The New Gateway Drug

I’ve always wondered when tobacco would take the place of marijuana as the “gateway drug,” and apparently it’s finally happened, but in Pakistan, not in the U.S. (yet):

Smoking leads to drug addiction: LGES chairman

Smoking is considered the root cause of drug usage, as cigarettes tend to tempt youngsters towards trying out drugs, said Lahore Garrison Educational System (LGES) chairman Major General (r) Nazakat Ali Khan on Tuesday.

This is indeed intriguing. Tobacco and alcohol are obviously the more logical gateway drugs, even though marijuana has been the labeled culprit for years. However, with the increasingly social intolerance of smoking - such as in places like Belmont, CA – tobacco has/will become the next victim of the war on drug mentality.

Belmont, CA has a new ordinance which would outlaw smoking not only in ostensably “public” places, such as restaurants and bars, but in private residences as well. Smoke travel in multi-unit apartments is something that could be handled through two avenues: 1) the market – complaints will lead property owners to install ventilation systems which remove the smoke or they will rent to people who do not smoke; 2) the city could require the installation of such ventilation systems in new apartment buildings or when renovations are done on existing apartment buildings. Both of these options address the issue without invading the privacy of the renter.

Regulating the life of the individual can only go so far, and should only go so far as he interacts with the public and other individuals. It should not extend to his private behaviour within his personal space.

Blame It All on the Nookie

Apparently, White Ribbons Against Pornography week began on Sunday; kicked off by a bunch of “moral majority” types – Focus on the Family, Morality in Media, etc. Oh the joy, or rather, the lack thereof:

The 20th annual White Ribbons Against Pornography (WRAP) Week kicked off on Sunday as a yearlong effort to combat the spread of porn across the American culture and to push for the enforcement of federal obscenity laws.

Because as we know, America’s problems can be traced back to pornography:

“Our nation … faces a moral crisis, giving rise, among other things, to teen promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS), abortions, children born to single mothers, divorces, sexual abuse of children, sexual harassment, rape, and trafficking in women and children,” said Robert W. Peters, president of Morality in Media, which is spearheading a national awareness campaign. “It is clear that the explosive increase in the availability of hardcore pornography is helping to fuel this moral crisis.”

This moral crisis isn’t due to lack of parenting or a general moral malaise that accepts whatever is laid in front of it. No, it’s brought on by the despicable, evil pornography industry, because accepting personal responsibility is not the way to go when you can blame “The Other.” Nor is this moral crisis all that it appears to be.

According to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, teen pregnancy is at its lowest point ever, and the teen abortion rate has declined 50 percent since 1988. And according to the Kaiser Foundation, teenage sexual activity has also declined, while safe sex has increased. In 2001 and again in 2004, the Justice Department noted a decline in the number of child abuse, and their conclusion was that one of the factors was indeed an actual decline in the occurence of abuse. And aside from the fact that there is no significant increase in any of the areas he mentions, in fact they are mostly in decline, there absolutely no proven causal link between pornography and crime; all there is is correlation (at best).

Just because the media hypes these stories to get ratings, and Dateline has a recurring special on entrapping child predators, it doesn’t mean there is an actual, real increase in these behaviours. It’s more likely that we’re living in a more voyeuristic world in which we want to see a lot more, even if there’s not a lot to see.

I’ll leave you with this thought from the Marquis de Sade’s Philosophy in the Bedroom: “Voluptuaries of all ages, of every sex, it is to you only that I offer this work; nourish yourselves upon its principles: they favor your passions, and these passions, whereof coldly insipid moralists put you in fear, are naught but the means Nature employs to bring man to the ends she prescribes to him; hearken only to these delicious Promptings, for no voice save that of the passions can conduct you to happiness.”

Other blogs on this topic: White Ribbons and the War on Porn (FleshBot)

Would You Card This Man?

Gallivare, Sweden (AHN) – “A 77-year-old Swedish retiree Per-Eric Henriccson was asked by a local supermarket to show his identification card to prove that he was of legal age to purchase one case of beer.”

How do these people sleep at night? The idiot supermarket manager claimed that it is difficult for cashiers to guess people’s age. Well, who the fuck are you hiring? Are the clerks that stupid that they can’t tell the man is well over the age of 18? Did they think it was make-up? What’s the deal here? It can’t be that hard to tell if a 77 year old man is past age 18.

According to the AP’s story, Mr Henriccson had planned to by the beer for a gathering of the local senior citizens group. But no, the grocery store – through government fiat - had to prevent that little bit of fun.