The vice was the war on drugs that was disproportionately applied to minorities. Legalizing weed is taking one weapon out of the arsenal of the police state.

In other countries it was applied to their majorities (who could be minorities in the US). The war on drugs was not a U.S.-only thing. It was worldwide. Because it was a losing battle (products easier to grow manufacture AND transport, they’ve pretty much all realized it’s a losing battle —with some major exceptions like Japan and Singapore who still take drugs seriously and will incarcerate for small amounts.

So I generally agree with all these opinions but… I was talking about cigarettes?

Also “vice” in the meaning of a bad habit, not the drug squad.

Same thing, the NYPD killed a man for selling a cigarettes

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/eric-garner-dies...

Again I fully agree on the broad points but felt a little bit like shoehorning an only slightly related topic in.

But meh, awareness of those topics could probably stand to be higher anyway

They killed him for daring to thumb his nose at the authority of the state by being a bootlegger. Cigarettes just happen to be what he sold.

At the end of the day this is the kind of random violence that backs up every mundane law.