Lots of TV spots about beer and wine lately - is it alcoholic beverage promotion month?

Date:   3/6/2009 10:20:26 PM ( 15 y ago)

Alcohol Vs. Pot and Opiates - is Prohibition Justified?

or: What is this - Alcohol Promotion Month ?

I haven't heard any announcement, but it seems this must be "Alcoholic Beverage Promotion Month" or something, because I have seen so many news spots and TV ads about wine and beer and even hard liquor on TV. Homemade beer was one, and then several about the fact that despite the recession more people are buying booze and going out for a beer, and even early in the morning "Matt and Merideth" on ABC news were tasting inexpensive wines - they must have taken a dozen sips at least. I would be a bit loopy from that, and it was still morning!!

All that public visibility of alcohol is ok, because we are adults and we can drink responsibly. And suposedly it is ok that the kids see it on TV because, after all, drinking alcohol is something adults do and the kids will grow up and get their turn when they are old enough.

So why are people, meaning adults, being prosecuted for possession of pot? Why are there still prohibition laws against pot? Is there some big difference in the effects of these two substances that makes alcohol okay, and pot not? We all saw that curfuffle about Michael Phelps and his bong hit, and heard the outcry that is was especially bad for him to be seen toking pot because he is a role model for kids, but gee, isn't he an adult who can have a drink? Why is pot so much worse then? Is pot really so much more harmfull, and alcohol so benign, that pot prohibition is still justified?

The facts seem to indicate the opposite - alcohol is involved in half the fatalities and seious vehicle accidents on our roads and highways, and adults that have an addiction to alcohol become very dysfunctional and have serious health problems. And as you remember, I ranted in this blog about how Phelp's drunk-driving conviction was seen as a much less irresponsible act/crime that his bong hit, despite the fact that drunk driving takes more 18-to-30 yr.old lives than anything else [yes, even more than terrorism, but thats another discussion].

Comparing the human wreckage that comes with addiction to various substances, it is pretty obvious that the long-term alcoholic is the biggest of messes. I happen to have the inside view of long-term addictions to pot, and the opiates [heroin, morphine]. Compared to those two, alcohol causes a much bigger problem, and not just for the user, as traffic accident and marriage breakdown statistics shows us. In fact, and so outrageously, it is the realities of prohibition itself that causes most of the problems for pot and opiate addicts - the high prices, the black market involvement, and so on. One binge drinking old alcoholic that is famous within our small town is also a heroin addict, and everybody is glad when he gets his heroin and stops drinking because he is a much better person then, outgoing and cleaned up and smiling.

On top of all that, prohibition is the gateway for criminal enterprise, where organised crime networks become rich and powerfull only because prohibition remains in force. [As for cocaine, I have seen some pretty badly deranged addicts but that might be more about their underlying mental illness and not the drug, and I don't really have much insight into that drug, and so I will just leave it out of this rant.]

Alcohol is far from harmless, and yet we would never consider going back to prohibition days, because that is just too much infringement on our lives. If alcohol is going to cause a problem for some people, it is their own fault, and only one of many many ways to go wrong in this world. If adults are not going to be responsible, it is their cross to bear. We are a free people, and with freedom comes responsibility. We vote for freedom, and we are willing to pay the price if we cannot handle it.

I will stop there, and spare my dear readers the conspiracy yap about the real reasons why prohibition cannot be ended. All I wanted to say, and show, is that the reasoning behind alcohol being tolerated in our society should be applied to pot, and maybe opiates too.


 

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