Wow, what a lot of posts in a short space of time, and how tetchy this one's gotten too.
Dave, I usually agree with a lot of your perspective and thoughts, but I think it's unfair to say
handofdave wrote:
the real purpose of your original post, which was to specifically attack pot smokers as being hypocrites. Obviously you really don't give a rats ass about the sweatshop workers at all... they're just a prop in your rather weak assault.
That early in the thread I don't see anything that points to Pooley doing that. I see an exhortation to ensure you source ethically.
I think it's an interesting story, and a relevant one to post here. Drugs are something of a blindspot for many people. I know folks who have a profound distrust of E numbers and prescribed medicines, yet readily hoof up nosefuls of stuff cut with fuck knows what. By the same token, there are folks who would refuse a cup of Nestle coffee yet happily snort cocaine without thinking about its production.
Perhaps exploitation's easier to see it when it's in the shops, brazen profit-hunger that gives clear indication of exploitation. Perhaps there's something about the obscurity of supply, the mateyness of your seller, that makes drugs feel less profit-driven.
I think Dave and Jim are right that we are caught in a web of exploitation, but like all the other damage we're doing, we should be looking to see if it can be eradicated and if it can't then how to reduce it. Pooley's point that most folks here won't eat at Mcdonald's or fly is really relevant. If we can switch to a more ethical source of something, and/or reduce our consumption of the most damaging stuff, we should.
Dee, I didn't buy the illegal immigrant stories when I first heard them mentioned without specifics either. But I've seen numerous specific cases with people imprisoned that I find it undeniable, and I get the rationale for doing it too. This person will work for a tenner a week, cannot speak to anyone else, and if the farm gets raided they don't know anyone's names and can't grass you up (ow, no pun intended). You're right that growing good cannabis has a lot of art and science to it, but that can be done in the choice of plants and setting up the growing system. The day to day maintenance is so simple that, well, a child could do it.
Squid and Dave both say that the exploitation is a good reason to remove the prohibition. Yet the things we've been comparing it to, such as Nike sweatshops and iPad factories, are all legal. Removing prohibition would give us the chance of some regulation and fair trade brands and whatnot, but we need only look at how slavery is still part of the chocolate, coffee and tea industries to guess how much legalisation would end exploitation.
