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Let's turn this around - why is smoking pot illegal while smoking cigarettes is legal? Why are my tax dollars being wasted chasing potheads, putting them in prison, and turning them into career criminals? THAT is stupid, self-destructive, and a total waste of money.
There are plenty of things that are bad for you that legal: drinking excessively, smoking almost everything but pot, drinking soda, etc. And so what? If a person isn't hurting anyone else, I don't care what they are doing and we should not be wasting tax dollars chasing "dirty pothead hippies" just become some angry, old good-old-boys think that's a great idea, right before they go out and get wasted every weekend or light up a cigarette.
It is hilariously stupid since the same far-right that so hates "potheads" and wants to put them in jail is the SAME group who's always mouthing off about how "the government doesn't have the right to tell us what to do!" Loons.
Find any other philosophy that champions individualism, individual sovereignty, individual = first and most important minority, all actions being voluntary, acting in accordance with one's own rational, peaceful self-interests as a guiding principle, etc and I guarantee I am down with it.
I was just speaking to the inherent power of cultural narratives, not in any way trying to judge or prescribe what other individuals like to smoke/ingest. I smoked way too many cigarettes and did way too many drugs to be anyone else's personal behavior judge/jury.
Would you ask a 5 year old why candy is bad for them? Isn't that a bit like asking a pot or cig smoker why smoking is bad for them as well?
WOW!
We can see who the adolescents (using primitive logic) and who the adults in the room are.
- Tobacco smokers all KNOW how bad it is for them, what they didn't realize is how hard it is to quit.
- Stoners do not suffer from the same issues (in general) as cigarette smokers.
- They are not deranged, angry, and dangerous like many alcoholics are. About the only thing they will attack is the snack shelves of the local 7-11!!!
Like it or not, the people that do not have a clue are the ones who were, are, and will be lied to - always believing those lies. GASP!
Go watch Reefer Madness and understand the utter nonsense this movie is. It actually caused people to believe stoners were raping women. Let's not forget how they portrayed blacks. This extremely racist, bigoted, stupid and dishonest movie caused riots and Congress to pass insane laws.
People are waking the hell up, but sadly, as we see in these forums, there still dwells cavemen among us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Volobjectitarian
No sweat, but for reference, reading anything I write should always apply the following equation:
Find any other philosophy that champions individualism, individual sovereignty, individual = first and most important minority, all actions being voluntary, acting in accordance with one's own rational, peaceful self-interests as a guiding principle, etc and I guarantee I am down with it.
There are none, sadly. The closest any other political philosophy comes is just empty promises to be... well... Libertarian - which is basically what all the founding fathers were in reality.
degradation of smokers, myths ,science of addiction
I want to break this down.
I don't know when it started but etiquette seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur.
The way some one smells has historically never been a reason to break civility and openly express disgust for the person who smells. The offended person would just distance themselves and walk away. But today non-smoky smelling people are openly discriminatory against smoky-smelling people. By openly I mean verbal disdain and disgust, public, nasty words.
Really, hyper-science and government bans have created a caustic atmosphere that has made it "okay" for non-smokers to degrade smokers in any way they want to. It could very easily be described as hysteria. The scientific target has been identified as Second Hand Smoke (SHS) but now the public has decided the smoker personally is the target. And that is, on so many levels, just wrong.
People who have never smoked are misinformed that simply a commitment to stop smoking is all that is necessary. That is a myth.
Quote from Science of Addiction,
"Some smokers mainly those that are not dependent, can stop cold turkey when they commit to doing so.
Others however require smoking cessation aids including hypnosis, group therapy and or individual counseling. Smoking cessation medications including nicotine patch, nicotine gum, nicotine inhalers are designed to help wean smokers off cigarettes with fewer uncomfortable effects. Zyban, an antidepressant drug has been helpful. Unfortunately, some severely dependent people will never be able to stop smoking despite numerous attempts. ".
There are no conclusive tests that SHS in free air, outdoors, subject to winds and various indiscernable factors, will cause cancer. Exposure to SHS on occasion is not going to harm anyone anymore than vehicle exhaust, fish, tap water, flu and the cold and sneezing.
As long as it stays out of public areas and you don't expose kids to it, I don't care what you do. After the initial furor, it will become looked down upon the same way cigarettes are now.
Marijuana makes hippie Democrats and Mexicans rich.
Now ask again why one is considered cool/OK/whatever and the other is not.
In my country pot legalization will be federal law on Oct 17/2018. The government has already set up qualified mary-jane growers and outlets are getting ready for opening day. None of those are from Mexico or hippies. That's the old clandestine culture. But my country will be making billions in sin-tax dollars. The same motivation for sin taxes on booze and cigarettes, dollars in the billions.
Billions of dollars on the backs of the people who can least afford or withstand the side effects.
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