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dancingtongue · 80-89, M
Let's revisit the historical track record a moment. Prohibition failed largely because the Elliot Ness storm troopers were terrorizing average citizens just trying to have wine with their dinner, or an occasional drink to satisfy the political aims of teetotaling conservatives. When it ended, all those ATF resources had to be put to work, so the War On Drugs began, criminalizing drugs that had been readily available previously and driving drugs into the hands of offshore cartels and smugglers.
In neither case was the problem of addiction addressed. Prisons over-crowded and people killed for minimal usage by Morality Police.
If and when ICE is finally reined in, expect all those resources to be pivoted onto the sex trafficking issue; most likely ballyhooed as a response to the Epstein perfidy. But they will go after the low hanging fruit -- the streetwalkers, the small brothel -- rather than the pimps, traffickers, big time abusers.
It will take another round of public uprising before the find another target. And as with alcohol and drugs, they won't seriously look at addressing the underlying issue or problem. Just try to regulate everyone's morality. And the issue of sex trafficking, in many ways, is much simpler to resolve than addiction to alcohol and drugs. As Nevada and a good many countries have found, you legalize and regulate prostitution -- requiring licensure, age requirements, regular checks for STD's -- and it is no longer profitable for the pimps and traffickers.
But it seems the U.S. has to go through this overstep of masked enforcers before the can accept it is overkill. And then we tend to walk away from the underlying problem as if it went away.
In neither case was the problem of addiction addressed. Prisons over-crowded and people killed for minimal usage by Morality Police.
If and when ICE is finally reined in, expect all those resources to be pivoted onto the sex trafficking issue; most likely ballyhooed as a response to the Epstein perfidy. But they will go after the low hanging fruit -- the streetwalkers, the small brothel -- rather than the pimps, traffickers, big time abusers.
It will take another round of public uprising before the find another target. And as with alcohol and drugs, they won't seriously look at addressing the underlying issue or problem. Just try to regulate everyone's morality. And the issue of sex trafficking, in many ways, is much simpler to resolve than addiction to alcohol and drugs. As Nevada and a good many countries have found, you legalize and regulate prostitution -- requiring licensure, age requirements, regular checks for STD's -- and it is no longer profitable for the pimps and traffickers.
But it seems the U.S. has to go through this overstep of masked enforcers before the can accept it is overkill. And then we tend to walk away from the underlying problem as if it went away.