You've been very tactful with your words but just IMHO it would not be out of line to be more openly critical...
I just read the article you linked, one thing I'll say though is that it's not exactly clear what he wants to happen, at least to me, so to take the most optimistic viewpoint possible (probably unwarrantedly) maybe he's actually wanting to draw attention to the harms caused by prohibition and everything that it entails, and hoping to advocate for the urgent need for full legalization of all psychoactive substances so that they can be more properly regulated, so that people like himself would not suffer the consequences of pushing access to recreational substances of all kinds, including nitrous oxide, into the shadows of unregulated, grey market or fully illegal sales, and away from any kind of proper psychological support which would come with proper legal regulation of nitrous oxide for recreational use, or, indeed, any other substance. BUT, admittedly it doesn't sound like that... it sounds like he just wants MORE prohibition, MORE punitive punishment, MORE draconian crackdowns on completely nonviolent, mostly totally harmless "crime" in the form of substance use or supply...
It is just so fucking tiresome this shit, again trying to view things in the kindest possible light he is pretty young and maybe having a somewhat normal - if ignorant, shortsighted, selfish - reaction to a situation that it sounds like caused him some trouble... and some of this can be put down to the overwhelming pervasiveness and unfortunately global success of prohibitionist propaganda - it's just so difficult for people to imagine that the situation that they consider the default, that most drugs are illegal in most places, is actually the situation that's the biggest driver behind pretty much any drug-related problem that anyone can imagine. So when people run into these issues with one or another drug which isn't so tightly regulated, and - here's where I just can't help being a little critical - they're just somewhat ignorant, misinformed, selfish, stupid, or something - their default thought is WOAH! This should be MORE ILLEGAL! Never mind the fact that in whatever kind of draconian world this person was imagining where nitrous oxide possession becomes more illegal, the actual outcome of his situation would surely be much worse if it meant more severe legal consequences, a prison sentence, or even a death sentences which obviously sounds totally absurd to most of us but would be very much an outcome that's on the cards in much of the world.
A friend of mine who as much as he is a good friend, one of my best I guess, IMO is kinda selectively very ignorant about certain issues in many ways... Anyway he got addicted to alcohol a little while back, medically detoxed and now is mostly entirely sober, doing fine, but there was some woman from the UK who developed a secret alcohol problem and launched a petition calling for alcohol delivery to be banned - at least, again, that was how it was reported, I read what she actually wrote and it was more nuanced - actually calling for the existing regulations to be properly enforced (ie, ID check for alcohol deliveries) OR a total ban. Anyway so my friend also was like "should just be banned, it's so harmful, blah blah blah"... Never mind the fact he lives 10 minutes away from a shop and that plenty of people who order alcohol via delivery from time to time DON'T develop alcohol problems...
So it's a similar case anyway IMO, mind you I'll say certainly there is some nuance here relating to, for example, ID checks on delivery. I would actually ABSOLUTELY be for enforcing proper ID checks on alcohol deliveries, and nitrous oxide deliveries, as that guy said. Obviously with nitrous, specifically, the very fact that it's not properly LEGALLY REGULATED is part of the reason that ID checks obviously just don't happen. If it was made MORE ILLEGAL, though, then OBVIOUSLY there will be NO ID checks happening, how many street dealers of any completely illegal substance check the age of their customers? Obviously none. I mean that said maybe it's happened once in a blue moon I guess but, effectively none.
It just isn't possible to talk about reforms to drug policy without mentioning the fact that prohibition is the primary exacerbating factor in pretty much every drug related problem, and that shit is so often completely missing from these discussions.
I guess maybe I'm being a bit too harsh here... I understand that fundamentally a lot of the time in these kind of situations it's essentially an emotional reaction from people who are suffering, not an entirely rationally considered sentiment. But these emotional reactions are seized upon by the privileged "LAW AND ORDER!" scumbags with actual power to affect things, ie., media which reports sensationalist stories with the most black-and-white outrage-inducing angle, politicians which seize on these anecdotal, emotionally driven stories to promote themselves on the backs of emotionally engaging but poorly thought out and basically objectively counterproductive policies, and all the opportunist amoral grifters, assholes and morons in the orbit of these people...
But the people being exploited by those with actual power, who have been negatively affected most by systemic forces seemingly outside of their knowledge or understanding, and are calling for more of the same (MORE PROHIBITION! MORE PUNITIVE LAWS!) are, in a large amount of cases, simply not capable of being objective about what kind of social reforms would actually be helpful in the long run...
For the same reasons, essentially, we don't let the victims of crimes or the families of victims of crimes (even unambiguously horrific ones) decide the sentences of the perpetrators... at least not in most of the civilized world, it does still happen in those same parts of the world where death sentences persist for nonviolent drug offenses. Emotional reactions generally don't lead to justice or the kind of policies that keep society safe and stable in the long term, it just becomes about revenge and personal vengeance.
Mind you I'll just say there's a caveat to even that, I'd certainly be in favour of a few more punitive laws as long as they were properly directed, ie, aimed at the politicians who dishonestly promote destructive drug policies... Or, going back to the specific case about ID checks for deliveries of N2O or alcohol - especially in the case of alcohol, although I'm just trying to stay on topic, hah - the punishment for noncompliance with existing laws needs to be solely targeted at the top executives of these companies, and needs to include heavy fines and potential prison sentences for repeat offenders, NOT the overworked, underpaid drivers at the bottom just trying to earn enough money to live. I'd say quite a lot of social issues caused by weak enforcement of existing regulations would be very quickly solved if the livelihoods or lifestyle of the top executives, trying to use every legal loophole to squeeze every single drop of profit out of every human life they perceive to be below them, were actually threatened.
