Quote:
Originally Posted by acmilan
You must be kidding. Many developed countries will be happy if their countries have such so called "draconian and unreasonable by developed world standards" laws on illegal substances. Sure S'pore is a 'fine' city but the trade off is it is a much safer, secure place for family/kids.
I am more of a liberal than a conservative but I also think we need strong laws on crimes, drugs in exchange for better security and peace of mind.
Which is why I applaud Thaksin purging and eliminating those thousands of drug dealers when he was in power then.  |
I totally disagree with this as the U.S. prohibition era and the powerful cartels in South America have shown that harsh enforcement is usually a fruitless endeavor. It drives up profits to a level where big business and government corruption is an eventuality. Singapore as a nation is unique in many respects though so I won't get into too long winded of a comparison between why this type of enforcement appears to work in Singapore but not other countries. There are historical reasons for most NEA (or ethnic Chinese) countries to take such a harsh stance with drug use which I do understand. But, look at Portugal and Spain. They totally lifted punitive drug enforcement laws and their countries haven't fallen into chaos and anarchy. The reason why is that they realize that most of the issues are with educating and rehabilitating the consumer. If you can reduce demand then supply is irrelevant. Economics 101.
Let me leave you with this quote:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.