hellkitty wrote:Frankly, I feel that once you're a certain age, if you want to destroy your body and mind, that's really your decision, isn't it? We let people wreck themselves with alcohol, and so long as they're not driving, we don't much care.
However: all drugs are NOT created equal, and bad X is one of the worst. I've lost two good college friends to it. No, they're still alive, but they're institutionalized. One doesn't even remember his own name. Most of the 'legalize drugs' crowd is really thinking of marijuana, not meth or X or PCP. And before you say, yeah, but that was *bad* X and if it were regulated it would all be like safe and quality...I snort in your general direction. Do you really trust the FDA? Do you remember no one daring to eat a tomato last summer? How 'bout the fact no one trusts peanut butter anymore? Lead in all those kids' toys? Do you REALLY mean to tell me that you trust your government to regulate psychotropic chemicals when they can't even make peanut butter safe for all?!?
Now, the 'legalize' crowd again has some theory that if drugs are regulated, we won't have 'drug related crime'--no one's gonna bust into my house to try to steal my TV to pay for his next hit.
Yeah? Prove it. Prove to me Joe Crackhead ain't gonna bust into my house and swipe my Emerson to take to a pawnshop, get his cash, and then go to Drugs R Us with that cash? So, that argument doesn't hold much weight.
HK, who sleeps with a loaded shotgun under the bed, because Joe Crackhead's paid a few too many visits to her in the past. Joe ain't afraid of the po-po, but he still respects mah boomstick.
I agree with you that an adults should be able to make decisions, even harmful ones, that only affect their own bodies and lives. Drugs, in my mind, should be addressed as a public health issue.
Now, in the case of someone damaged or killed by a bad "hit"... the seller/maker should at least be up on manslaughter or attempted murder charges. Isn't that what you would do to someone that put clorox in the sugarbowl? (I think the peanut folks should be up on similar charges.)
Adults without severe developmental disabilities are responsible for their own actions. Whether they are inebriated or sober, whether they remember doing it or not, they are still the same person. They are not "possessed" by a "demon." Their inhibitions might be lowered, their thought process might be muddled, but it is still the same person. The only exception I see to this would apply to a person who was not aware of their own inebriation.
Part of adulthood is the knowledge that when one is under the influence, one is stupider than normal. Now, the compounding affects of this stupidity might be regrettable, but if we're going to have drugs in our culture at all, we should also be responsible for our actions on them or craving them.
Drugs do not make people do things. People make themselves or allow themselves to do things.
Personally, I do not use drugs for recreation. I have an occasional drink if it is really good or to taste, not as an alcohol-delivery-system. I do imbibe fair amounts of caffeine in sodas and teas. I use ibuprofen for headaches, claritin for allergies, and immodium for stomach problems. I recognize my immersion in our drug culture.
Perhaps outright prohibition would be best, if possible. Unfortunately, the underworld economy it creates causes more problems than the drugs themselves would, generally. Regulate mild drugs in the same way drugs, alcohol, and medicines are. Allow a certain amount of home-grown just like limitations on home-brew. Require licenses for sale. Etc.