All wealthy countries should immediately enact the drug laws used in the Netherlands, addicts then visit their doctors for prescriptions to buy at cost whatever drugs they need to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Those hooked on drugs manufactured by corporations should be supplied with generics purchased with government scale discounts and also sold at cost. Corporations producing addictive drugs beyond quantities necessary to maintain normal medical distribution should have their profit and loss income statements audited very closely, with a stated goal of prosecuting department heads responsible for antisocial behavior.

This article would have done much better to stress the more practical rope joint system shown in the first photo rather than the expensive, factory built homes, disassembled and then reassembled with cranes and expensive bolts in the film about "two days and two houses." Saving time is not at all important for self-sheltering by the billions of underemployed who have been left out of the mad scramble to build corporate consumerism. It also would have been better to show examples of the bamboo houses that withstood earthquake and tsunami rather than tell how people from advanced countries are attempting to devise codes so structures accomplish the same thing. At least give a source for photos or an exact location for the structures so photos can be taken before the structures are lost in time. Do any of the structures mentioned for code acceptance strive for a $5/sq/ft cost or less? Has anyone stopped to consider that self-sheltering by the billions who need housing will be able to absorb the worst grades of bamboo and leave the best grades for other uses? There is no reason at all not to use the very worst grades of bamboo to build beautiful, sculptured earthquake safe and fire safe shelter. My impression is that foo foo high class bamboo artist type carpenters are working on these mentioned codes, that's fine and dandy, also beautiful in its own high-cost way, but leave out attempts to capitalize on the needs of billions of poor souls who need shelter precisely because the upper class has become so stratified that little is left over for anyone else.Repeat : the very lowest grade bamboo is perfect for self-sheltering by the billions who have been left out in the mad rush for more. Nuts, bolts, expensive tools, factories and cranes are not going to help at all.

Okay, this is probably a no brainer : How many think these problems would evaporate if the US legalized drugs and addicts went to their doctor for a prescription to keep withdrawal pains at bay ?

See May issue of, "Science." Cuba $325/year health cost per person, per year. Cuban health statistics now closely parallel United States health stats; life expectancies are very similar, for example. Some Cuban statistics are superior: universal health care is one example, every person is talked to by a health assessor at least once per year. Cuba educates 10,000 doctors per year for other less commercialized cultures, and does this free, a transfer between planetary neighbors which makes the world a nicer place for Cubans to live with gusto. What other Cuban cultural positives do we not wish ourselves to know about? Organic gardening? Cuban salsa jazz? Conclusion of "Science," US should send scientists to study and learn from advances in Cuban medical science and practice.

source, Science ... http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/328...

I develop shelter technology and domestic water manuals for those who cannot afford what is often viewed as standard. Billions of people earn less than one dollar per day, these are the people who appreciate what I have discovered; I call it space-age mud and wattle, housing that can be built as beautiful sculpture for less than 1/3 the cost of a red cross tent, per area of measurement unit. This has led me to discover economic principles of justice. My work is available to all at ferrocement.com, I coach shelter, water, art and small business projects by email. I am an economist. Cordially, Garrett

Ecological Economics questions the wisdom of stimulus used to expand economic output. Yes, it is wise to promote green job creation and increased emphasis on education and health, still, the unresolved question remains how to reduce total economic activity and increase distributive justice in the present and between the present and future. Reductions in economic activity and population have not been pursued by government policy which has been based on growth in tax revenues. Qualitative growth can go forward for ever on a finite planet. Stimulus of quantitative growth will cause increased problems through further reduction of formerly free environmental services provided by a healthy planet. The route to a sustainable world culture is marked by clear signposts that indicate reductions in pollution and increases in life force total and diversity. Cordially, Garrett