Are Cocaine Users Killing the Rainforest?
The argument that cocaine users are destroying the environment is rapidly leading its proponents into a spiraling abyss of irony and incoherence:
If you're into charlie, snow, or a few lines of snort, Colombia's Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón has a message for you: your cocaine use is a "predator of the rain forest" and a serious threat to human life.
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"Cocaine use requires a disposable income and during the week many users drive hybrid cars and recycle. Then, on the weekend, he or she destroys everything they believe in," Calderón said. [Huffington Post]
Wait, what!? Did he just say that cocaine users are successful and well-educated? Shall police start profiling Prius drivers for drug searches? I remember the good old days when cocaine was supposed to make you steal things and kill people.
I can’t even begin to imagine why you’d argue that cocaine is part of a healthy lifestyle if your goal is to make people stop doing it. If all this is true, then we can conclude rather easily that the problem with cocaine is how it’s produced and sold (which can be changed) rather than what happens when people use it (which cannot).
The two options are 1) illicit cocaine cultivation in the rainforest, or 2) regulated cultivation somewhere else. There is no third option in which everyone agrees not to do coke. If you wait for that to happen while the rainforests burn, you’re a bigger part of the problem than the party people who drive Priuses.
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redditbetter keep that shit under raps
Comment posted by cjlafaye on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 11:21pmyou no if your not full of shit anonymous if they find out that shit will be illegal tomorrow but man that would be so sweet to have a secret that those bastards could not stop us from indulging in our taste and if you find opiates cousin. please do tell at least we can have a nite with that boy
Blame Games
Comment posted by Giordano on Tue, 12/09/2008 - 10:58pmNow that coke consumers in the U.S. are being blamed by President Calderón for rainforest destruction in Colombia, we can all forget about the clear-cutting of rainforest in Brazil and the huge swaths of native habitat that are wiped out only to be replaced with cattle grazing and the attendant commercial meat production that funnels megatons of hamburger to consumers in the United States. Take that, meat lovers.
Blaming cocaine consumers is easier than blaming carnivores because cokeheads are in no position to defend their honor or their Priuses. It’s possible to blame coke users for anything. However, all you’ll get for your accusation is some snickering and muffled laughter. Anyone can play that game. If Sr. Calderón really needs to blame someone, he should blame John P. Walters for causing the ONDCP’s loss of its virginity.
Giordano