we should all be like amsterdam

when it comes to the drug problem, maybe that's what i'd do if i could start this country over from scratch. plus we'd all ride bikes like crazy people.

rolling stone has a very good story about how we lost the war on drugs. i like it because it reaffirms everything i kind of already thought, but had a really hard time articulating. instead, i regurgitate:

As Kennedy reflected on the success of the Boston project, which ran for five years, he wondered if he had discovered a deeper truth about drug-related violence. If the murders weren't a necessary component of the drug trade - if it was possible to separate the two - perhaps cities could find a way to reduce the violence, even if they could do nothing about the drugs.

and if slate's jack shafer likes it, so do i.