More About Legalizing Drugs

This was inspired by an hysterical antu-legalization rant in the IMDB board for Traffic.

After the end of Prohibition, lots of alcohol dealers took their money and went into legitimate businesses. Some of them created Las Vegas as we know it today. Many of them continued with illegitimate businesses as well, but there was no longer growth in their ranks as there was until 1933. Gang control was a big deal in the 20s and early 30s, but you don't hear much about it in the late 30s through the 60s. Gangs started being a big deal again after the War on Drugs started in 1972.

Legalizing alcohol did not turn us into a nation of alcohol addicted zombies; legalizing drugs will not turn us into a nation of drug addicted zombies. I did many drugs when I was in junior high, but I never did heroin or cocaine, because I knew the truth about those drugs, and I figured I probably couldn't handle them.

So today I might smoke pot once or twice a month if it were legal. I only do alcohol a little more than that anyway. Drug usage might go up or it might stay the same, but it certainly won't produce a nation of zombies. Most people have good sense and know better than to get themselves in deeper than they can handle, even when they are teenagers. A lot of people just don't feel the need to do drugs at all.

Most importantly, when drugs are legalized, the kind of ruination of lives depicted in movies like Traffic will end. People won't get killed, lose their belongings, or become social pariahs just because their spouse or their child or their friend is involved in drugs.

Bad stuff like some of the things depicted in Trainspotting or Requiem For A Dream will probably still happen. Bad stuff happens anyway. But that is exactly why bad stuff won't happen to most people, at least not because of drugs. Because most people don't ever want to even come close to taking the risk of ending up that way.

But at least, for those people who can't handle drugs, when drugs are legalized the social hysteria surrounding them will be gone, and there will be billions of dollars freed up, of which only a tiny fraction will be necessary to treat them if they feel they need it.

Stem Cells From Clones: Murder?

In this process, the nucleus from a donor egg is removed and replaced with nucleus from the person who needs stem cells. The egg now having a working nucleus begins to divide and becomes a blastocyst, an undifferentiated sphere of 30 to 150 cells.

At this point the blastocyst is made to stop growing, since further growth would differentiate the cells, and then the cells are cultured so that they will continue to divide, producing more undifferentiated cells.

Anti-abortionists say life begins at conception. This blastocyst was never conceived, because no sperm were involved in its creation. It was never even in a womb. Was it a human? Did it have a soul? Was this blastocyst murdered to benefit the person in need of stem cells?

Trump Is Right About The Twin Towers

Donald Trump recently sounded off about the design of the new World Trade Center in NYC. I'm glad someone with clout is speaking out about this.

Whatever goes there, it needs to be twins. Twin structures resonate deeply with the human psyche.

The original Twin Towers were like two companion giants standing tall over the city, like two masts on a gigantic ship of commerce.

Some people didn't like the rectangular design, but to me, it was like two enormous, perfect crystals, a visionary, pure design.

The proposed replacement, a single tower with a skeleton at the top, just doesn't cut it. It looks timid and uncertain.

I don't think a new Twin Towers needs to look exactly like the original, but it was a good design, and the new design should echo the spirit of it. It isn't just an office complex, it's a symbol of who we are as Americans. We don't want to make it into a monumental mistake.

Legalization Billboard

I saw this on a Yahoo message board, and thought it would make a good billboard.

Only three groups have a vested interest in keeping marijuana illegal.

Pushers, police, and politicians.

Why should so many be arrested every year to support the incomes of these three groups?

Legalizing Marijuana

It's high time we legalized pot. Seems like a great many people now agree that pot should be legal, and there are a great many more who would agree if they received accurate information on pot.

Now, with conservatives being more and more discredited daily, the backlash is beginning to swing in the other direction. The time is not yet now to legalize, but the time is now to begin a campaign for legalization.

The problem is, from a politician's viewpoint, there is little to gain. Legalization is not a single-issue stance for those who are for it, but it is for those who are against it. What I mean is, people who are against legalization would vote against anyone who was for it, no matter what else they say. But people who are for it might vote against someone who was for it, if they didn't like the rest of the politician's message.

So pot legalization has to be tied to something else, and what's more there have to be some kind of rules and regulations to go along with it. I'll get back to you when I have the rest of that figured out.