to get an STD, and you don&amp;#x27;t get punished for having an STD; yet our society actively tries to limit STD transmission. Not sure I&amp;#x27;m understanding what you&amp;#x27;re arguing for&amp;#x2F;against.</text></comment>
<story><title>The New York Times Calls for Marijuana Legalization</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-marijuana-legalization.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>javert</author><text>&amp;gt; a crime and punishment issue, but rather one of public health&lt;p&gt;Not disagreeing with anything you said, just providing a thought.&lt;p&gt;Common opinion dictates that we need the state to take care of public health; thus, in common opinion, public health &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; an issue of crime and punishment.&lt;p&gt;If you take it as a principle (as I do) that we need sepration of state and public health (as with church, as with education), it has interesting implications.&lt;p&gt;Update: Most glaring example is Obamacare. You have to pay a fine (punishment) if you don&amp;#x27;t get insurance and it imposes massive burdens on doctors. I am only adding this because I got massively downvoted. I guess people didn&amp;#x27;t understand that what I said was just a matter of fact. Our society &lt;i&gt;does&lt;/i&gt; support the idea that public health is actionable on a &amp;quot;crime and punishment&amp;quot; level and in general that is still the modus operandi.</text></item><item><author>sharkweek</author><text>Two plugs I always make during any drug law discussion on HN:&lt;p&gt;One - The Economist&amp;#x27;s 2009 article &amp;quot;Failed states and failed policies&amp;quot; - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.economist.com/node/13237193&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.economist.com&amp;#x2F;node&amp;#x2F;13237193&lt;/a&gt; (you might have to Google the title to get around a paywall)&lt;p&gt;Two - The documentary, The House I Live In - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125653/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.imdb.com&amp;#x2F;title&amp;#x2F;tt2125653&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; (trailer - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0atL1HSwi8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=a0atL1HSwi8&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;p&gt;Both make such a fascinating case that drugs should have never been a crime and punishment issue, but rather one of public health. I highly recommend both for a read and a watch, and both will articulate the case far superior to anything I would be able to write here.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>DangerousPie</author><text>The state has methods at its disposal other than crime an punishment. For example, they can try to influence the behavior of their citizens by education or taxation, like they do with cigarettes or alcohol.</text></comment>