I am a sovereign individual. My body, my mind, and my spirit belong to me, and no-one else. My thoughts are my own. My body is my own. I have free will.
Right. Now let's pretend you, dear reader and sneaky confidante, and I, writer and imprimatur ultimus, have these rights and both live in These United States of Amerika. Oh wait; I'm sorry, suspend your disbelief a smidgen further, we in fact DO NOT have those rights, but let's pretend we do as though it were pre-1914*.
You're a moral reprobate, the caricature of the phrase "if it feels good, do it", you low-life 60's hippie you! You go home on a Friday night and (gasp! horror! worse than all the porn and bloodshed on on XBox AND PS3! ) you smoke pot with your harlot wife! She must be a harlot, because she smokes pot with you! The two of you spend your evening in unspeakable chemical bliss, fornicating (even though you are husband and wife, the pot puts you in the category of fornication! Because I say so! Sinner!), and falling asleep from the horrible DRUG you have ingested!
...or so I think. But it's not just me; millions of other people think so, too; they, too, share in my moral indignation that YOU, you reprobate castoff from Hellish minion, should indulge yourself so and corrupt your sweet-assed little brunette wife (whoops, strike that remark from the record). I will punish you! I will make sure you don't enjoy this illicit pleasure again! I will make sure your wife remains pure (for me) and does not toke your Evil Weed and become Reefer Mad (for you)! Yes, I will call the police! They will take away your Evil Weed, your livelihood, your freedom, your savings and rescue your corrupted wife (for themselves)!
And that's what happens today. In fact, nearly one million people per year go to prison for just marijuana, including simple possession of personal-use quantities. That is not to downplay the absurdity of arresting those who possess supra-personal quantities; for otherwise, from whom would the personal-use possessors purchase theirs? But leave that for now...
We jail nearly one million people per year, one every 45 seconds, for marijuana!
I don't use marijuana. I found it about a 50/50 split between stupid hilarity which was enjoyable, and dark paranoia which was not, when I used it at Rice U. To me, it wasn't worth the gamble. If it were legal, I'd see it the same way; I've made my judgement on factors OTHER than its legality.
That last point is salient: most people, judging from the percentage who use it, choose to use it regardless of the "law" and more in keeping with personal preference.
Now I ask you: do YOU have the right to dictate what appears in another's bloodstream? NO! What if they crash into your car while under the influence? Then, YES! But we have good legal framework in place for that eventuality, anyway; it's called DUI. It works reasonably well; from accounts I've read, drunk-driving deaths have fallen since strict enforcement came to be.
You see, our founding concepts don't rely on intent, they rely on outcome. If you're driving intoxicated, or you injure someone while intoxicated, your irresponsibility is punished. But the sovereign individual, absent harm to another, is private and protected. Or at least, that was the way we were established.
Today, we're coerced at gunpoint with dozens of spiteful nasty little regulations and "laws". No longer are you free to do in your own home what you wish. If you choose to go home and get stoned with your lovely spouse (I just called her a slut previously to emphasize a point, I'm sure she's quite ladylike) then you're a "criminal". Did you hurt anyone? Did you so much as endanger anyone while you were at home doing unspeakable things with her? NO. Does the Police State have an interest in your activities? Sadly, YES.
I do not drive drunk. I do not drive intoxicated. In fact, I enjoy my M-5 wholly sober because its level of performance demands nothing less; 450 BHP is enough of a trip without any chemical enhancement! I fully support my, and your, right to indulge in any intoxicant you wish as long as it does not interfere with my right to enjoy any of life's many liberties.
I hope you agree that you are free, you are At Liberty, to enjoy any of your god-given rights to pursue happiness without impinging on my right to do the same!
* 1914:
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