Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by ndriscoll on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @05:08PM
(#37757598)
Isn't that because the free base form is a lot more bioavailable/potent? Similar to meth vs. Adderall. Not that I agree with criminalization of any of it, and the scale factors might be off, but there's at least some logic to it.
Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by OkayPhysicist on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @08:14PM
(#37759330)
No, the reasoning was abundantly clear: The war on drugs (especially crack) was to target minority populations that didn't support the administration.
Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by AlbertCory on Wednesday October 04, 2023 @05:58PM
(#37772374)
Either that, or they cause street crimes (which primarily affect other minorities).
Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by phatskat on Thursday October 05, 2023 @08:51AM
(#37777942)
Kind of? The two are chemically the same - the big difference is that crack is often smoked which makes it fast acting. However, the high last about as long as it takes to kick in, so it’s pretty much a quick up and down.
It was believed to be so much “worse” than powdered because crack was used as a means to vilify black communities while powdered circulated in white communities with must more lenient punishments.
Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by ndriscoll on Friday October 06, 2023 @11:29AM
(#37792092)
My understanding is that they are not chemically the same: you can't smoke cocaine or amphetamine salts; they'll burn instead of vaporizing. You need to first swap what stabilizer the active component is bound to. i.e. perform some reaction to convert to crack/meth. The point of doing that conversion is to be able to smoke it. My understanding is it's also not just fast acting, but quite a bit more intense. So e.g. more likely to trigger psychosis instead of just making you talk a lot, clean the house, get good grades, etc.
Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by phatskat on Friday October 06, 2023 @12:26PM
(#37792847)
Hmmm, I’ll admit I did a cursory amount of research and tried a source that looked as unbiased as I could manage without diving super deeply.
I have smoked cocaine before (on a blunt with cannabis) and it felt like I felt something but who knows.
Your question is flawed: "Upscale people" can afford different drug-habits and different drugs... Or even the same drug in a different form-factor that gets a different name.
That confusion is really important to recognize and eradicate, because we've already seen it used for evil and human suffering.
It has lead (and may yet lead) to incredibly biased laws where two people getting caught with the same amount of the same chemical received insanely different punishments, all based on whether they were carrying the the "low class" cheaper form or the "upscale" fancy form.
Your own question echoes this: You demanded proof of "crack" (cocaine) specifically, but not "powdered". In the past, 5g of crack cocaine would cause a mandatory minimum 5-year prison term, while "upscale people" with 499g of powdered cocaine didn't have to worry about that.