Petition to change site's drug discussion policy

Can we expect to make progress as a society if we cannot advocate changing a law, which would in turn be implying something is not as bad as once thought?

Now, does this sort of thing really matter a whole lot? No, this is the internet after all. But it's a few lines of text and it would be no inconvenience. And for the sake of what's right and what's just, why not do it, even if it does not move the world?

A few more points:

1. What does Prog Archives have to fear from even the most liberal of pro-drug advocations? Is the government (first of all, which one) going to come arrest M@X? Are children going to be any more likely to do drugs if we talk about them? (As if they don't know everything about drugs anyway--this is a prog site. Don't be naive.)

2. As far as I know, Canada has drastically liberal marijuana laws compared the the US and Europe, and if the site is registered under a non-US domain (I don't know if it is), then why should it have to conform to more draconian attitudes toward drug use and discussion such as those in the US?

3. On that same point, if marijuana in particular is legal in some instances and places, then it is in fact not illegal to talk about or consume it, so once again, why should PA conform to any particular country's standard, especially since I find it highly dubious that there will be any legal consequences for mere discussion.

4. There is no moral issue. PA has no moral responsibility toward "protecting" anyone from drug use. This kind of talk about mere "protection" is the kind of hubris that gets in the way of real discussion and progress anyway.

^ Then it's a petition to change M@X's mind. It's that simple.

Nothing will change if we start talking about it either.
There are many valuable contributors here that aren't comfortable with those discussions; out of respect for them I suggest we let them have this place the way they want it to.


Edited by The Miracle - February 24 2009 at 15:07

I petition Harry stop changing his f**king avatar.

HughesJB4 wrote: ^I've changed my avatar 4 times in the entire time I've been at this site.

Three times within the past month, I think. 

Let's see...green man, High School Musical, Pokemon, and now Mario.

I agree but it will not happen. Sadly. Taboos will always exist.

laplace wrote: petition to change progarchives' drum discussion policy: no more peart vs bruford

+1

sdfg

Edited by Pnoom! - February 24 2009 at 20:10

Pnoom! wrote: Windhawk wrote: 2. I know for a fact that debates like this, obviously held elsewhere, were instigators for what ended up as serious drug abuse for both my sister and my niece. How many of you liberals out there would want to take the responsibility if your arguments were the direct cause of one individual deciding to try drugs, and then finding out that it wasn't controllable, leading to abuse and an early death? Well, first off, these arguments were not in any way shape or form a direct cause of an individual deciding to try drugs.  At best, they were an indirect cause, but, it's far more likely that they were simply a factor.  The direct cause would be that your sister and niece had an interest in trying drugs.  Please don't try and shift guilt for the bad decisions of people you know onto people who are in every way innocent. Moreover, I would love to take responsibility for having discussions advocating (and, ideally, laws universalizing) the protection of individual liberty.  People should be allowed to whatever they want to themselves, whether or not it's stupid. While I understand how much suffering this must have caused you, it is not the government's job to protect people from their own mistakes, especially when doing so implies the oppression of every single citizen of that state. Liberty comes with consequences if you don't use it responsibly.  That's hardly an argument against preserving liberty.

...and with that I think the second point is pretty much proven.

And for information: Progarchives is not (to my knowledge) associated with the government in any way.

Even removing these discussions from this site won't eradicate them from everyone's lives entirely anyway. I'd like to think this is an open-minded, mature, progressive forum, so I think it would be reasonable to allow a topic like drugs to be discussed.