This country's priorities are totally upside down!

First, read this:

http://proliberty.com/observer/20020101.htm

And then, on the SAME DAY this story makes headlines, Jeb Bush's daughter gets arrested for perscription fraud:

http://www.miami.com/herald/digdocs/027301.htm

Of course, she won't have to put up with nearly the rigamarole that poor kid in the first story did.

I am so tired of this useless, apocryphal War on Drugs. I am so tired of the children of privilege not being held accountable for their actions.

When did all of this get so out of hand?

/me checks the other window. Oh good, this is the rants/raves forum. With that in mind, let me proceed.

It seems that there is a certain kind of person -- for lack of a better word, I'll call this person a "busybody". This person is usually a churchgoer. His or her hobbies include hanging out with other people just like him/her, and snubbing anyone who is not just like him/her.

Due to social isolation, this person tends to be extremely ignorant. They understand nothing outside of their narrow little world-views. However, they are also arrogant; and they think that everything that they do not understand (or which is different) is inferior or wrong.

In short, they are anti-geeks.

They are the people who oppose the Internet; and yet they've never used it. They oppose homosexuality, and sex outside of marriage, and alcohol, and drugs, and long hair on males, and cross-dressing, and prostitution, and abortion, and ... well, the list is nearly infinite. Let me summarize: they oppose any expression of individuality, since they expect everyone to be just like them. Or to be more candid, just like they would want themselves to be. Because in reality most of these people have at least one serious vice (according to their own definition).

Less than 100 years ago, the US tried to prohibit the sale of alcohol. This led to a massive surge in crimes of all variety. People did not stop consuming alcohol; they simply had to do so more clandestinely, and at a higher price. The higher prices led to theft, etc.

You don't have to be a student of history to know what it was like during Prohibition. The same thing is happening now. People who want to use marijuana (or other recreational drugs) aren't stopped by the prohibitionist laws. They still use it; they simply have to do so in fear and shame. And it costs more. And it's riskier, both legally and medically.

I don't drink alcohol; I don't use marijuana or any other recreational drugs. I've never had any drug stronger than codeine, which was prescribed when my wisdom teeth were extracted. I don't have first-hand experience with the difficulties that drug users face.

Yet it's clear that the "busybodies" are doing irreparable harm to our society. The per capita prison population of the United States in 2000 was the second highest in the world, trailing only that of Russia.

I understand there are some people, like Carl Sagan, who can use marijuana and still live a normal, useful, life. But I'm inclined to believe they are the exception.

quote:

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Originally posted by Joetoe:
The reason I'm against legalizing marijuana is my stepson uses it. He has dropped out of high school, only gets minimum wage jobs which he can't hold, has stolen money and things from his own family, and has stolen and forged checks against his own family's checking account.

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quote:

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Originally posted by annie:
(my actual idea was to send them off on a one way trip on a spaceship, but Tau Zero didn't seem to think that was feasible. Spoilsport. ).

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tau Zero:
Not true! I just bridled at the idea of a bunch of idiot busybodies having a big neato spaceship that I helped pay for, and me [b]not having one! It seemed like a reversal of priorities. [/B]

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Well then you just should have asked for one. And who's to say we can't use their own money to build it, they won't need money in space. And I thought that I told you already that the assumption there was that spaceships were cheap and readily available.

Getting back on-topic, should we put people who can't control their drug use (and steal etc.) on the ships-of-no-return along with the busybodies?

I think that's one big thing that supports the politics of prohibition; the public looks at the crimes committed by a certain sub-class of drug users and decides that the laws throwing them in jail are okay.  It doesn't seem to occur to most people that if it was legal (as it was at the turn of the century), people would be able to get it cheap or grow their own and be able to finance just about any habit.  The only remaining problem is those people whose drug habits impair them otherwise to the point where they do not discharge their other responsibilities.  And is that even a big problem so long as it's temporary?

(I've got a personal interest in this.  Someone I know was spending his life as a stoner, dropped out of school, working a nothing job... and lo and behold, at the age of 19 he got his GED, went back and grauduated from HS at 20, and just ditched his skanky girlfriend and joined the Army with an eye toward paying his tuition for a degree in sports medicine.  A newly-minted Private was to have reported to Fort Knox this week, and I expect I'll find out pretty soon how his change of career is progressing.  One thing for sure, the drill sergeants aren't likely to cut him any slack:  his mother is an ex-Army drill instructor!)

And as long as you're saying so... Annie, can I have a great big neato spaceship?  I've always wanted to fly around the rings of Saturn.

quote:

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Originally posted by Joetoe:
The reason I'm against legalizing marijuana is my stepson uses it. He has dropped out of high school, only gets minimum wage jobs which he can't hold, has stolen money and things from his own family, and has stolen and forged checks against his own family's checking account.

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With all due respect -- how does this differ from the problems faced by a chronic alcoholic? And alcohol was legal, last I checked.

Why is there a certain class of people that believes you can make a problem go away by outlawing it? I've never seen this strategy work, even at the level of a parent who says their kids can't watch a certain show -- if they're determined enough they'll find a friend to tape it and watch it at their house.

The only effective means I've ever seen of solving a problem are to educate yourself about it and then act on that knowledge.

AAARGH...sometimes people make me just wanna go live on an asteroid or something. (Annie, put me down for a spaceship too, I guess...)