From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Feb 13 2002 - 12:38:10 MST
>From: "steve" <steve365@btinternet.com>
>I have much more sympathy for this than I did a few years ago
>(although I am still uneasy about the sub-Kantian idea that your
>"higher self" is disabled by the habit), particularly in the light
>of the research Brian (I think it was) mentioned about the sector
>of any population which has a genetic sensitivity to specific
>substances.
Yes, I was the one who mentioned this work. The figure (for
alcohol) is 10% of the general population of the United States.
Specific cultural groups have much higher percentages, older
cultures like the middle east (alcohol is a muslim word) have lower
percentages and modern world cultures (native Americans for
example) have much higher.
I would expect other addictive substances to have similar numbers.
Evolution at work.
>So simply saying "everyone do what they want and let the chips
>fall where they may" shouldn't be an option. The hard question is
>what is the best thing to do? As you say civil forfeiture and
>other aspects of the drug war are not helping (and make things
>worse in many ways). They are also creating desperately dangerous
>precedents and incentives for law enforcers. Perhaps we can learn
>from the way alcohol abuse was reduced in Britain, from being a
>widespread, very severe problem in the 1840s and earlier to being
>a relatively minor problem by the 1890s, through things like
>education, social pressure, regulation and the use of fiscal
>policy. I think you have to accept you can't get rid of the
>problem entirely, it's a matter of getting it to an "acceptable"
>level. The key calculation must be a cost/benefit analysis where
>you trade off the costs of drug use (the externalities you
>describe) against the costs of prohibition (such as loss of
>liberty, corruption of the criminal justice system, growth of
>organised crime). Steve Davies
Excellent points, and education and real knowledge rather than
folklore is the key.
Alcohol is an addictive substance that affects different people
differently. If you were fortunate (pre-GATTACA) enough to be born
with the right biochemistry you couldn't get addicted if you tried,
if you were unfortunate you could become addicted almost
immediately.
Most people lie somewhere in between. Strangely it is those who
alcohol seems to affect the least who are actually those at
greatest risk. Many people drink for decades before becoming
addicted.
Until a cure is developed,(good extropian project) education and
acceptance as to the indicators and causes of alcohol addiction is
the best method for successful treatment.
All evidence indicates that once addicted, lifelong abstinence is
the only currently effective treatment.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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