No More Ludicrous Than The Rest Of It

Left Coast Rebel informs us that the Minnesota Supreme Court has declared possession of bong water (at least over 25 grams of it) a first degree drug crime.

I'm sure some people out there are probably going "But it's bong water for Pete's sake." I'm not one of them. (You may be scratching your head and going "Huh?", but hear me out.)

If at this point you honestly believe that the war on drugs is not only a.) something winnable, but is also b.) something that should be won, then criminalizing bong water (which has amounts of the drug(s) smoked with it) is certainly no more ludicrous than the initial criminalization of the drugs.

What I mean by that second part (whether the war on drugs is something that should be won) is simply this: It is not the place of the government to make people "better".

I have no interest in the list of drugs the federal government currently classifies as narcotics. However, I support your right to get high as much as I support your right to get stinking drunk or smoke yourself into an early grave or eat Big Macs three times a day for the rest of your (probably much shorter) life. It's not the government's call. It's yours. Of course, you also get to pay the consequences for it.

*reads over last paragraph* (Oh wow...my idealism is showing. How Embarrassing! Cold practicality coming right up.)

What's more the war on drugs is not something that's winnable. For several reasons. The primary reason being that people like to escape from their daily lives and a great many like to (occasionally or habitually) get high to do it. People sniff glue and huff spray paint. Kids choke each other out with plastic bags (the lonely ones use neck ties and their bed post) to get high. People risk (and frequently incur) massive brain damage in efforts to get high not using narcotics. Do we really even have to talk about alcohol? This is not a behavior pattern that can be legislated away.

So this isn't a problem that can really be tackled from the demand end. How about the supply end?

Well, that's pretty much what we've been doing, right? Going after dealers and drug lords and such? Seems to me that what that's gotten us for our efforts is a rise in street gangs and increased gang violence. Why, one could say it's reminiscent of the effects that Prohibition had on organized crime in the 1920's. But at least Prohibition got Americans to dry...oh, right. Never mind. So supply end doesn't work so well either I guess.

You're free to proffer any other ideas. It'll be a thought exercise. Like I said, I don't hold that it's the government's place to make folks "better" in the first place.