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• Friday, November 16, 2007 08:33 AM

  Bonds, drugs, etc.

  I don't have much to add here, but a couple of things are worth pointing out:

  1) Bonds' head is not bigger. I think we all know he did steroids now, so I'm not trying to deny that, but people should stop using that as a talking point. His hat size is the same it has always been. This information is available.

  2) As pointed out, I will be impressed if they can get a perjury charge to stick when they can't a steroids charge to stick. I'm not a lawyer, and I'm sure they have a plan, but it seems a little odd to me.

  3) Saying that deterrence either "works" or "doesn't work" is an exercise in futility. There are no doubt people for whom drug laws have been an important part of their not using. There are clearly an awful lot of people they have not deterred. But it's important to recognize that any set of policies designed to control drug use is likely to make some tradeoffs. The current set of tradeoffs we have is abominable.

  Unintended consequences of policy matter, and the structure and violence of drug markets in this country and internationally, not to mention the damage the prison system has done here related to drug laws, far outweigh any alleged benefit of prohibition. I'm not saying coke should be over the counter or anything, but we need a new plan. The current legal regime would be a farce if it wasn't such a tragedy.

  In closing, let's not feed the trolls here.

  —darrylzero Read darrylzero's other letters
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