They're Getting Stoned Legally in Colorado and That's a Good Thing

I've completely flipped on this.

I still react with hostility to the pot subculture -- these people are so psyched about a mild hallucinogen it's just sad, really; they wear pot-leaf necklaces, for crying out loud -- but my distaste for someone's lifestyle and preferences is no justification for a law presuming to squelch those choices.

Whether I approve of this or not, these people are happy. Why should that bother me?

I mean, Let's Be Honest, it does bother me. It's a very deeply human thing to resent someone enjoying something one doesn't enjoy oneself.

I think pot laws and most drug laws are paternalistic. They are a vehicle for the majority of society expressing their distaste for a certain lifestyle, in the guise of helping the wayward find a better way of living.

But we really ought to respect other citizens as adult, free human beings. And freedom means the freedom to make mistakes, or, if not mistakes, to make choices the mainstream of society doesn't approve of.

We don't all have to be mainstream.

posted by Ace at 05:51 PM

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