Is it not strange to anybody else? Does it not raise questions about the nature of the laws which make up our country? They define us, right? If they are unjust then WE are unjust.
How are our laws controlling marijuana just?
I've heard lots of bad answers, and I don't expect any good ones. I think most would agree; there aren't any good answers to that question. So, then, on this the 20th day of April, 2012, why in the world are we having this conversation? Humans have enjoyed changing consciousness ever since we climbed down out of the trees, and probably before then.
Below the fold I'd like to cite two examples of habitual, on-the-job consciousness change; both are potentially dangerous, only one poses a danger to job-site safety and to the bottom line.
There are two masons who work for the construction company I work for, we'll call them Jack and Harry.
Jack does ok work; he's a hard worker, and tries to do his best, but he's really high-strung. He runs around all day like a crazy person, I'll have to ask him 10 times a day what he's up to because I'll see him bopping around not doing his work. He'll be looking for something he didn't really need or trying to find somebody to ask something that could've waited, and I risk his sometimes petulant and even bitter responses to my questioning. When I go over and check on what he's had going, his work is pretty good, most of the time. It is a familiar thing that he gets in too big a hurry and either misses something or does something wrong; and then curses about it and spends the next half-hour looking for somebody/something to fix his problem.
And don't even get me started on asking the guy to help with heavy yet delicate work, like to help set a window or to put his shoulder on a beam. He'll run right over there all gung-ho and try to lift and set the thing himself, maybe dropping it in the process. If we're carrying lumber around someplace, he'll try to grab six boards at a time, then drop them, then scramble around to try to pick them up and carry them again instead of setting three down and making two trips. It's a running joke that if you need any help with that kind of thing the last person you want to ask is Jack.
Not surprisingly, he indulges heavily in a stimulant. He picks it up in a gigantic mug from the local gas station every morning. They have no qualms about selling it him, he doesn't even have to show ID. And yet it may be a contributing factor to his being kind of a f***-up. Go figure.
Harry could not be more different from Jack. He takes his time, he sees things through. He's the most methodical dude I've ever worked with, and the best mason. He's the type of guy who will not only ask for an extra hand on something dicey, he'll notice that the safety line is too loose and holler "Wait, wait, gimme a minute" and make sure it's tight. His work with concrete is absolutely top-flight, as I said I've never seen a better mason. When we do a concrete pour and he's running it, you know it will be done right and you won't be chasing his mistakes all the way up to the roof-sheathing. When he does artistic stone you know the homeowners will love it and those grout-lines will be perfect. Harry, unlike Jack, can strap on a tool-bag and do the wood-cutting thing with the best of them, too. If he has a flaw in carpentry it's being too perfectionist, wanting to go back and cut that piece for the nth time even though it's only a tiny shade off. He's really a pleasure to work with.
He indulges in marijuana, every day, all day. When he doesn't have any, his work doesn't suffer, or even change at all, in any aspect save for his artistic stone, that'd be cultured stone or flagstone. The quality is the same, but the output suffers a little. From what I've observed he will get noticably more frustrated with the more intricate stuff. When he's been smoking he will just glide right through it, like he tells it "the right stones just pop out at you".
Obviously Harry takes a substantial, some might say foolhardy, risk in burning down at work. From exactly what quarter does that risk emanate? Why should it be such a risk?
Once again, how are our laws controlling marijuana just?