Re: =>Albert Hofmann, Inventor of LSD, Embarks on Final Trip <=

On May 8, 3:16 pm, pj <p...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Mon, 5 May 2008 10:48:27 -0700 (PDT), M_P <m...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
> >> >> >And the government that passed these bans didn't think so?
>
> >> >> I certainly hope they weren't that naive.
>
> >> >Your hopes mean squat. If they didn't think the laws would be
> >> >effective, why did they bother? Just so they could be
anal-retentively
> >> >consistent?
>
> >> That is certainly one aspect of it, yes.
>
> >A clearly ridiculous theory.
>
> He might be wrong, but it certainly isn't a "clearly ridiculous
> theory". I don't really know why LSD was originally banned, whether
> those in authority genuinely thought it was a threat to the people, to
> themselves, or for some other reason. I've read a lot abot it, but I
> still don't claim to know the answer.
>
> However... in related news.... fresh (i.e. not dried) magic mushrooms
> were made illegal in the UK recently. They went from being completely
> legal, to having the same status in law as Heroin, Cocaine (and LSD or
> MDMA for that matter). The reason *was* simply to make the law more
> consistent. They were already Class A drugs if "prepared" for
> consumption. Prosecutions were brought for the sale of fresh
> mushrooms, and at least one was thrown out by the magistrate hearing
> the case on the grounds that the law was ambiguous. [...]

False parallel. That sort of consistency is a very different animal
than a consistency that Joel alleges led to LSD being banned because
it reached a level of usage comparable to the levels at which other
drugs had been banned.

> So if one government (dominated by lawyers, as they tend to be these
> days) can make a perfectly legal, and almost completely harmlesss (if
> not beneficial) into one that can be punished with a life sentence,
> then I don't think it's "clearly ridiculous" that another government
> once did a similar thing...

Straw man. Of course I didn't say it was "clearly ridiculous" that the
U.S. government did that, because it's a simple historical fact that
they did.