The Rehnquist story deserves a third airing today if only to illustrate the ugly double standards that excuse extreme drug use by the powerful, especially if their connection is a prescribing doctor, and condemns to draconian prison terms the guy who purchases his drugs on the street.Even though it's been over a year since the former Chief Justice died, this point deserves to be made until all those silly drug laws go the way of Alcohol Prohibition.
What's any of this have to do with kids? As a former professional drug policy reformer, I've always felt that kids get the shaft the worst when it comes to so-called "drug education", which prefers to indoctrinate and scare kids away from drugs, rather than giving them appropriate information and allowing them to make informed decisions -- for better or worse.
I've always held that given the best information available, people will, more times than not, make the best choices. And when they don't, well, that's freedom.
As bad as addictions are, felony drug convictions, I think, are worse. If people can avoid overdose deaths, they may one day recover from their addictions and go on to great things, as Justice Rehnquist so aptly demonstrates.
2 comments:
"as Justice Rehnquist so aptly demonstrates...If people can avoid overdose deaths, they may one day recover from their addictions and go on to great things."
Great things like ensuring that those who do purchase their illegal drugs on the street get their asses locked up. Oh, and writing detailed legal briefs in support of segregation.
Yeah, I'm no Rehnquist lover. I much prefer Scalia's wit to Rehnquist's golden robes, but at least, as far as society is concerned, his "talents" weren't wasted in prison, rather they were wasted on the Supreme Court, for all the world to see.
He'd have made a great prison lawyer, tho. It's too bad.
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