Seeking Personal Responsibility

YOU HOP IN YOUR RIDE, and head out to run a few errands. first, you swing by the drive thru liquor store and grab a six pack. then, a stop at the Dollar General for a pack of ciggies and a pound of coffee. Finally, you stop off at a friend's house, noticing that the light is on, and are able to score a quarter ounce of good skunk bud. Then, back to the crib to pop a tab and roll one up. The coffee goes on the shelf, right above the Proctor Silex, ready for sun up manana. With how many drug dealers have you now dealt? Three, at least, and more, if you include corporate. The pot dealer is, of course, the one who takes the rap. However, but for the grace of God, the vicissitudes of legislative lobbying, the fickle finger of of societal tastes, and demand, so would the others. were caffeine and tobacco being discovered today, they would likely be banned by law. The pot dealer, the coke dealer, the meth dealer is the pusher, the bad guy, the criminal. as if the customer is somehow an unwitting victim. the dealers of caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol are respected members of the Chamber of Commerce. We preach the doctrine of personal responsibility, but we don't practice it. If we did, pot and cocaine dealers would join the other business people at the chamber's annual Christmas party. Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason, said Abraham Lincoln, in that it attempts to control a man's appetites by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. prohibition strikes a blow at the very principles upon which this nation was founded. but what should we expect. We live in a culture in which most of us are perfectly to let someone be tortured to death to atone for our sins, sins for which we already have paid, in the here and now. What goes around, comes around, as they say. has anyone seen any personal responsibility lately?