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Ken Mehlman

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No, I'm not THAT Ken Mehlman It's a joke name like Naughtius Maximus or Biggus… more »

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May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on Drug-Trafficking Organizations Continue to Intimidate Newspapers into Silence.

@17 This book by Daniel Okrent was generally critical of alcohol prohibition as a policy, but he concluded it was success in the sense that it caused people to drink less.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Rise-Fal…

Here is some other stuff about the public health effects of Prohibition;

http://www.bu.edu/econ/files/2011/01/200…

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles…

http://history.howstuffworks.com/histori…

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on Drug-Trafficking Organizations Continue to Intimidate Newspapers into Silence.

@14 I agree that drug prohibition results in more gang violence and better funded and more politically influential criminal organizations. I think it's silly to argue that we can limit the harm done by illegal drugs by loosening drug laws. Plenty of people abuse prescription medications (what was it that killed Michael Jackson?). Also, alcohol prohibition was fairly successful in terms of reducing the number of people who died from the effects of alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, alcohol prohibition also substantially increased the number of people who died from the effects of tommy guns which is why it was repealed.

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on Drug-Trafficking Organizations Continue to Intimidate Newspapers into Silence.

@11 That might have something to do with it. Also to some extent I'm reversing cause and effect. That is to say drugs that few people use are easier to ban because there are fewer users to object. One of the reasons nobody has ever tried to outlaw tobacco is that such a law would be unenforceable because so many people smoke. Like I said the effectiveness of drug prohibition is difficult to measure because no alternative has ever really been tried.

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on Drug-Trafficking Organizations Continue to Intimidate Newspapers into Silence.

@9 Nicotine and heroin have similar addictive qualities. Far more Americans use tobacco products than use heroin. I suspect the fact that tobacco is legal and heroin is not is one of the reasons for that disparity. It is difficult to judge the extent to which drug prohibition prevents drug abuse because, in modern times, no nation has ever legalized drugs. However, it takes a substantial level of willful ignorance to believe drug laws do not prevent drug abuse at all.

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on Drug-Trafficking Organizations Continue to Intimidate Newspapers into Silence.

@6 I think President Calderon's efforts to crack down on the Narco Cartels was a tactical error that caused more harm than good. That doesn't mean that Mexico's justice system doesn't need to be reformed. Where are you getting this idea that efforts to enforce drug laws have 'failed?' What do you mean by that?

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on Rightwing Anti-Gay French Activist Commits Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Yeah, unfortunate for all the people who were forced to witness such a violent event.

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on Drug-Trafficking Organizations Continue to Intimidate Newspapers into Silence.

@2 I think it has more to do w/ the lack of the rule of law than prohibition.

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on The Limits of Democracy.

@3 Hydrofracking and the Canadian tar sands may keep that from happening.

May 21 Ken Mehlman commented on The Limits of Democracy.

I'm sure a dictatorship of the proletariat would work much better.

May 20 Ken Mehlman commented on Soldiers are Superheroes, Kids!.

I didn't think the military needed to do much active recruiting these days. With so many young people desperate for work or looking for a way to pay their student loans I would think military service would kind of sell itself. I guess the economy is improving.