Jim Hlavac
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Domestic Affairs
Prostitution and drugs, like liquor before them, are illegal because of a so called
"societal" decision that they are bad for society. But the only thing bad for society
about them is the constant and ineffective efforts to stamp them out. It is one thing to
morally disapprove of a thing, and another to outlaw it and incarcerate those who do it.
Like many other societal problems these two would be better off dealt with as health
care issues, and psychiatry issues, and poverty issues, instead of as criminal issues.
With prostitution it is also hypocritical to only arrest the prostitute and not the one
buying the service. But it would be better for society to gain control over the
distribution of prostitution in a city by regulating it. You could restrict it to a certain
area of the city. You could bring health care to the prostitutes. You could bring all
sorts of services to not only get them out of the life, but just possibly to prevent them
from moving to the life. However, it is totally unrealistic to ever think that you will ever
get rid of prostitution. It might make some politicians, religionists and society mavens
think they are doing something good with outlawing prostitution, but all they are doing
is making it far more dangerous to all involved and they are making it far more difficult
to actually deal with.
There is no way to clean up prostitute ridden neighborhoods if all you are going to
do is occiassionally sic the cops on them. Zero enforcement is a useless charade. It
has failed abysmally since the dawn of time.
The same thing with drugs. We cannot control what goes on with drugs because
there is no accounting for the situation. All we have are guess work and self-serving
reports about how the war on drugs is more or less successful each year. All the
government has succeded in doing is creating criminals who get more despearte with
each new level of cracking down. These criminals cost society far more than any level
of acceptance and regulation would ever cost. The disregard fot eh law alone that
drugs and protsitution bring costs more than the medicalization of these problems
would cost. It is amazing how we will help the drunk get sober -- but we will only
incarcerate the drug user and prevent him from ever getting better.
"societal" decision that they are bad for society. But the only thing bad for society
about them is the constant and ineffective efforts to stamp them out. It is one thing to
morally disapprove of a thing, and another to outlaw it and incarcerate those who do it.
Like many other societal problems these two would be better off dealt with as health
care issues, and psychiatry issues, and poverty issues, instead of as criminal issues.
With prostitution it is also hypocritical to only arrest the prostitute and not the one
buying the service. But it would be better for society to gain control over the
distribution of prostitution in a city by regulating it. You could restrict it to a certain
area of the city. You could bring health care to the prostitutes. You could bring all
sorts of services to not only get them out of the life, but just possibly to prevent them
from moving to the life. However, it is totally unrealistic to ever think that you will ever
get rid of prostitution. It might make some politicians, religionists and society mavens
think they are doing something good with outlawing prostitution, but all they are doing
is making it far more dangerous to all involved and they are making it far more difficult
to actually deal with.
There is no way to clean up prostitute ridden neighborhoods if all you are going to
do is occiassionally sic the cops on them. Zero enforcement is a useless charade. It
has failed abysmally since the dawn of time.
The same thing with drugs. We cannot control what goes on with drugs because
there is no accounting for the situation. All we have are guess work and self-serving
reports about how the war on drugs is more or less successful each year. All the
government has succeded in doing is creating criminals who get more despearte with
each new level of cracking down. These criminals cost society far more than any level
of acceptance and regulation would ever cost. The disregard fot eh law alone that
drugs and protsitution bring costs more than the medicalization of these problems
would cost. It is amazing how we will help the drunk get sober -- but we will only
incarcerate the drug user and prevent him from ever getting better.
| Domestic Affairs |