[geeks] OT: response to "small town"

[der Mouse]

> Outside of a tiny minority, most drug users I have met are more than
> just high.  Their performance, ethics, loyalty, and behavior sucks,
> causes me grief, and costs companies I work for a lot of money.

I suspect the truth is more like "most drug users I have met and know
to be drug users".  I know a whole bunch of people.  Some percentage of
them (never bothered to work it out) are drug users.  Most of them are
about as easy to pick out of a crowd as the people who have track
lighting at home - ie, you'd never know it to look at them.

This is approximately as true whether the drugs of choice are legal or
illegal, too.

> I'm sick of putting up with that and having people tell me it is
> harmless.

I wouldn't tell you drug use is harmless.

I *would* tell you its harm to the user is, at least in the cases of my
acquaintance, orthogonal to the legality of the drug.

> To me the real issue is that we've abandoned personal responsibility.

Absolutely.

> IMHO, legalizing drugs can't be safely done in a society that lacks
> personal responsibility.

Neither can legalizing much of anything else.

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