3.01.2012

a gray market is just a black market with lobbyists, cont'd

If anyone is still interested in the ongoing discussion over the per se DUI provisions in Initiative 502 (kindly linked to by Mr. D), I've been slugging it out in the name of good science over on Slog, here, here, and most recently, here, under the handle "bleedingheartlibertarian".

I've set aside the rent-seeking argument there (others are making it just fine) and focused on the fact that 502's opponents are misunderstanding and/or misrepresenting the science. I won't repeat myself here (I already have wasted too much of my time on this) but just thought I'd make this available to anyone interested.

2 comments:

Gino said...

wow, stoners are fighting. that is not usual.

do you really think you are making headway? i gave up threads such as these (albeit, different topics) because it was always the same people saying what they said last time.

looks like the smart money bet favors the money interests, and that is what democracy is all about.

(btw, i saw the avatar, knew it was you before i saw the handle.)

Brian said...

Heh, yeah the avatar actually does look like me.

Slog is the only large-ish venue where I participate with any regularity anymore. Mostly because it's still relatively small number of "regular" commenters, and their comment system does a pretty great job of marginalizing trolls. (You can make unregistered comments, but they are hidden by default. Most trolls don't bother registering, make their comment, and most of the regulars know to not even look. It's kind of brilliant, actually.) Also, the focus tends to be very local.

These threads are also kind of a special case for me. I'm not really arguing my opinion. I'm pointing out that arguments being made from some scientific studies (that I happen to know some things about) are objectively incorrect.

It doesn't help that one of the people arguing against 502 is a physician (so he's arguing from authority), and he's citing the same studies, but it is very clear to me that he hasn't actually carefully looked at the data sets. He's scanned through and pulled the language that he thinks supports his POV.

Hard for me to let that sort of thing go. Occupational hazard.