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There's nothing inherently bad about a lack of mental anguish (how could there be), and being poor does not automatically mean you're laboring under some mental

by sethrin 10y ago

There's nothing inherently bad about a lack of mental anguish (how could there be), and being poor does not automatically mean you're laboring under some mental anguish. There is, in fact, nothing more wrong with smoking the occasional joint than there is with having a beer or a cup of coffee. People do drugs. Some of them have substance abuse problems, but cannabis has inarguably fewer social consequences than alcohol. Cannabis is simply not a public health issue, mental or otherwise, and if you have moral misgivings about people being happy or making money then you may want to examine those, or at least elucidate them.

fsloth 10y ago
"if you have moral misgivings about people being happy or making money then you may want to examine those, or at least elucidate them." I was following on my original half-joking comment that weed could be viewed as a way to pacify the masses instead of fixing the societal problems that induce malcontent. I have no problem with people abating their personal pain with drugs. I do have a problem with this as a social policy - i.e. instead of focusing on building healthier communities people would be just given drugs. Which, actually, is kind of happening already if you look at the opiate and antidepressant use in the USA. If society's rules are making people miserable the correct long term solution is not more drugs but a better society.
- sethrin 10y ago
  The hole in your logic is that you have the idea that drugs are taken because people feel badly, when in fact humans simply have a natural preference for altered mental states. Also, the vast majority of human cultures condone the use of some recreational drug, and no one is "just giving" anybody anything. If you want to talk about social policy, it's quite clear that the actual 'opiate of the masses' is alcohol, and you may recall that Prohibition failed. If what you're talking about is not a return to Prohibition then it's fairly useless to try to imply that cannabis has anything like the social problems of alcohol. You're rationalizing your morality and trying to say "people should only do drugs I approve of". We've tried Puritanism. That it is a hopeless model for society is precisely why cannabis is being legalized now. There is not a reasoned argument for cannabis prohibition, and thinking otherwise represents a flaw in reasoning.

by sethrin 10y ago

fsloth 10y ago

"if you have moral misgivings about people being happy or making money then you may want to examine those, or at least elucidate them." I was following on my original half-joking comment that weed could be viewed as a way to pacify the masses instead of fixing the societal problems that induce malcontent. I have no problem with people abating their personal pain with drugs. I do have a problem with this as a social policy - i.e. instead of focusing on building healthier communities people would be just given drugs. Which, actually, is kind of happening already if you look at the opiate and antidepressant use in the USA. If society's rules are making people miserable the correct long term solution is not more drugs but a better society.

sethrin 10y ago
The hole in your logic is that you have the idea that drugs are taken because people feel badly, when in fact humans simply have a natural preference for altered mental states. Also, the vast majority of human cultures condone the use of some recreational drug, and no one is "just giving" anybody anything. If you want to talk about social policy, it's quite clear that the actual 'opiate of the masses' is alcohol, and you may recall that Prohibition failed. If what you're talking about is not a return to Prohibition then it's fairly useless to try to imply that cannabis has anything like the social problems of alcohol. You're rationalizing your morality and trying to say "people should only do drugs I approve of". We've tried Puritanism. That it is a hopeless model for society is precisely why cannabis is being legalized now. There is not a reasoned argument for cannabis prohibition, and thinking otherwise represents a flaw in reasoning.