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I'm gonna rant, without apology, except maybe at the end. And then I'm going to try not to write again on this subject.
Cigarette smokers are not "treated like vile second class citizens." I, too, am a former smoker, so is my husband, and he had a very difficult and long time quitting. And I have many friends who continue to smoke. Some say they want to quit, some try, and some insist they have no intention of quitting.
Cigarette smokers are asked to smoke in designated places so non-smokers are not unwillingly forced to breathe second-hand smoke. Whether there is a significant health risk from breathing second-hand smoke I won't argue here, but I do sincerely believe non-smokers ought to have soem choice in what kind of air they breathe.
In most places I've worked, cigarette smokers are allowed relatively unlimited time off to go outside and smoke. Non-smokers who take extra such "breaks" are often disciplined. This happened to me when I requested (paid) time off for a medical appointment. I was told such time could not be paid for. When I pointed out that I did not take four or five ten-minute cigarette breaks each day and that one hour out of a month ought to be allowed, I was told that if I took the time off without scheduling it ahead of time as vacation, I would not be paid, AND if I did not schedule it ahead of time, I would be fired. A recent study where my husband works showed smokers took an AVERAGE of 35 minutes time off during an eight-hour shift; some were as high as 2 hours, or 25% of the time they were paid for.
Some companies do not, it is true, allow such breaks, and while that may be considered prejudice against smokers, I believe there is room for an argument that it is also a bias in favor of those who actually do the work they're hired to do.
Prescription drugs without control can be deadly. Thirty years ago, my mother became addicted unknowingly when her physician prescribed a medication to be "refilled as needed." The amount prescribed was originally sufficient for two weeks' treatment, after which she returned to the physician to see if the medication was working. the treatment seemed successful, so she was sent home with her Rx. Over the next several months, she continued to have the prescription refilled as she needed it. First it was every two weeks, then every ten days, then every week. The pharmacist at that point contacted the physician, who approved the increased usage. But when the consumption reached the point of two weeks' dosage per day, the pharmacist simply refused to refill any more and once again contacted the physician. By this time, however, my mother was completely addicted. Not only had she been rendered virtually non-functional to her family as a result of this (I was married and moved out but had two younger siblings and my father still at home to deal with this mess) but they all then had to go through the trauma of her withdrawal from a powerfully addictive drug. Self-medication is not victimless.
My husband's cousin suffered a heart attack at age 30 and at one point was given only hours to live, until an alert physician suspected the cause was not a disease but a drug interaction between prescription medications exacerbated by her long-time use of a common OTC pain-reliever. When asked afterward why she didn't report the use of this OTC medication to the physician prior to being given the Rxs, she said she didn't consider it medicine. Had she died, she would have left three small children behind.
Self-medication and free access to whatever makes you feel good is not, imho, such a great and wonderful idea. Who among us who is not a physician has any real clue what all these drugs do, what they don't do, what they act and react with? I wouldn't trust my coworker or neighbor to provide me with antibiotics, antidepressants, pain relievers, or anything else.
Should restrictions be eased on some drugs? Probably. Should the sentencing laws be revised? Absolutely. Can some drugs be made more readily available without serious harm to the general population? Without a doubt. But make everything freely available without control? I don't think so.
But that's just me.
The idea that Rush Limbaugh should be allowed to get away with this because the drug laws are too harsh and people should be allowed to self-medicate because it's a victimless "crime" is IMHO hooey. The impaired driver or coworker who causes accidents is not engaged in victimless activity. Should he have been allowed to get all the OxyContin he wanted just because he wanted it? Well, maybe, if it would have resulted in his silencing, but that's not the point.
I've seen people get viciously mean on alcohol and go completely out of control. I have two friends who can't function if they have to do without a cigarette every hour, including one who wakes up at least twice during every night to have a cigarette. I've lost several friends over the years to drunk drivers, and three friends to lung cancer. Oh, yes, and one to a caffeine addiction so intense that he said he'd rather die before he was thirty than give up coffee and cola. He routinely drank a twelve-pack of cola a day, even after he had been diagnosed with high blood pressure and warned that the excessive caffeine might be a contributing factor. At 28 he suffered a massive stroke and died, leaving a pregnant wife to whom he'd been married only six months. I'm not saying this means we should cut off everyone's supply of caffeine, but I am saying that even these "harmless" drugs can have devastating consequences. Put more powerful stuff out there on the street, and do you really think things would improve?
Prohibition of alcohol didn't solve the problem and it brought crime into the picture too. Same with drugs like heroin and crack and all that other stuff that's out there that I don't have a clue about. I just think it's ignorant and foolish to think that pulling all the restrictions is the way to solve this problem. And it is a problem.
Now, all of you can flame me if you want.
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