Q2 - Between 1971 and 1975, the government

[rsmorale]

Core:

1971-1975 - 60 citations per year for serious violations of drug-promotion laws + 1976-1980 - 5 citations per year given out for same violations --> Govt was considerably more lax in enforcing drug-promotion laws between 1976-1980 than between 1971 - 1975


Why is A the credited response?

[jiyoonsim]

Premise:
- 71-75: Gov. found 60 violations on average.
- 76-80: Gov. found 5 violations on average.

Before we jump to the conclusion, let's think about the possible reasons of this. What could have possibly caused the decrease in violations?

Maybe the government became less strict on regulation enforcement. Or, maybe the drug companies in fact abided the rules better. Now let's take a look at the conclusion.

Conclusion: The decrease is caused by gov. being more lax on regulation on 76-80 than 71-75.

The conclusion says government's becoming less strict caused the drop. A) eliminates the other possiblity, thus closing the holes of this argument. Imagine the opposite of A) (the decrease was IN FACT caused by a decrese in drug companies' violation) is true. Then the conclusion is no longer valid.

Think of this situation.
From '80 to '90, police arrested 30 drug dealers at the local park on average. From '90 to '00, police arrested 10 drug dealers at the local park on average.

Maybe the police started to apply drug laws in more relaxed way. Or, maybe, the number of drug dealers decreased indeed.

B) There's no way we can tell what is minor violation and how the enforcement has changed.

C) Political pressure? What? Where?

D) The argument isn't about what government should or should not do; it's about what caused the decrease in violations.

E) Before 71 is way out of scope. All we have to care is 71-75 and 76-80 - what is given by the stem.