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Welcome to the official home and wonderful world of Pulitzer Prize Winning Political Cartoonist Michael P. Ramirez, daily editorial cartoonist for the Las Vegas Review Journal |
Drug Inquiry: Fear of Climate Change is Destroying the Lives of Young People
Eric Worrall / September 28, 2019 WATTSUPWITHTHAT On the 18th of this month, Dr. Alex Wodak, a high profile Australian expert on drug rehabilitation, named fear of climate change as one of the major problems driving young people into the kind of despair which leads to addiction to hard drugs, during his testimony to the NSW Government Ice Inquiry. An excerpt of the transcript which has just been made available is below; … First, the threshold step is redefining drugs as primarily a health and social issue rather than primarily a law enforcement issue. Second, drug treatment has to be expanded and improved until it reaches the same level as other health services. Third, all penalties for personal drug use and possession have to be scrapped. Fourth, as much of the drug market as possible has to be regulated while recognising that part of the drug market is already regulated, such a methadone treatment, needle and syringe programs, medically supervised injecting centres. It will, of course, never be possible to regulate the entire drug market. We have regulated parts of the drug market before. Edible opium was taxed and regulated in Australia until 1906 and in the United States Coca-Cola contained cocaine until 1903. Fifth, efforts to reduce the demand for powerful psychoactive drugs in Australia have had limited benefit and require a new focus. Unless and until young Australians feel optimistic about their future, demand for drugs will remain strong. Young people, understandably, want more certainty about their future prospects, including climate, education, jobs and housing affordability. Change will be slow and incremental, like all social policy reform. As Herb Stein, as adviser to President Nixon said: Things that cannot go on forever don’t. Drug prohibition cannot go on forever and will be replaced by libertarian paternalism. Thank you. … Source: https://www.iceinquiry.nsw.gov.au//assets/scii/transcripts/Decriminalisation-round-table/Decriminalisation-Roundtable-Transcript.pdf How widespread is fear of extreme climate change? According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 51% of people under 35 believe it is at least “somewhat likely” that humanity will be wiped out in the next 15 years (h/t ClimateDepot). read more |
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