The Way I See It

No, I’m not talking about the war in Iraq. That one is the hot topic of every political site on the internet and every news show on TV. Iraq has been talked into the ground.

I’m talking about the war that our politicians on both sides of the aisle when never stop fighting even though they will never win it. Which war is that, you ask? The War On Drugs.

Ironically, anyone who has been through a 12-step program will tell you that Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results each time. And yet, when it comes to fighting drugs, we do the same thing over and over with the same results: failure. Why? Well how about a lesson we learned more than a half century ago. Prohibition doesn’t work. It didn’t work for alcohol and it isn’t working for drugs.

I’ve seen loads of statistics regarding drug use and abuse. I don’t put much stock in the stats that say drug use is going down, especially when those stats have to do with teens. Teens are not all that honest; drug users are notoriously dishonest. If you want real stats, look at hospital records for overdoses, numbers of kids and adults being arrested for drug related crimes, and sadly, statistics for drug related deaths.

Oh, and don’t forget that alcohol is a drug. And yet, some parents allow their “almost adult” kids to drink in the home so they’ll “learn” responsible drinking. Yeah, good call. Just when a kid is needing to really grasp the concept of dealing with negative emotions while overcome by a sea of hormones, show him how to dull those feelings with a drug so he’ll know there’s an easier way to deal with low self-esteem or a broken heart. Good call, oh wise parents.

Back to my original thought… this is about our War On Drugs and stupidity of passing new laws to fight this plague. The latest law that really irritates me is the extreme government control of various sinus medications. Every time I need to buy a box of Aleve Cold and Sinus, which works wonders, by the way, I come home fuming.

Apparently, the active ingredient in this over the counter medication (as well as other sinus meds) is also an ingredient used in making crystal meth. Since law enforcement is unable to stop the manufacture and abuse of crystal meth, our lawmakers have enacted laws to make it harder to get this ingredient. The problem is, those who use this medication for SINUS PROBLEMS now have to jump through hoops, show proof of ID and worst of all, pay high prices for this effective medicine.

That infuriates me.

As annoying as it is to jump through the government’s hoops to just get a little nasal relief, the price issue is what really makes me want to scream. I used to be able to buy Aleve Cold and Sinus at a discount store for half the cost of the drug stores and other department stores. Now a pharmacist must distribute it and the price is never reduced. Talk about the government and private business working together to screw the consumer! Just check the price on this stuff; it isn’t cheap.

This is just one more example of how our government places more restrictions on law abiding citizens because it has failed to restrict criminal activity. If you can’t stop the law breakers, tighten the reigns on the good people so they’ll think you’re doing your job. Sorry, we’re not that stupid. We know you have failed.

So, what is the answer? Well, let’s go back to the premise that continuing this War On Drugs has proven to be insane. Let’s rethink what drug use and abuse is. How about, a disease? Wouldn’t that be a novel idea? Let’s treat addicts medically, in rehab facilities instead of jails, to see if that works. We already know that more laws and jails do not work. What do we have to lose?

Let’s recap. Way back in September ’06, Paris Hilton was stopped by the LAPD for driving erratically and registered .08 blood alcohol level. Paris denies knowing that her license was suspended due to the conviction in that case. When she was picked up driving on that suspended license, she was sentenced to 45 days in jail, later reduced to 23 days, for driving on a suspended license. At the time of this second stop, she was not intoxicated. She spent 3 days in jail and has now been released to house arrest.

Those are the facts. Now for the disclaimer. I’m not a fan of Paris Hilton. I’m not at all happy about the image she portrays to young, impressionable girls. Maybe everything we see about her is an act and she’s really a great human being. Maybe not. Whatever the truth, I’d like to see less of the Paris Hilton we’ve seen these past years. Being a person who believes in redemption and second chances, I’d like to see someone get through to Paris and get her to do some real good in the world. But that’s not what this is about.

Paris Hilton should never have been convicted of DUI.

