The Lie at the End of the Needle

"Yet while loathing and fearing addiction, many late-nineteenth-century people sympathized with addicts. They condemned the use of drugs for escape or sensual pleasure, but many people believed that addiction was a form of physiological slavery, which alleviated the user's guilt..." -H. Wayne Morgan, Yesterday's Addict

We have a problem in this country's attitudes towards drugs. We do condemn the drug, we condemn the drug dealer, we condemn the all-encompassing "drug trade", and we condemn the effects of drug use (prostitution, broken homes, crime, etc.). However, I rarely hear a condemnation of the root cause of all of those aforementioned things; the user.

There would be no drugs if there was not someone to use them. There would be no dealer is there was not a buyer. There would be no trade (or violence associated with it) if there was no consumer. There would be no adverse effects of drug use if there was no user.

We treat the addict as a victim of the drug. Since the addict is a victim of his or her own choice, the addict is not a victim at all. The addict is the culprit, the cause, the pathogen.

Condemn the user.

Ellis Island, TX

Alot has been made of illegal immigration lately and I think I have a solution.

In the U.S. we have laws to protect workers. We can form unions, we have minimum wage, we can sue our companies for a litany of various abuses or harassments, we have unemployment offices, OSHA to make sure the environments we work in are safe. Mexico and most Latin American countries don't. The biggest reason we have so many people coming north is because they can make a better living working here than they can in their home countries. Why not make life easier for them in their home countries so they won't want (and some cases have) to come here illegally.

Get rid of NAFTA or any other free-trade agreements we have with ANY country that doesn't have protections for their workers on par with ours. Tariff those who refuse. Use American consumerism as leverage, because if there is one thing we do better than any other country it's consume. Make it harder for corrupt governments and companies to provide the supply that we demand.

I believe the OVERWHELMING majority of people here illegally just want to work, provide for their families, and lead honest lives. There is a criminal element coming across our borders, but they seem no more dangerous than the criminals we grow here. I think it should be easier to become a citizen. If you're an honest, hardworking person, that pays your taxes and wants to make his/her part of America better, I say come on in, learn English (not for an elitist reason, it just makes it easier on those of us who are already here), and live it up, regardless of where you were born. On the flip side, if you are already an American and you use every loophole and lie you can to skirt the tax system, take advantage of hardworking people, and then drape yourself in the flag when the subject of immigration comes up I say, kiss my tax paying (censored) and let us get back to work.

First post

I'm starting this blog because I want to refine arguments. I have opinions based on not only personal experiences, but opinions and experiences of others. When I state an opinion I want to hear those who want to disagree, as well as those who agree and can add to it. I like suggestions for further reading. I don't want it to be a bully pulpit. I want to influence as well as be influenced.