Are we any better than drug dealers?

[toots]

I really don't go along with that "someone's going to get that money, why not you?" argument.

Let's try "someone is going to roll that drunk, why not you?" "Someone is going to steal cable service, why not you?"

Yeah, gambling is legal, but if you're looking at it strictly from a moral perspective, it's hard to justify taking money from an out-of-control fool, even if there's a line of alternates standing behind you. It ain't your responsibility for "fixing" his out-of-controlness, but neither is it your responsibility to facilitate it.

Here's how I rationalize playing poker (assuming that I'd be an overall winning player):

When I first started playing, a dealer friend told me that poker players are all jerks. Since the poker boom started, I've seen absolutely nothing to seriously challenge his assertion. So, me winning is one jerk (me) bilking another jerk out of his/her money. Symmetry is preserved.

[A_C_Slater]

A true professional doesn't pity anyone. Not even himself.

[tek]

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I am with AngryCola about being an independent casino. That is why poker players are called 'fleas' at casino's, we contribute little and suck these little piles of cash out of the big Casino Cash Cow, taking a little here, a little there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't worry, many winning poker players pockers get lighter as they pass the sports book and craps tables...

[toots]

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A true professional doesn't pity anyone. Not even himself.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice to know that sociopathy shows no sign of abating.

[coffeecrazy1]

I agree with the last poster that the major beef most drug opponents have is with the violence that it tends to cause, rather than through an overt sense of charity for the well-being of their fellow man.

I personally support the legalization of drugs because I believe the war on drugs actually increases the demand, price, and desire for drugs in the USA. I think that making them legal could move them into the public eye and subject them to closer scrutiny instead of being a hidden problem. I believe that drug abuse is a medical, rather than criminal problem.

NOW, the question is whether or not we are any better than drug dealers. I say yes, we are, because this is still a game. Money is not the point of poker; the game is. Money is just the way we keep score.

For those who play poker professionally, you are not "dealing" anything. You are taking all comers who wish to challenge you. If they are poor challenges, or are otherwise unable to win, then they lose, because someone has to lose.

Let's not forget something, people: Addiction is nothing but another leak in someone's game. Brush away all that other rhetoric, and in terms of poker, addiction is just a hole in someone's game, nothing more. We all fight it, in one way or another, because mostly we would rather be at a poker table than doing 80% of the things we have to do in life.

[Mike]

That's funny! Reminds me of a new strategy I learned just last week:

"If you do not have enough money to play at the limit you want, you play a higher limit winning just one hand. Then you have enough money play on in your normal game."

[CORed]

IMO, poker players are morally better than casinos. Casinos offer games that can't be beaten. (with a few exceptions like blackjack, or rare situations like biased roulette wheels)Winning poker players win by virtue of superior skill and knowledge, not by offering a game with an unbeatable house edge. Of course, both poker players and casinos make some of their money from compulsive, addicted gamblers who really can't afford their losses, and some from recreational gamblers who feel that they are getting their money's worth in entertainment.

[CORed]

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Its this violence, more than peoples concern for addicts, that drives most anti-drug dealer sentiment, imho.

[/ QUOTE ]

The violence in the drug trade is a direct consequence of the illegality of drugs.

[rusellmj]

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If Drugs could be strictly regulated like alcohol there would be no drug addicts, only tax income for the community.

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"The violence in the drug trade is a direct consequence of the illegality of drugs."


Maybe I'm missing the point in these comments, but, they seem a little short sighted. While legal, strictly regulated and taxed with impunity, alcohol causes untold misery to million upon millions of lives every year. Violence doesn't only come from the muzzle of a gun. It also comes in the form of the drunk driver, the drunken, abusive spouse/parent, and many other forms contrived in the minds of those under the influence. Yeah, people get killed in the drug trade, but let's not pretend the violence will stop with the passing of a few laws and some regulation. Maybe I just need to see some cold stats on the trade off of who gets hurt pre and post legalization. I also don't think comparing another countries policies and stats to ours is an indicator. It's a different game here. Many things have an influence. Gun regulation is just one.
I am completely open to different viewpoints.

Oh, and I do not think playing winning poker is anything like drug dealing. If you're uncomfortable, Dan gave a couple great suggestions.

Russ

[Mike]

I think we suffer from tunnel vision? We play poker and we see the addicted gamblers up front, at least in B & M. While your points are valid, problems like you describe are not just alcohol related.

Ever think about the food we eat and the clothes we wear? Some of people who grew our food or made our clothes are not as well off as share croppers or migrant workers in the US are. Some of the work is done by children, forced labor, and slavery. Some of those people are starving while they are filling up the boxes of produce to be shipped to us to eat from some country we can't even find on a map without a reference.

Or another example, an 83 year old chess set I own. It was made by some little kid (probably now dead btw) in Iraq who's family lived as nomads. I paid less than $100.00 for a chess set that took a child three months to make. He did not even have to worry about education, there were no schools. Probably the same situation today for some other little kids in that part of the world. And so on and so forth.

Human misery is everywhere, not just at the tables. If there were none we would continue to create it, so we could judge how we are doing compared to others.