Monsters. Multiple images of nightmarish shapes. Falling, stumbling, even jumping out a window. That’s what the film shown to a bunch of us teenagers in the early '70s taught me about doing drugs. Scared the peediddly squat out of this gal so badly that I never considered trying any drugs, cigarettes or more than two margaritas. And we’re talking forty years that lesson has stayed with me.
There is quite the discussion in America today for the legalization of recreational marijuana. Perhaps that indicates medical marijuana is already fairly commonplace. Some folks are adamantly against it, others are very much in favor of the drug being available legally. Arguments are made stating the effects of marijuana are no worse than alcohol, which, unless one is driving, is perfectly legal. Others take moral issue with the use of this drug saying it is just plain wrong-a sin.
Personally I sit on the fence on this topic. Being a fairly moral person, and having the crap scared out of me with a visual display of what could happen under the influence of drugs, I would not eat, drink or otherwise use marijuana. Never mind it is illegal. Except in Colorado.
Why are there laws? To protect John Q. Public from something, someone, or himself. Laws regarding drugs are an attempt at the latter. Good ol’ John, he shouldn’t be smoking that stuff, it’ll lead to other problems, or he’ll jump off a bridge or something. So it is illegal for John to have the drug. Trouble is, John gets it anyway. What was the lesson of Prohibition? Keep people from legally getting what they want and they’ll find an illegal way to get it. In some cases, the danger of breaking the law is part of the appeal. “Look at me, I’m really bad,” the guy with the bag of dope says. Funny how “bad” is both good and bad to some people.
As a fifty something year old, it is easy to say the morals of today are so loose, the line between right and wrong is so blurred, or that the country is going to Hell in a hand basket due the actions of the younger generation. But like that anti-drug commercial said, “Where’d you learn to do that?” “From you, Dad. I learned it from you.” One can go back in history and find entire decades spent under the spell of opiates or alcohol. Yet civilization has survived, and moved forward.
I guess those monsters and terrifying things shown in that movie so long ago would now appear hokey or commonplace. Heck, there are images in commercials that give me nightmares today. Perhaps I was, and am, impressionable; perhaps inherently moral activity is in my nature. My mom always said, “To each his own.” After all, each of us has different views and desires.
However, there is a line to be drawn. As long as an action doesn’t hurt anyone or anything, it should be all right. Whether a person is drunk, high or a violent sociopath makes no difference to the person he caused physical or emotional pain. Nothing is a good excuse for hurting others. But if somebody under the influence of drugs, or just plain meanness, does something which causes hurt to me or mine, he’ll need a different kind of drug to ease the pain of the gunshot wound he'll get from me.
There is quite the discussion in America today for the legalization of recreational marijuana. Perhaps that indicates medical marijuana is already fairly commonplace. Some folks are adamantly against it, others are very much in favor of the drug being available legally. Arguments are made stating the effects of marijuana are no worse than alcohol, which, unless one is driving, is perfectly legal. Others take moral issue with the use of this drug saying it is just plain wrong-a sin.
Personally I sit on the fence on this topic. Being a fairly moral person, and having the crap scared out of me with a visual display of what could happen under the influence of drugs, I would not eat, drink or otherwise use marijuana. Never mind it is illegal. Except in Colorado.
Why are there laws? To protect John Q. Public from something, someone, or himself. Laws regarding drugs are an attempt at the latter. Good ol’ John, he shouldn’t be smoking that stuff, it’ll lead to other problems, or he’ll jump off a bridge or something. So it is illegal for John to have the drug. Trouble is, John gets it anyway. What was the lesson of Prohibition? Keep people from legally getting what they want and they’ll find an illegal way to get it. In some cases, the danger of breaking the law is part of the appeal. “Look at me, I’m really bad,” the guy with the bag of dope says. Funny how “bad” is both good and bad to some people.
As a fifty something year old, it is easy to say the morals of today are so loose, the line between right and wrong is so blurred, or that the country is going to Hell in a hand basket due the actions of the younger generation. But like that anti-drug commercial said, “Where’d you learn to do that?” “From you, Dad. I learned it from you.” One can go back in history and find entire decades spent under the spell of opiates or alcohol. Yet civilization has survived, and moved forward.
I guess those monsters and terrifying things shown in that movie so long ago would now appear hokey or commonplace. Heck, there are images in commercials that give me nightmares today. Perhaps I was, and am, impressionable; perhaps inherently moral activity is in my nature. My mom always said, “To each his own.” After all, each of us has different views and desires.
However, there is a line to be drawn. As long as an action doesn’t hurt anyone or anything, it should be all right. Whether a person is drunk, high or a violent sociopath makes no difference to the person he caused physical or emotional pain. Nothing is a good excuse for hurting others. But if somebody under the influence of drugs, or just plain meanness, does something which causes hurt to me or mine, he’ll need a different kind of drug to ease the pain of the gunshot wound he'll get from me.
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