Ok, let's go back in our minds to a saner time before anyone ever seriously considered the idea that government should tell us what foods we eat and what drugs we put into our bodies. This would have to be prior to the time of Jefferson, who said "If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." And I think he was right.
Back in the good old daze, the Rx symbol was shorthand for "Recipe" If you thought someone was wise and learned enough to give you good advice on what to do for your health, you'd trade currency or whatever else for their advice and they might write down the instructions as a prescription for an apothecary to follow to put it together for you. That was the benchmark. Does anybody seriously think that this or any government is wise, honest or even learned enough to tell you what to put into your body?
I'm trying to find a once popular drug policy reform quote. Can't remember who said this, but he was a professor and he asked his class a couple of questions:
- How many of you have smoked pot (many)
- How many went through treatment to quit (few)
- How many of you believe that smoking pot will destroy your life? (many)
These were graduate students, if I'm not mistaken. No slouches. The evidence of their having achieved well for themselves despite having smoked pot was undeniable. And yet they didn't see it. The professor described it as not logical conclusion but deep seated religious indoctrination.
I'll give you another example which you can replicate easily. Go into any bar on football night. Tell somebody about
Mark Stepnoski having become president of Texas NORML the day after he retired and having gone public with the open secret that all-star level performing athletes prefer pot to Rx drugs for their many aches, pains and the pressures of celebrity. Every time, you'll have some fool with a beer in his hand blabbering about how bad an example people like that set for the chiiiiiiiildren. You can go ahead and point out the athletes' level of performance, dedication and accomplishment and that the drugs they choose to achieve that evidently fail to fuck them up. No matter. If you press the point, you may well find yourself running for the door under threat of physical violence from an angry mob of drunken drug war zombies.
Point is, "treatment or incarceration" is a
false dichotomy. Just exactly the same as we all faced while in the program; go along or get beat down. The reality was, is and ever shall be that our only choices were to get beat down physically or suck it up and get our minds fucked up; either way we're getting fucked up!
If I had it to do over again, I'd have taken a stand at the time and maybe gotten through it with my mind a little more intact. I won't fall for it again.
