Waking up and reading the morning paper is a true American tradition, and on I take part in every morning – online. Reading through this morning’s articles on AlbanyHerald.com, I came across this editorial piece with the disingenuous headline ‘Let Jackson Rest In Peace’.
I say disingenuous because while the article did talk about the hype surrounding Michael Jackson’s death, its main point was about the ‘positive lasting benefit’ his death may have:
The US Government may ban/regulate yet another drug.
As if we aren’t providing gang-bangers and Mexican drug cartels with enough profit centers already, the Herald wants us to provide them with yet another drug they can use to make money to wage war on our streets.
I should note here that I absolutely do not condone the usage of illegal drugs in any way so long as they remain illegal – even while I push for their legalization.
That said, we have already seen the failure of the Drug War, and its only lasting contribution to society will be the gangs.
Quite simply, so long as a person is only harming themselves by ingesting a harmful substance – such as cocaine, meth, propofol, sildenafil citrate, alcohol, and tobacco, among SEVERAL others – they should be allowed to do so, it is their God-given freedom to be an idiot and control their own bodies however they see fit.
Many of you reading this are going to bring up crimes and/or children.
On the children front, a) there is nothing so bad that it cannot be overcome save death and b) surely there is some caring adult around them that will work with the child to mitigate their parents’ destructive behavior. I know from personal experience with a cousin that family will step in to help the kids. I also know from personal experience with an aunt that sometimes those kids are the only things that help addicts truly kick their habit. Call me naive if you wish, but I truly believe in hope in ALL situations, even those that seem genuinely hopeless.
On the crime front, as we have mentioned on this site before, you criminalize actions that cause actual, verifiable harm on another’s life or property. I am in full favor of making those laws FAR more stringent than are already on the books, and I am in full favor of making the punishments for violating those laws FAR more draconian. But there is a ‘but’ coming..
BUT I say that these more stringent laws/more draconian punishments should be applied WHENEVER property is damaged or life is harmed. In other words, if you go over to the Moon and have a few too many beers, get in your car, and cause a fatal accident, I do NOT support charging you with drunk driving. I support charging you with MURDER. That you were driving drunk is something that can be brought out at your trial by either you or the prosecution, but you would never once be charged with drunk driving ever again.
The same goes for crack addicts or meth addicts or propofol addicts or even sildenafil citrate addicts who break in to your house to steal to get money for their addiction. I would never charge them with being an addict, but I would drastically increase the penalty for burglary in any situation.
You see, ultimately, the battle is control vs freedom. Government treating you as a baby vs government trusting you to be an adult.
The Albany Herald thinks that government should continue to treat you as a baby ‘for your own good’.
We here at SWGAPolitics.com choose to trust you to be an adult.
It’s also important to note that making propofol a controled substance would likely not have helped Michael Jackson, or many of the others who have died from overdose of this medication. Controls are typically set up to provide, at a minimum, a 30 day supply. And that’s for Schedule II substances (Schedule I are things determined to have no medicinal value). Many lower scheduled drugs permit a 90 day supply.
Either is enough to kill someone if they are irresponsible with their medication. Anything can be.
Finally someone who says, what I’m thinking. If they want to be idiots and do drugs, let em. God gave you and me a Free Will. Even He stands at the door and knocks ….. Why are we kicking in doors and making people do the Right Thing?
Making it illegal won’t cause a irresponsible Parent to care for
their child.
It’s sad, but true.
People who are prone to excess to the same with alcohol …
Stop waisting our money on the war, but rather give rules on where you can do it. I don’t want to see someone shooting up in Wal-Mart, or smell weed in my backyard.
I’m not a fan of government regulating where you can or can’t do it either. If a private property owner (including government) wants to say that you can’t do something on their property, that’s one thing. Government telling you that you can’t smoke in a bar is another matter altogether, and is WAY overstepping its bounds.
But thanks for the comment!
I’m not either, but I’m sure we can agree that being told where to do a thing gives us more liberty than being told if we can do a thing.