(or are they? have I been disinfo'd?)

I am of the opinion that the drug war is evil: cops and jails ruining someone's life because of a recreational activity. And the evidence shows it does more harm than good, not stuff I have to go over again.

But DPRK and China are harsh on drugs, not sure about Cuba.

What's up with that?

First counterargument that comes to my mind is a lot of capitalist countries are very harsh on drugs as well, like the very capitalist Singapore, so you couldn't draw a correlation. What other counterarguments should a comrade consider?

    • alcoholicorn [comrade/them, doe/deer]
      ·
      2 years ago

      That makes sense for opium, but china has used medicinal and industrial cannabis for millennia, and only outlawed it at the behest of America in the 80s.

      How did China's perspective on cannabis evolve to be anywhere near that of opium in the last 40 years?

      • supafuzz [comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I don't think it is in practice. People smoke in Beijing, I've uh seen it. Easy to come by in rural areas too.

        • space_comrade [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I'd say alcohol affects productivity equally if not more so than cannabis.

          They did it because everybody else was doing it and they wanted to play along to not cause any drama during their opening up. It's also not really the only time Chinese policy was influenced by the West, the one child policy was heavily influenced by western think tanks and NGOs.

    • glimmer_twin [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Almost all countries have a “negative impression” of drugs, doesn’t excuse draconian drug policing