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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (69547)	12/14/2010 2:31:43 AM
From: Maurice Winn	3 Recommendations Respond to of 218628

It seems a better idea to declare that all plants are legal, leaving people to poison themselves if they wish to do so. Plants produce a vast array of chemicals designed for self defense. They deliberately target all sorts of physiological functions including various neurotransmitters. An incapacitated monkey would be Fast Food for various predators, so it makes sense for plants to target neurological functions so that the monkeys [and other nerve propelled plant eaters] cease and desist, or at least only eat the plant in extreme hunger when more comestible species are unavailable. As a practical matter, it seems foolish to try to stop people growing plants, which is a very easy thing to do. The attempts have been fruitless [fruitless ... yes, good one Mq]. So yes, it would be a good idea to open China to opium, which would help with the trade balance. With the USA open too, USA consumption wouldn't go up spectacularly but the payments USA consumers currently have to make would go down a lot, helping with the trade balance. China would see a surge in consumption and their payments would go up a lot, also helping with the trade balance. Instead of umpty$billions going to intermediaries and very expensive distribution systems, with many deaths through violence, the growers would get a greater share of the money and the swarms of intermediaries could get real jobs that pay better. There would no longer be a need to buy very expensive boats, aircraft and even submarines to move container loads of the stuff. It could move through normal low cost logistics and be sold at Wal-Mart at low prices. Prison numbers would be dramatically reduced. Police could do real work catching actual criminals who have actual involuntary victims. Earlier this century, I suggested that having opium illegal is actually extremely dangerous for the USA. Because of the demand for opium [due in part to it's "cool" factor], there is smuggling of it into the USA. The smugglers need to find a way in and pay off those who they need to pay. When a shipment of a ton or so arrives in a port, the customers officers need to give it a wink as it goes by. Perhaps they even get a "catch" thrown to them as part of the shipment so they can not only be paid a hefty bribe, but can also get a promotion for intercepting a shipment [albeit a tiny proportion of the total shipment]. Now suppose the smugglers want to smuggle something else in, such as tomatoes or gold, they could hide it inside the opium knowing that the customs inspectors would be waving that particular container through. What's something that somebody in Afghanistan or surrounding countries such as Pakistan, Iran or maybe even Russia might want to smuggle into the USA? It would be something of high value. Suppose Al Qaeda was to acquire a suitcase nuke or even a tactical nuke of larger size if not a seriously large device. Then suppose they wanted to get it into a good location in the USA. My theory was that the smugglers would buy a load of opium, wrap their atomic bomb in it, then tell the customs bloke there's another shipment of opium coming through if he would be so kind as to check those other containers or perhaps have a look at his Swiss Bank Account balance while the container goes through unimpeded. There's no way in Hell the customs bloke would let a nuke through, but he wouldn't be worried about opium. In recent years, that process has probably been made difficult with detection of faint radiation which would be difficult to adequately suppress. But several years ago, the door was probably as open as cockpit doors before 911 [which seemed a stupid thing to do but I personally sat two paces behind an open cockpit door flying across the USA but didn't say anything to avoid the air crew doing their normal stupid thing and totally misinterpreting the comment as being a threat. Being arrested would not have amused me. Now, after the horse and Al Qaeda have bolted through the cockpit doors, they close them. Legalize cocaine, opium and marijuana, leaving people to figure out for themselves that poisoning themselves is not all that smart. At least they'll learn at lower cost than the current method. Coca Cola was apparently made with cocaine as an ingredient. I believe growing opium poppies is legal in NZ and my wife sometimes grows quite a collection. That's what I was told but maybe the variety we had is unsuitable for opium. It doesn't make sense given the fanatical laws in NZ, but I haven't actually checked. Mqurice