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A comment on Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addicts in the U.S. Parent comment

Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by scurvy on Saturday March 11, 2017 @06:15PM (#13847836)
I don't have a solution, but my point was that not all addicts are victims. For some, it's a conscious decision about choosing heroin over life (insert Trainspotting ending here).

Unless the US adopts some sort of ASBO laws, there's not much you can do about forced treatment for someone who doesn't choose treatment.

Also, you could substitute heroin here with any other equally damaging substance like alcohol and the situation wouldn't change.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by wyager on Saturday March 11, 2017 @06:56PM (#13847996)
Even if ASBO laws were effective, I'd rather have a few drug abusers than ASBO laws. I don't want the government to be able to use force against people for being "anti-social", however that happens to be defined or interpreted. I've seen some ridiculous cases of punishment for "anti-social behavior" out of the UK, including what essentially amounts to outlawing particular unsavory political beliefs.

I encourage everyone to read https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-social_behaviour_order which has a list of things the government was allowed to punish you for, including "rudeness" and "xenophobia". The most recent ASBO legislation is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Social_Behaviour,_Crime... which I am not familiar with.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by scurvy on Saturday March 11, 2017 @09:33PM (#13848597)
This is the problem with the HackerNews libertarian streak. You're in favor of legalized drugs, prostitution, etc. But no one wants their daughter to grow up and be a crackwhore.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by gozur88 on Sunday March 12, 2017 @01:00AM (#13849307)
I'd rather take the risk that my daughter would grow up to be a crack whore than leave anti-drug busybodies the kind of power they've managed to accrue.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by deelowe on Saturday March 11, 2017 @06:58PM (#13848010)
How about we just let addicts be addicts while we figure the rest out. That's certainly better than today's situation where we make extra sure we ruin their lives to, ya know, protect them from themselves.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by scurvy on Saturday March 11, 2017 @08:55PM (#13848452)
The problem is they create a wake of destruction in their path of addiction.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by toomuchtodo on Saturday March 11, 2017 @09:03PM (#13848483)
The cost of a free society.

Keep that ASBO trash on the other side of the pond.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by scurvy on Saturday March 11, 2017 @09:12PM (#13848506)
How about charging them for their public costs? If you get rescued by helicopter because you went skiing out of bounds at a resort and got lost, don't they send you a bill? How about that for people with money who abuse the system while abusing other things?
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by toomuchtodo on Saturday March 11, 2017 @09:35PM (#13848601)
Like how the Japanese will send a bill to the family of someone who commits suicide on a train line?

I prefer my government to absorb the cost of human despair rather than bill for it. Don't write policy based on outliers.

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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by friedman23 on Sunday March 12, 2017 @12:30AM (#13849212)
> absorb

You are very good at using language. The reality is that government doesn't 'absorb' anything. Other people, some of whom can't afford to, pay for it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by toomuchtodo on Sunday March 12, 2017 @09:54AM (#13850650)
All economics are redistribution, it's simply the details that change with the methods. It is unrealistic to want a world where each person pays exactly for what they consume or are liable for.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by friedman23 on Sunday March 12, 2017 @12:07PM (#13851256)
Maybe you are right but I cannot understand or agree with this idea that has taken hold among some on the internet that we should be happy to pay taxes because the government will go and solve problems with that money. Beyond the fact that the government is horrible at allocating resources and using them efficiently, every tax is a dollar being taken from the economy that could have gone to people that produce things of value not what some bureaucrat decided was of value.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by pjmorris on Sunday March 12, 2017 @05:40PM (#13853286)
Three arguments in favor of governments and taxes: 1) Taxes are what makes a currency valuable (if you don't believe me, try printing your own money, or using Monopoly money, to pay for something) 2) Governments provide currency (also, see above). Look for the lowest interest rates on financial instruments, and you'll find governments. 3) Governments enforce property rights.

No taxes, no currency, no economy to speak of (see: anywhere without a functioning government).

I don't get how some on the internet live and breathe in a government-sponsored property and currency regime and rail against the government part of it, but want to keep the property and currency.

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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by maxerickson on Sunday March 12, 2017 @12:11PM (#13851280)
every tax is a dollar being taken from the economy

Government turns around and spends those dollars in the economy. They are reallocated, not removed.

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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by friedman23 on Monday March 13, 2017 @12:52AM (#13855317)
Individuals are significantly better at allocating resources than a central authority.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by jasonkostempski on Saturday March 11, 2017 @10:56PM (#13848854)
Sending the bill to the family is dumb but there's sense in sending the person responsible for damages bills. I think we already mostly do that though, they just don't always pay the bill.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by friedman23 on Saturday March 11, 2017 @07:48PM (#13848197)
Because that has worked historically.
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Re:Lethal Opiates Delivered by Mail from China, Killing Addi... by smokeyj on Saturday March 11, 2017 @06:54PM (#13847979)
> Also, you could substitute heroin here with any other equally damaging substance

Desk jobs and fast food? As long as we have public healthcare I reserve the right to smack that bag of chips out of your chubby fingers. /end of rant

[ Parent | on HN ]