Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2(pesnta.1.2) 9/5/84; site scc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!cord!hudson!bentley!hoxna!houxm!mhuxj!mhuxr!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!pesnta!scc!steiny From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Re: handgun control Message-ID: <298@scc.UUCP> Date: Sat, 5-Jan-85 13:45:17 EST Article-I.D.: scc.298 Posted: Sat Jan 5 13:45:17 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 8-Jan-85 03:53:51 EST References: <> <265@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <2223@randvax.UUCP> <2228@randvax.UUCP> <2229@randvax.UUCP> <2230@randvax.UUCP> Organization: Personetics, Inc. - Santa Cruz, Calif. Lines: 82 > > I'm prepared to argue, Lauri, that we'd see a lot more junkies on the > street if heroin was legal and could be purchased legally at K-marts > and "sporting goods" stores... > Go for it! It seems unlikely to me that this would be the case. Remember tobacco, is a *legal* drug and cocaine is an *illegal* drug. The use of cocaine is going *up* and the use of tobacco going *down*. If you want to make an analogy to drug use, the evidence would suggest that any program of regulation would be ineffective, expensive, encroach on personal liberties, and make the government look even more stupid. Further, you cannot site any statistics about drug use that would be meaningful From the San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, November 24, 1984: *U.S. Raising Pot Traffic Figures* Washington Government experts said yesterday they are revising estimates of the size of U.S. marijuana traffic in view of the record 10,000 tons sized and destroyed in northern Mexico. The seizures, made on five farms in an isolated section of Chihuahua state, suggest a 70 percent increase in estimates that total U.S. consumption was 13,000 to 14,000 tons in 1982. Furthermore, the seizures add up to nearly eight times the 1300 tons that officials had calculated Mexico produced in 1983. "When we look at this 10,000 ton bust, the amount is staggering," said Jon R. Thomas, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics matters. "It's so big that we start out self- congradulating--but when we step back, we see we still don't know what it means." He continued, "We don't know how long they've been growing it and processing and selling it, or how much has been grown." The gap between official estimates and reality disclosed by the mexican raids is so great that officials are reviewing data to determine whether they have seriously understated the extent of marijuana use in this country. If so, there is intrest in whether the miscalculation results from failures in the survey techniques the government uses to determine how much Americans abuse [sic] all drugs. The data are compiled by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a subsidiary of the National Health Service, on the basis of door-to- door samplings in which people are asked to fill out and mail in forms. The last survey, in which 5624 people were questioned, was made in 1982, Adams said, and its validity was reviewed last year. Another survey, set for next year, will be based on 8000 interviews, he said, but results will not become publically available until about six months after the field work is done. David Hoover of the Drug Enforcement Administration reported that marijuana price trends do not suggest oversupply. In 1982, he said, the DEA reported the street price of Mexican leaf at retail to be $40 to $50 per ounce, and in 1983 at $40 too $60 an ounce retail and $350 to #550 per pound wholesale. Los Angeles Times ----- In short, the argument that gun control would limit the use of guns the way that drug control limits the use of drugs is saying that gun control will not limit guns. -- scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 109 Torrey Pine Terr. Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 ihnp4!pesnta -\ fortune!idsvax -> scc!steiny ucbvax!twg -/