What I'm saying is that everything we are doing to maintain the status quo needs to be taken into consideration, and removing any one part of it without changing everything else will never work.

If I had the magic bullet I would have fired it long ago buddy.

I do know that we expend a considerable amount of resources effectively getting one half of the population to guard the other - managers in the workplace, police officers in the streets, prison guards etc. So there's a loss of productivity there.

We also live in small nuclear families and miss out on many economies of scale that could be possible if we lived in larger groups. Heating, food, transportation costs, bandwidth, basically everything that's important.

It's called 'Problem - Reaction - Solution';

The alternative to having police isn't just 'not having police'. Police, the criminal justice system, prisons etc are only necessary because of the social environment we live in.

As a slashdot member I find that last comment somewhat offensive. I have been harrassed by police for the type of clothes I'm wearing and the type of car I'm driving.

As a cannabis user I live under the daily (but distant) threat of being pulled over and drug tested and failing if I've smoked in the last few weeks.

The police are most definitely not out to protect my interests. In fact most of the relations I have had with police are due to disagreements between what non-violent acts should be considered illegal. Until the current generation of lawmakers dies out and are replaced by rational, critical thinking people I think the police will have a hard time cultivating a good public image. Unfortunately for them, and for me, the next generation of crusty old bastards are well on their way to becoming that.

The flipside is that if a girl I don't particularly like is interested in me, I can just tell them I work with computers and then they leave me alone. :D

Dave, basically all of the negative behaviours you associate with drug users are consequences of prohibition rather than drug use itself.

Your friend is going to prison because she broke a law that only exists to enable the prohibition of drugs. She probably did it to pay for her habit, and the only reason the drugs cost more than a can of coke is because the prices are controlled by black market forces.

I'm guessing she is also feeling pretty isolated after everyone in her life that thinks like you has written her off because the thing she likes to do happens to be illegal at this time in your country. You sir, are a bad friend.

Don't have to be so derisive, Hairyfeet clearly sympathises with you he just hasn't taken it on board yet...

Socialism isn't a dirty word you know.

No, the point is that if you have a choice between a 35-40k acura and a 15-20k honda, you are comparing two different car models. A 35-40k acura is just a 35-40k honda with an acura badge.

But, the end of the last ice age about 8,000 - 10,000 years ago would have inundated many coastal settlements at about the same time.

If it was my website I wouldn't have dropped wikileaks.

They didn't ask for it...

If that was the case, they wouldn't be selling ebooks of the leaked cables.

They are not actively denying access, they are blocking the doors. Anyone that gets lucky and waits long enough will get the page served up, cos its Amazon.