What the heroin industry can teach us about solar power

[ianganderton]

“It is the story of how Afghan opium growers have switched to solar power, and significantly increased the world supply of heroin.”

What the heroin industry can teach us about solar power

Afghan poppy farmers have embraced solar power to irrigate their crops, leading to a heroin boom.

www.bbc.com

 

[jasonhc73]

I am a little shocked at this story.

There is a little glimmer of goodness in this article too. (tomato production}

Voting merch that actually gives back to organizations making a difference

This voting merch actually gives back to organizations on the frontlines of voting education and empowerment.

news.yahoo.com

 

[svetz]

They should just legalize all narcotics.... IMHO the whole war on drugs is a misconceived notion that hurts society rather than helps it.

~50% of those imprisoned are due to some drug related offense, so legalizing it would free up half of the $80 billion spent on prisons and $100 billion on policing. The DEA could be disbanded, the FBI could refocus efforts. Government could tax the sale and make revenue. Drug economies that fuel wars would collapse, so wars would collapse and people could live happier and safer lives. In a few years, taxes overall would go down.

That money could instead be turned towards drug rehab which is about $17 to $27k/person. That same money could be used to help 4 million people a year, at that rate we'd run out of casual drug addicts in a few years.

But what about the dangers to society with having people high? A few states have legalized marijuana and not had any noticeable uptick, in fact there was a decrease in crime and violent crime [ref]. With cheap/safe plentiful drugs recreational users wouldn't get addicted to harder stuff and junkies needing a fix could get it from drug clinics rather than need to commit crimes. In fact, as we wouldn't have to send soldiers to dangerous places and with the advent of self-driving cars, and police not needing to risk their lives raiding drug dens -- the overall danger would go down. Sure, there would still be the same random crap that happens today, but I suspect the overall danger would decrease drastically.

 

[HRTKD]

I would hazard a guess that most of the losers currently driving high can't afford a self driving car to keep them from injuring someone else.

I don't know why but the mainstream media isn't reporting the problem that legalizing pot has had in Colorado. I have neighbors that are cops. They're disgusted with the number of issues that have come up. My son worked at an EMT in 2018 and 2019. The number of overdose and multidose calls has gone way up.

 

[Fred S]

I'm (only) guessing things would get out of hand for narcotics. I don't see how you could avoid widespread chronic addiction even with free treatment available, since we already have this problem while they are controlled substances. It's just hard to get around their mechanism on the brain. As far as the (U.S.) war on "soft" drugs - I think it's been a colossal waste of money, and a source of incredible grief the last 50 years. Even if you set aside all suspected source conspiracies, I think its impact has been a large net negative for our society, economically and socially. Change is hard, but I'm good with moving on to a different approach.

Interesting article. On the ground, creative people (and profit motive) really get things done, and quickly. Yeah, if only what they built was a benefit to society instead of a harm.

 

[Ampster]

“It is the story of how Afghan opium growers have switched to solar power,............

That is not a new concept. Years ago in certain parts of Northern California and Oregon pot growers used solar to pump water from streams to their hillside plots.