Re: =>Albert Hofmann, Inventor of LSD, Embarks on Final Trip <=

On Mon, 5 May 2008 10:48:27 -0700 (PDT), M_P <m_p@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>> >> >And the government that passed these bans didn't think so?
>>
>> >> I certainly hope they weren't that naive.
>>
>> >Your hopes mean squat. If they didn't think the laws would be
>> >effective, why did they bother? Just so they could be anal-retentively
>> >consistent?
>>
>> That is certainly one aspect of it, yes.
>
>A clearly ridiculous theory.

He might be wrong, but it certainly isn't a "clearly ridiculous
theory". I don't really know why LSD was originally banned, whether
those in authority genuinely thought it was a threat to the people, to
themselves, or for some other reason. I've read a lot abot it, but I
still don't claim to know the answer.

However... in related news.... fresh (i.e. not dried) magic mushrooms
were made illegal in the UK recently. They went from being completely
legal, to having the same status in law as Heroin, Cocaine (and LSD or
MDMA for that matter). The reason *was* simply to make the law more
consistent. They were already Class A drugs if "prepared" for
consumption. Prosecutions were brought for the sale of fresh
mushrooms, and at least one was thrown out by the magistrate hearing
the case on the grounds that the law was ambiguous. The government
then acted to make the law less ambiguous - not to protect people, not
because people were being damaged by the shrooms (although there was
widespread re****ting of a guy who'd died after taking far too high a
dose in completely inappropriate cir***stances - and our puritanical
press somehow failed to mention that the death was actually several
years in the past - they couldn't find anything more recent).

So if one government (dominated by lawyers, as they tend to be these
days) can make a perfectly legal, and almost completely harmlesss (if
not beneficial) into one that can be punished with a life sentence,
then I don't think it's "clearly ridiculous" that another government
once did a similar thing...

pj