Posted on 03/08/2014 6:35:15 AM PST by mgist
Thank you so much.
I believe a combination of several things has combined to make this particularly destructive today in America. What you said about the 1970s was true, but in today's world young people are over-stimulated and under-challenged in ways we've never seen before. For a lot of the young people I've come across in my profession, even the idea of sneaking out to the woods with a case of beer seems as incomprehensible to them as an expedition to the South Pole.
Very good post. I’d also suggest that the use of the term “epidemic” to describe any and all personal and social disorders doesn’t help, either. An epidemic is a medical condition that is dangerous to a large population simply because it can be spread through casual contact. Heroin abuse isn’t an “epidemic” any more than alcoholism is a “disease,” and pretending otherwise results in a gross misuse of public resources.
Amen!!! If alcoholism is a "disease," it's self-inflicted and self-cured. I bet that folks who suffer from real diseases like MS and Type 1 Diabetes, only wish that they could make all of their symptoms disappear simply by halting a negative behavior.
I have concluded that for some (if not most!) of we alcoholics, alcoholism is more like a fairly rare allergy. I'm allergic -- I break out in handcuffs! Most people don't; I, like my grandfather did, seem to have a physiological reaction to alcohol that is violent and crazy, and I don't remember a darned thing the next day. If eating strawberries made me break out in a rash, what would I do? I'd stop eating strawberries!!!! Same thing with booze. I finally quit drinking booze (it wasn't easy, but it was very, very simple) and guess what!!! All of the symptoms of my "disease" completely disappeared! And they've remained absent for the past 20-plus years that I've declined alcohol!! Imagine that!!!
I once saw my "allergy" to booze as a curse, but in time, I came to recognize it as a singular BLESSING from God, a gift for me from Him. I turned to Jesus, became closer to God, and believe now that it was His way of helping me in fumbling my way along His path. I resent any do-gooder, government or otherwise, who would presume to deny me or anyone else that opportunity for the spiritual growth that learning to overcome an addiction provides. Addiction is a moral/spiritual problem, not a legal one. Government is AMORAL and should be limited to minimum power. Religion is moral and its power is proven and demonstrated.
One thing though, correcting my post #53 — Sherlock Holmes was actually a cocaine addict, not a heroin addict, though heroin addiction did play a part in at least one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories.
Very good point also about the misnomer of “epidemic” for indulgences of weak character. Well said.
Why so hostile? Nobody is disagreeing with you, except for the fact that the world largest Opium producer is China.
“In Burma the world’s largest opium producer, the northeastern Shan state has the highest density of poppy cultivation.”
http://world.time.com/2013/03/19/obstacles-ahead-in-burmas-opium-war/
When there is an epidemic, there is an health risk to society. It means a common occurrence with regards to health issues. It doesnt mean a moral weakness.
When there are illegal drugs on the street being sold out of McDonald drive throughs, and are the same drug killing people in unusually high numbers, I think it is safe to say we have an epidemic. There was no heroin around in the 80’s.
Evil people are inundating our cities with illegal poisons, as politicians look the other way. Those who believe it could never happen in their families are sadly mistaken. All it takes is a moment of curiosity, sadness, anger in a kids life and availability of the drug.
Especially vulnerable, are kids who were given ADD drugs as children. They have a propensity for addiction. It is not a kids fault if the people that they are supposed to trust (parents and doctors) give them psychotropic drugs in their formative years, changing their brain chemistry.
Anyone who thinks this is someone else problem has no idea about the crime associated and accidents with any and all drugs.
A bit like the public "sympathy and outrage" over AIDS deaths when the transmission methods are well known and cities and corporations now fund "gay pride" parades.
Here's an idea, maybe companies and cities should celebrate nuclear (1 male, 1 female, with orbiting offspring) families instead of mainstreaming what were formerly self-identified as "alternative lifestyles" (you are no longer permitted to say they are 'different', that is so heteronormative).
I think that's a great way to put it.
“Epidemic”?
The Spanish Flu was an epidemic. Heroin? Not so much.
The “War on Drugs” is a monstrous racket, though.
Why was a Constitutional amendment needed to authorize the prohibition of alcohol, but none was needed to authorize the “War on Drugs”? Easy. Integrity in government has disappeared.
Sorry if I seemed hostile, I am not. Just my way of trying to wake people up the FAKE WAR ON DRUGS. Our Government as well as EVERY OTHER GOVERNMENT is deeply involved on Both Side of this War on the People.
Funny how when a hollywood privileged weenie challenges darwin and loses, it is somehow a national tragedy.
In the first paragraph of article it states Burma is #2 in world production?? However I take all articles about the War on Drugs with a grain of salt and assume the writer is just lazy. Every other article I have read emphatically states Afghanistan is the Leader in Production. Either way it is all a scam against us and in favor of a World Police State.
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