Man has been separated from his behavior and left bare of his dignity and freedom. Drugs have transubstantiated. Cause and effect have blurred. When the image clears drugs are making the decisions. Mr. Hyde is now in charge; Dr. Jekyll is just along for the ride.
Rick
If someone seems to be ‘under the influence’ while driving, then there is no need to ask or test. It does not matter. An inability to drive safely is unacceptable for any reason. It endangers others. If you drive dangerously or illegally then you should be removed from the road to protect others rights to safety. Not being ‘drunk’ does not matter either. Behavior trumps urine every time. Leave causality to the scientist. Conversely, while driving safely within the law, there is no need or right to detain.
Not wanting to quite doing something that you love is not a disease, it is a choice. Most of us know it is in the nature of all pleasure to be less with more. Conversely, less of a pleasure improves the enjoyment. This obvious fact leads most people to moderate things to produce the best results. It is natural to moderate if you are not driven to compulsive behavior with a ‘drug’ war or self loathing (a major drug war product).
Suggesting that anything we do is not a choice causes the so-called “disease†of addiction. This lie infests the mind with doubt of self. It creates that which it defines. For a person without a sense of personal control, this lie through the power of suggestion creates the acceptance of powerlessness that is addiction. Thus we create that which destroys us, fear of self.
Some tolerate prohibitions because they feel that they may not be able to control the criminalized substance or behavior if it were legal. They foolishly welcome the governments ‘help’ foolishly ignoring the harm. Some fear the ability of others to control their appetites. Most, I think, fear everyone’s behavior and see government as mother and father. They seem to believe that adults are children to be protected by those responsible for our behavior. These adults unfortunately would not be we the people.
This is fear of freedom, everybody’s. The choices we make define us as individuals. These choices drive the behavior that defines us as individuals. Judging people by anything but these choices is inhuman. It denies our individuality and, arguably, the meaning of life. Reducing human character and behavior to chemical analysis reduces us all to something unworthy of freedom.
Rick Wolfe
(pull)(/pull)
To be absolutely wrong, one must first be absolutely certain.
Our Government has been willing to let people die rather than ’send the wrong message’. Clean needles provided cheaply and easily would clearly save lives and money. Attempts to save these lives and reduce the medical expenses drastically have been denied for years ostensibly for this comparatively frivolous reason. The certain deaths that have resulted are the cost of what I suppose they would call ‘the right message’. We are willing to let you die because you are not the way we want you to be.
As if this were not bad enough our country’s drug law sends the most destructive and the most false message possible. The message is “you cannot control your appetites without laws preventing personal choices”. Why else would there be laws intended to prevent personal consumption of anything? This very ugly idea is breathed life because of the trust most Americans have for their government. It is simply a betrayal of trust, even when well intentioned. Every time you separate man from his behavior you strip him of his dignity, his identity, and his freedom.
The regulations involving drug laws speak of ‘public safety’ as though the drugs being criminalized were being used to build unsafe roads. They allude to impure or improperly prepared drugs as the need for their action, but the criminal law that rest on this lie is clearly a war on people. These laws to regulate inanimate, non-virulent and non-explosive objects have led to more suffering than all the wars in history. “Public safety†has not even been defined legally, much less shown to be at risk.
Criminal drug law is killing our children. They get the message, and feel its point. They do not trust their elders. They fear them. They see through the thinly veiled sophistry of prohibition. The overt and brutal manipulation of a free society must stop. This hideous contempt for man and his freedom is a clear message to our children. It must stop.
Rick Wolfe
The willingness to compromise is a much-overrated virtue I think. When you are right it is a cop out, when you are wrong it is condescension and when you are neither you are off point. I suspect compromise was a construct of a tyrant to eek out an advantage where there was none. Either that or I’m just in a bad mood. What do you think?
Rick Wolfe
“Being consistent with all things but perspective, the Truth is thus afflicted by its admirers.”
Rick Wolfe,
November 2006
“Loss of your personal liberty is almost always preceded by the loss of others personal liberty. Stand still while others are abused and you stand in line.”
Rick Wolfe
Oil and water do not mix. So it is with our conflicted foreign policy. It is counterproductive for the USA to export prohibition and freedom at the same time. Thus we are at once the confused proponents of freedom and fear of freedom. Until the USA deals with this dichotomy, we will continue to lead the world in two directions. One need only look at Columbia to see where Afghanistan will go.
“Unconditional love, faith and nationalism are the tyrant’s favorite confections. Dispassionate deliberation is our salvation. Reason trumps all other pretext for action or inaction.”
Rick Wolfe