Decriminalize It
Daily Ramble
20 years ago, almost to the day, I gave a presentation in my Communications 101 class on why drugs should be legal. This year, Oregon, my home state, became the first state in the US to decriminalize drugs. I live in Portugal, which became in 2000, and still is today, the first nation in the world to decriminalize drugs. Somehow, I’ve managed to become the center point of someone’s drug policy Venn diagram.
It wasn’t until a recent episode of Pomp’s podcast with Eliza Orlins, that I saw an opportunity to put the Kent-is-the-center-of-some-weird-drug-policy-Venn-diagram fact to good use. In the episode, Anthony Pompliano, who typically focuses on investing and tech, speaks with Eliza Orlins, a public defender running for Manhattan District Attorney, about the need for reforming drug policy in Manhattan to be more like Oregon and Portugal. Despite having 400k followers on Twitter, when I reached out to explain how I was unwittingly at the center of some drug reform policy reform effort, he wrote back expressing interest in learning more about how Portugal was getting on.
Prelude over, I can now explain why decriminalization works in Portugal. First off, decriminalization and legalization are not the same things. If someone is found with a small amount of drugs in Portugal, no big deal. If it’s a big amount, then it’s a big deal. Simple enough, yeah? What’s unique is how Portugal took a human approach to drug treatment seeing addiction as a disease rather than addiction as criminal behavior. That subtle but important distinction led to a treatment and rehabilitation based system. More importantly, people with drug issues aren’t snubbed and seen as “less than” the rest of the population. People genuinely look with compassion at those with drug problems.
I don’t know if Oregon’s approach will lead to the Oregon population itself seeing addicts as humans with health problems, but I can say, it’s a much more comfortable culture to live in when we all see each other as humans.
Favorite Thing on the Interwebs Today
Auntie Carmel breaks down the importance of keeping traditions in place. Not safe for work. Truth!
Bitcoin Price Update
Yesterday’s predicted price: $18k - $22k
Today’s predicted price: $17k - $19.7k
Yesterday again proved to be pretty dull as the price consolidated further between a tighter range of $18.9k - $19.4k. More of the same looks in store today, but the bears looks like they have control at the moment, leading to a chance of more downside. Again, the longer we go sideways, the more momentum will build for going higher.
Bitcoin Ed Bite
Let’s talk Bitcoin mining. At a high level, Bitcoin mining is the process where Bitcoin are created and transactions are secured. It is called mining because the miner is rewarded with Bitcoins for doing work — just like a gold miner’s digging is rewarded by uncovering gold. Bitcoin mining is also called Proof of Work for this reason.
What is the work that’s being done? Solving a math problem. A single math problem is done at high speed over and over again until the solution is found. Think of it like trying to figure out a Pin Code to open an App on your phone. You would try different combinations until the solution is found. That’s what the miner does. Only because it’s a computer, it consumes electricity to do so. When the miner solves the math problem, their work is rewarded in freshly minted Bitcoin. Electricity in -> Bitcoin out. Energy converted to money…kind of a big deal. Henry Ford attempted it more than 100 years ago…
Thanks for reading,
Kent