Skip to main content

You can't legislate morality!

You'd think yesterday's death of a police chief, 8 days from retirement in New Hampshire, would finally shock everyone to that reality [although I doubt it], and realize what a colossal waste of lives and resources the war on drugs has been for this country.

Resources that would be better spent insuring everyone in this country had easy access to high quality, reasonably priced health care.

We learned it in 1933, when congress finally repealed the 18th amendment which tried to prohibit the sale and use of alcohol, but did nothing more than lead to a near complete breakdown of law and authority, and expand the influence of organized crime, that to this very day still wreaks havoc and generates corruption at all levels of society.

So why can't we learn it now? It's still taught in school isn't it? Why after 40+ years haven't we figured out what a colossal waste of valuable resources and lives the war on drugs has been. While the breakdown of law and authority has not reached the levels encountered during prohibition, there is no mistaking the lives it has cost, nor the magnitude and scope of the influence spawned by the world wide cartels controlling the drug trade.

As long as the demand exists for drugs, which have been in existence since the beginning of time, there will always be those willing to fulfill that demand. They're called entrepreneurs. Others prefer the term criminal, but whatever you want to call them, they're simply businessmen, fulfilling a need of society.

I would think at least Republicans would be applauding these job creators, not trying to stifle them!

Comments

Alan Posner said…
The drug cartels don't want drugs legalized. If legal the multinational corporations would take over the business and undercut them.

No one should profit from the sale of drugs. Ideally the government would take over the manufacturing and distribution. The "profits" would go towards drug treatment facilities and reducing our deficit. (Not to mention the money we'd save on prisons).
Rebecca said…
Since prescription drugs now kill more people than car accidents, they obviously have no idea who the enemy is, which is SOP for the governemnt. Prescription drugs are the preferred high nowadays! Pill mills popping up all over Florida, doctors opening "pain management" clinics left and right.

If there was to be a war it should be waged against this predatary "type" of health care.
Marc said…
As you might have surmised already, neither of you are going to get any arguments out of me!

Popular posts from this blog

My concerns reaffirmed today

When I was first diagnosed with MCL, I pretty much read just about everything I could get my hands on, I attended various conferences, and I talked to anyone who would listen. One of the most important lessons I learned, and which I've mentioned numerous times before was No one cares more about you than you. But in addition to that, I learned to fear the drug Doxorubicin , AKA Adriamycin, Doxil, Hydroxydoxorubicin, or more affectionately the Red Devil. Besides being a deadly chemical, as is the case with most chemotherapy drugs, it is one of the few chemotherapy drugs known to cause permanent heart damage. I even heard Dr. Sandra Horning , a noted Stanford lymphoma specialist, state at the first lymphoma conference I attended in LA, there was no evidence Doxorubicin provided any added benefit to chemotherapy protocols. This was music to my ears, since Doxorubicin is very common in most lymphoma treatment protocols. And even though Dr. Horning has since changed her tune [which my sk...

Bowling: A metaphor on life [sorta]

Over the past 15+ years the game of bowling has changed dramatically. Not only has the equipment changed, making it easier for bowlers of all ages and physical conditions to participate, and score well, but there have even been major advances to how the lanes are prepared for the start of bowling. No longer is it just heavy oil, light oil, long oil, short oil, or no oil, with the latest equipment, the amount of oil can be varied from front to back and side to side, producing a myriad of patterns designed to make the game more interesting, more challenging and as you might surmise, more frustrating. No longer does the "one ball fits all" approach work any more either. In order to navigate all the differing possible lane conditions, you need to have a varied selection of bowling balls. Most pros will tell you the average bowler needs 3 balls, plus a ball for spares, but to be an above average bowler you'll need at least 6 balls, with many possessing more than that. But just...

Fatigue! Part II - Maybe it is real?

Or it's actually Motivational Deficiency Disorder, MoDeD (pronounced Mo-Dee-Dee) for short. In a report this week by Roy Moynihan who reports for the British Medical Journal Austrailian scientists may have come across the reason for extreme laziness . The condition is claimed to affect up to one in five Australians and is characterised by overwhelming and debilitating apathy. Neuroscientists at the University of Newcastle in Australia say that in severe cases motivational deficiency disorder can be fatal, because the condition reduces the motivation to breathe. Neurologist Leth Argos is part of the team that has identified the disorder, which can be diagnosed using a combination of positron emission tomography and low scores on a motivation rating scale, previously validated in elite athletes. "This disorder is poorly understood," Professor Argos told the BMJ. "It is underdiagnosed and undertreated." Who knew? Maybe I have MoDeD, from my attempts to become a...