“Listen, I think it gives a lot of people joy. And we need more joy.”
—Senator Kamala Harris (D-Ca), giving a wildly irresponsible answer to a question about the legalization of pot.
Ethics Alarms is on record, now and forever, as opposing the legalization of marijuana as an inevitable societal disaster on many fronts, but there are arguably legitimate arguments for legalization. Harris’s isn’t one. It’s facile, intellectually dishonest, a disgrace for a lawyer and former prosecutor, and a direct pander to the shallow, stupid, and drug-addled among us.
There are many, many kinds of conduct that give people joy that would cripple society if we allowed them without restriction and criticism.. Rape gives some people joy. Swindling gullible people gives people joy. Bullying. Cheating. Lying. Stealing. Sadism. (Professional football….) Moreover, drug-induced joy is the lowest form of the emotion, false, artificial, temporary and without substance. The “joy” pot provides is no more desirable than the joy provided by ecstasy or heroin. Indeed, one of the societal harms created by recreational drugs is that the kind of joy that is real and earned—the joy of creating something, the joy of self improvement, the joy of discovery, the joy of helping others, the joy of loving and being loved, the joy of making one’s community, society and the world better—are too often crowded out by Harris’s chemical joy.
Statements like Harris’s usually signal a politician who lives by smug half-truths, deception and exploitation of the foolish.
Ethics Alarms 
a politician who lives by smug half-truths, deception and exploitation of the foolish
The dictionary definition of a contemporary, progressive Democrat?
Now, now.
Okay, Dad.
“The dictionary definition of a contemporary,
progressive DemocratEstablishment Elite/Swamp dweller?Fixed it for ya
Hah!
Why slick. You seem to be somewhat cynical about serving politicians! Can’t say I blame you.
Can anyone objectively gainsay my assertion?
Both parties have set up an aristocracy where ‘citizen’ equal ‘serf.’ The laws do not apply to them, reality is what they say it is, and they can make up crimes to charge uppity troublemakers or inconvenient associates of those they would persecute.
Sickening
Think of the joy of the Flavian Amphitheater….
I was trying to explain to someone the other day that we had an era where recreational drug use was essentially unrestricted. Our draconian drug laws came from seeing the horrible effects such drug use` had on society. The problems of addiction are already here and plain to see for all who have eyes. I asked why I had to pay to learn this lesson twice. However, talking to a socialist about learning from history is like trying to explain tax policy to a housecat.
My cat understands tax policy quite well.
She is a socialist, always looking to take advantage of a situation (let the buyer beware!)
She demands a potion of ALL food within the household… except hers. That is hers. Dogs, children, adults… all should pay their fair share.
The dogs don’t agree.
Seems quite reasonable considering the source. Harris and her ilk are growing like cancer.
Can’t face the fact that just because you want to do it doesn’t make it right. In the same vein, there is a campaign to declare “Telling women not to drink during pregnacy is ‘sexist'”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/17/telling-women-not-drink-pregnancy-sexist/
I’m not sure what to make of the signs in restaurant men’s rooms about drinking and pregnancy. Is it for the men? Then it’s sexist and patriarchal to tell a pregnant woman not to drink. But then I’m sure it’s sexist and patriarchal to only have in the women’s room. Or is it for those born with a uterus who now identify as a male and use the men’s room?
Can we remove this cancer without bleeding? Sure hope so.
No. Surgery is no longer an option as it has metastasized into almost all segments of society.
The very survival of the body politic and the society in general is in doubt. Blood loss is no longer off the table.
I tried to post this to Facebook. They blocked it and it disappeared. Not sure if they’re in the tank for the darling Kamala or for pot, or maybe they just don’t like you. For whatever reason, it really ticks me off. Big brother ….. everywhere ….. again.
They don’t like me. I’m still searching for a solution.
Don’t like them back. Works for me.
Lethal Weapon reference!
5 points for cultural literacy
I still sent it to my regular Email database with positive responses of course. You’re our hero:))
Thanks. That helps.
Some of the older commenters here, as well as Jack, know I am an ex-user. Started out with pot and graduated to bigger and better things. Pot does not bring you joy, it makes you high. And if you stay high long enough, you want to get higher, so you move on. Black Mollies, Crank, Heroin, the list is fairly extensive. After a while you break down, and so does your society.
Yo, d. What’s the science on this. We’re constantly told that pot is not a doorway into heavier drug use, “it’s not addictive.” Which seems counter intuitive and is obviously contradicted by your, you know, actual experience. Is your experience simply discounted as anecdotal evidence (my preferred kind of evidence, actually, given that I’m a fiction writer at heart) or have people come around to see drug use as a path up (or down) a ladder from one opiate or stimulant to another more potent one? Thanks.
OB, first this was close to 50 years ago. My experience at the time was that the pot high was, eventually, insufficient for my…needs, for want of a better term. Since “medical” marijuana is favored at the local bar that I frequent, I have related this to some of my friends who smoke dope on a regular basis on the back patio. I have gotten the same arguments. One thing I will say…pot may or may not be physically addictive bu it is most certainly psychologically addictive. And, to be perfectly honest, I may have an addictive personality. I maintain a love of good Scotch and beer as wll as smoking Marlboros.
I’ve had the benefit of not having an addictive body type. A great asset. I quit smoking effortlessly when I realized I was simply killing myself by doing so. (around fifty years ago) Ironically, I was high on pot at the time I came to this realization. Funny.
I guess the question becomes can a society legislate bumpers for the populous dealing with (or not dealing with) addictive body types. Over my pay grade.