Dr John Watson wrote:
> Noticed at Sat, 10 May 2008 11:07:31 +0000: Dr Dan Holdsworth informed us:
>
>> A while ago, some Italian researchers decided to work out how much
>> cocaine is _actually_ being taken, by a rather devious route. They
>> worked out what happens to cocaine in a person's body, which is it gets
>> turned into something else and excreted in urine.
>>
>> The metabolite only comes from cocaine, and the only natural source of
>> it is cocaine taken by people. So, work out how much metabolite is in
>> the sewage and you know how much cocaine is being taken per day by
>> people.
>>
>> Turns out the figure is about ten times higher than any previous
>> research (all based on asking people and guesstimating an answer) had
>> said. Ordinarily, I'd be highly suspicious of such an outlying figure,
>> but here, what with this being the only quantitative study made and all
>> the rest being subject to huge reporting bias, I'm inclined to believe
>> it.
>>
>> This result (and the "Me Too!" one done in London, with similar results)
>> tells us a few things:
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2005/11/06/ncoke06.xml
>
>
>> Firstly, the level and amount of cocaine use is much, much higher than
>> the Government thought.
>>
>> Secondly, well over 95% of cocaine users are undetected by law
>> enforcement, medical science or anything.
>>
>> Thirdly, the overwhelming majority of people who use cocaine suffer no
>> detectable ill effects from it (otherwise we'd know about it).
>>
>> Finally, data from the police shows that the street price of cocaine is
>> going down. The number of users isn't likely to be decreasing, so what
>> is happening is that the amount of cocaine smuggled in is increasing.
>>
>> We're losing this war on drugs.
>
> It was lost over 20 years ago.
>
>> Let's try something different, please. Fighting a losing war that we
>> know we cannot win is incredibly stupid.
>
> Repeating something that's already failed expecting a different outcome
> shows some kind of psychosis.
>
Well if you were talking about a person then you would be
correct but you are talking about a government and the term psychosis
would not apply. Dysfunctional would apply I believe and the prisoner
of special interests would work.
later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)
--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste. |