one of the most amusing sequences of headlines I saw last year was
Weed to become legal in ## of states
Next headline
Obama wonders why the youth work participation rate is falling.
now put on your thinking cap and see if there just could be a link.
Drugs destroy lives. For the few that can limit themselves and have the odd night out there are legions living in squalor who spend every waking moment thinking about where they can get the money to score the next. The question should be how can we stop becoming the latter.
Correlation doesn't equal causation. The amount of states which have legalized marijuana pales in comparison to the number which it's still criminalized in. Obama questioning why the number of youths in the workforce in the entire country is decreasing could have absolutely nothing to do with weed becoming more and more socially acceptable, but I'm sure it contributes to a small amount. I'm the first to say that the way the media represents weed is harmful. It was once portrayed as an insidious plant which turns everyone who touches it into loser burnouts, and I think we've over corrected. Now it's shown as something completely without any level of harm, the cool thing to do, and as actually being inarguably beneficial. This leads many kids to get into it without any level of restraint, to the detriment of their lives. I was once one of those kids. But it's just ridiculous to assume that cannabis is somehow the be all end all which decides if kids have jobs. Why don't we focus on the fact that these entry level positions which the youth has traditionally held are now being taken up by middle aged folk trying to support their families? Or how individual state laws such as California wildly raising the minimum wage in response to this makes it much more difficult for these youth to hold employment. When an employer knows that he can ask much more of these older people who absolutely need that job versus the kid who can quit when he gets pissed off with them, who do you think they're going to hire? If you're paying more you may as well get the biggest bang for your buck, right?
Sure, drugs can destroy lives. So can sex, biker clubs, food, and knives. Should all of these be illegal? You're obviously biased against drugs to assume that the ratio of individuals who can use responsibly and those who cannot is as you believe it to be, and I can't blame you for that due to the society we live in. However it's time to stop viewing what's simply another tool to release dopamine and serotonin as something so wildly different from anything you indulge in on a daily basis. People create issues with everything, drugs included. If someone is content with ruining their lives and living in squalor chasing a high then it shouldn't be the governments job to parent them. They shouldn't be receiving welfare or any other kind of government aid, that's for damn sure. But at a certain point if people don't wish to help themselves you just have to sit back and let them burn.
It was an amusing sequence of headlines, that was the main thrust of comment.
"But at a certain point if people don't wish to help themselves you just have to sit back and let them burn."
Yes.
I think it is the other way around. More people without work might slightly increase cannabis usages because people have a lot more time to come in contact with it and they may be bored.
But judging by our closing statement you know about next to nothing about drugs. Drugs like LSD or MDMA(XTC) aren't even addictive, they stop working very rapidly if you keep taking it days on end. After a couple of days it will cause none of the psychoactive effects people consume them for. Probably just some bodily reaction to the chemicals without any enjoyable feelings.
I once witnessed a couple of guys try to get addicted to MDMA(xtc) but after 3 months of persistent efforts they had to admit that what I had been telling them after one week was, despite their previous denials, actually true after all. No rush or high, just some uncomfortable physical side effects.
So why did they keep doing it for 3 months? For no good reasons, it was ridiculous they had to admit in hindsight.
Oh god, doing that much MDMA in such a short period of time is a TERRIBLE idea. Haha
Ah yes, I know nothing of drugs. Of course. I've never had friends who OD'd, went certifiably insane on Acid or committed suicide on DMT because the Aliens told him too. Never had a best mate as a big time dealer, never lived in a drugs capital of a country, never had turbulent relationships which in hindsight might just have been related to week long come downs. No you're right. I know nothing about drugs. I now live in China, where drugs are hard to get and worse to get caught with, for no reason.