The state as a drug dealer

As dumb a headline as it is perennial. The most recent instance comes out of the country we have dubbed Little Germany (Austria) in a recent post. Our little laboratory for all things German is coming through.

If you add a question mark to the end of the statement, you have an attention getting book title, like this example on Amazon Germany.

Two current news items prompted this post, one, the headline (with the question mark) is from the German website zeit online, and it provides a good account of the current flare up. Two, the visit of the U.S. president to Mexico and the usual blurps about the drug war that go along with any such visit. No, we did not feel in the least bit tempted to check any of the web sites of the defenders of the nation for any smirking reference to one of the president's books.
 
The K-landnews team loves this kind of headline without the question mark, its emotional appeal, the combination of teasing and revulsion any budding demagogue can savor.

Do you even need to read an article with that headline?

Not if you know that the publication is one of those like Austrian paper "Der Standard". In a publication like that, the headline is just a semaphore, an invitation to come in and get your fix of indignation and conspiracy theory.

There are numerous articles everywhere that use the same slogan to describe unsanctioned involvement of government officials and police in the illicit trade. But if you go this route, make sure to use it only for a "Third World" or less developed nation. And do yourself and your career a favor by not using a headline "the state as a killer" (with or without a question mark) in an article that points out that more people die from adulterated drugs or prescription drugs than illegal but clean ones.

If you have ever had a close friend or a relative addicted to heroin, you may know that life is not black or white, no amount of dumbass fabrication and misinformation will change it.

How many of the zealots in this area will turn out to be just like those we have seen in the anti-gay arena? To mix it up a little, atheists sometimes get similar vibes, the yuck factor (yuck, how can you live without God) coupled with suspicion (do they know something I don't? do they have more fun?). And your atheist footwear may get lost.

Whatever the big picture and the issues may be, using the headline "The state as a drug dealer", with or without the question mark, would appear to kill off any sensible discussion.

The kind of debate under way today in Austria has an approximate cycle of two to three years without any major external event reigniting it prematurely.

So, come back to this post in 2015 or 2016 for a refresher.

[Update 11/1/2015] It is somewhat hilarious that German media announce a planned change in pot policy on All Saints Day, but so be it. According to these reports, the German government is planning to go into the medical cannabis business. Doing this the German way entails a few things: a new government agency for this specific purpose and a very limited number of use cases (serious illnesses), distribution through the existing medical prescription system, no growing by patients themselves, and all other uses continue to criminal offenses.