From: Rob Harris Cen-IT (Rob.Harris@bournemouth.gov.uk)
Date: Thu Jun 10 1999 - 09:08:41 MDT
> > > On the other hand, medical marijuana laws have passed in five
> > > states, and are going to pass in others. In this case, public
> > > opinion is leading rather than following the politicians.
> > >
> > Are you sure? From what I've seen, there is a large majority of people
> in
> > the western world still cerebrally-flatlined and drooling like the day
> they
> > first heard the ubiquitous but meaningless word "drugs". Armed with an
> > opportunity for easy self-righteousness they blather on about how people
> > "should not do drugs.....", cos "drugs are baaad"....etc.
> > For public opinion to be based on reality, not "tell me what to think"
> > drivel is a welcome change for the better! Legal grass here we come!
>
> The legalization movement is borrowing a page from the gun controllers.
> Instead
> of "its for the children", they are saying "its for those poor cancer
> patients".
> If you are opposed to giving people releif from the pain then you are a
> cruel
> SOB. Its a great way to marginalize your opponents and look rosy at the
> same
> time. Compassion sells.
>
Definitely. There is however a more direct and pressing argument, that is
the opposition to systematic incarceration of people who refuse to have
pointless orders barked at them by a foolish, self-serving "authority" which
bundles the far-less-harmful-than-alcohol cannabis with dangerous substances
like heroin, in a desperate attempt to mould public opinion with illogical
generalisations caused by the misuse of the highly emotive word "drugs".
The reason for this relates back to the Christian purging of Paganism, and
all it stood for, including the psychoactive substances in common use at the
time. I'm sure that nowadays, even anti-drug psycho politicians don't really
know what they are trying to do, it's just "a tradition". If what they say
bears any relation to what's in their heads, then their logic is "Don't do
drugs, drugs are bad, drugs are the work of satan, the hazards far
outweigh.....blah blah", basically no observation of reality, formulation of
premises, solutions, or even an adequate understanding of the problem. This
amounts to pointless institutionalised minority persecution, and as we sit
in our modern societies, sure that witchhunting doesn't happen anymore, you
can bet future generations will see us as little more than the
pitchfork-wielding, knee-jerking, superstitious, trephinating zealots of
medieval times, in many ways.
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