I have a huge issue with the .08 BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) currently in effect in this country. For one thing, most states previously set the limit at 0.1 which was acceptable. MADD wanted the BAC lowered but many states resisted. Enter the federal government. The federal government had no constitutional right to set a nationwide BAC so they did what they always do when they want to overstep their bounds and strong arm the states: they tied tax money to the States’ BAC levels. In other words, if a state didn’t lower the BAC to .08, they didn’t get the highway dollars that are vital to every state’s economy. The federal government did the same thing when they wanted the legal drinking age raised from 18 to 21. So now, you aren’t mature enough to have a beer until you’re 21 but you are mature enough to be tried as an adult at 18 when you commit a crime. Excuse me for being dense, but if we’re setting arbitrary ages, then wouldn’t it be wise to, at the very least, be consistent? And shouldn’t those ages have some relevance to the issue?

Before I get bombarded by the MADD supporters, I’ll state right up front that DUI is a serious offense. I was just 11 years old when my friend, her mother and brother were all killed by a drunk driver. It isn’t something you forget. However, the person who killed my friend had a BAC level far above .08. And that is the point of my rant.

I have searched online in every way I know to find statistics regarding alcohol related accidents, with and without injury or death, where the BAC level was between .08 and 0.1 but have come up empty. The only thing I’ve found are statistics regarding accidents with BAC over .08. That isn’t the point. Those statistics would include BAC levels at 0.15 or 0.2. I want statistical proof that lowering the BAC to .08 was not just “feel good” legislation but was really an important measure.

My contention is that .08 is not an unreasonable level, does not indicate inebriation or drunkenness, and serves only to make criminals out of law-abiding people. This isn’t so much about Paris Hilton as it is about the 64 year old grandmother who goes out to dinner with a friend a few months after being widowed, has a glass of wine and gets picked up for DUI with a .08 BAC. (That isn’t a made up story. I know the woman it happened to and it still irks the hell out of me.)

I also contend that if the statistics backed the current laws and rhetoric from groups such as MADD, they’d be widely available. You won’t find them because those statistics would prove that the .08 BAC level is useless. So I challenge anyone to come up with the statistics I’ve tried to find.

Since this started out with Paris Hilton, I’ll end it with her as well. For all of her foibles and disgusting displays of unladylike behavior, I’ve never seen her outright drunk. She may be ditzy or trashy at times, but she has always appeared sober to me. With a .08 BAC level, I couldn’t call her an alcoholic. I don’t know if she’s addicted to anything else, but this conviction does not prove she’s an alcoholic. In fact, that low BAC level indicates the opposite, that she’s an occasional drinker who doesn’t overindulge. You know, normal.

[tags]Paris Hilton, DUI, Government, MADD[/tags]

Before I start this rant, keep in mind that I did tech support for an ISP for 7 years. I’m not stupid. I know how to open Internet Explorer if you tell me to do that. I know that there are 101 things that can go wrong with an internet connection, dialup, dsl or cable. I also know that good tech support will attempt the least invasive procedures first and move up the ladder to more complicated possible solutions. And I know that good tech support will ask the right questions and actually listen to the answers.

So tell me, why on earth would you not do a simple line check to see if our lines are down after I’ve told you a storm is approaching? And why would you jump to the conclusion, after looking at my account and noting that my 2 year old modem is out of warranty, that my modem is at fault? Might it be because you want to get a pat on the back or a bonus for tricking customers into buying equipment they don’t need? Or maybe you were simply tired and wanted to get me off the line so you could relax. Did I call too close to quitting time?

Several days before, my Verizon DSL went out. As the tech support woman tried to get a line reading, she suggested that we work on the modem. She walked me through resetting all of my settings before she informed me that our lines were indeed out. And guess what? Her tweaking took down my home network so I had to completely re-do everything to get my machines to talk to each other. Yeah, I was angry.

And because of that problem at the beginning of the week, this second tech support guy, who definitely didn’t speak English as a first or maybe even second language, jumped to the conclusion that my modem is too old because it’s out of warranty.

Uh…. I have loads of electronic equipment that’s out of warranty. If I replaced everything that was out of warranty, I wouldn’t be able to afford to eat! I’m so angry that Verizon would employ such an incompetent worker with such a severe lack of understanding of the equipment and no concept of logical thinking that I had to voice my complaint here.

Oh, and for the record, the lines were out again this second time, just as I thought. I guess I didn’t need a new modem after all. Seems the Verizon genius tech support guy was just plain wrong