MARK L. BAKKE'S
Night Owl Mk. II




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REPLY #3 TO
"DRUGS"



Boldfaced statements are parts of the original essay (or a subsequent reply) to which the respondent has directed his comments.

Italicized/emphasized comments prefaced by (R) are those of the respondent and are presented unedited.

My replies appear under the respondent's comments in blue text and are prefaced by my initials (MB).

(R) For the sake of arguement, should anybody have the right to take away these substances which have been around for centuries? People have been smoking and drinking for generations. There is nothing anyone can do about it.
(MB) People have been committing crimes of all sorts for as long as there have been laws. If we want to have any sort of societal order, we must have laws and enforce them.


(R) Look what happened when tried to get rid of alcohol in America years ago. People got around the laws and did it anyway.
(MB) Alcohol is unique in that it has not only been legal for thousands of years, but it has also become an integral part of human society. Something like that is very difficult to legislate out of existence.


(R) Is it really necessary to have to arrest people for smoking a cigarette? The way I look at it is that if people want to kill themselves by smoking or drinking then let them. Obviously they are not helping society out very well and we probably would be better off without them.
(MB) We'd probably let them go ahead and kill themselves if it wasn't for the fact that smoking and getting drunk have harmful effects on the innocents that come into contact with them. The laws are really not to punish any "offender", but to protect potential victims.


(R) Plus these people are taking up space. Modern medicine has already decreased the death rate enough that in several underdevloped countries people now starve to death instead of dying by disease. Smoking and drinking are one of the few controls left, that is helping to kill people off.
(MB) It takes far too long for smoking and drinking to eventually kill people to harbor any thoughts (however misguided) about them being used to control population.


(R) By the way, I love the site.
(MB) Thanks! Hopefully, you'll find other things here that will move you to comment.



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