While I may have a different perspective than many, since none in my immediate family or direct descendants,has or has had, any of the addictions as spoken of here and most never smoke or use alcohol,except a couple (use alcohol in moderation , never over-imbibe)...and I thank God for that !
Sadly, I do have a nephew living a couple thousand miles away, who may use pot; although still functional and a hard worker.
No, I would not expect the death penalty for a user...and the hard user is often pronouncing his/her own death penalty; but I may be open to some control of users. Some control, not so much for their sake, but for the sake of other people living in the same society.
The old axiom, " you can swing your fists around all you wish; but where they come close enough to endanger my nose..I have a "vested interest' and a RIGHT to be concerned" .....has it's merits.
I see those police chases on TV, and most often it involves drugs. Either the perp has robbed or carjacked somebody, hoping to get money to buy drugs, or in an even worse case scenario, is high on some kind of crap and an immediate, aggressive danger to anyone else on or near the highway. Unnecessary to mention it would seem, the danger to innocents when robbery for drug money, or any kind of super-aggressive chemical (PCP?) is introduced. No; genuine control may be necessary, beyond any consideration for the user but out of consideration for the innocent.
I do agree with powderman when it comes to elimination of the hard-core seller., especially at the distribution leve..where I believe it should be mandatory. I see it as the same as eliminating a rattle snake or king Cobra from a school yard; especially when one realizes that mere "relocation", will have that cobra (or drug pushers) back in place as soon as the 'snake hunters' have left the scene.
Such dregs are clearly, "enemies of the people"..
Smoking though detrimental, is still legal...and as I see it, unless the situation is extremely confined, the "second-hand smoke" thing is much overblown. As far as the extremely high taxes on tobacco products, I see that as simply a money-grab by federal, state and in some cases, local govts. From my vantage point, the high tobacco taxes seem to hurt the "poor" disproportionately, making them still poorer.
Indeed, here is where freedom does come in ! Generally speaking, smokers kill nobody but themselves, while drunks or drugheads often kill other people (the real difference). One exception being an adult who smokes in a confined area with children/babies present...that's child abuse.
Perhaps it is more difficult for me to empathize with the addict because I have not yet personally dealt with one; still, I can observe and evaluate empirically. Possibly that detatchment can even give me a clearer, less prejudiced view.
