Today I had to drive to the fair city of Bakersfield. While filling up the truck at $4.47 a gallon (very high for an oil producing county-even with the refinery five hours away) for regular gas I noticed trash on top of the fuel pump. Not your ordinary trash but peanut shells. They were broken in half and stacked somewhat orderly right in front of the advertisement in the middle of the pump. Something about the shells caught my eye. I guess it was the bright blue color that was mixed in with the shells. Standing on my toes to see over the stack I saw a somewhat large pile of pills. Some were hard but most were soft in capsules. I looked around and nobody was hanging out at the station or waiting for my pump. I walked over to the water and pulled out the windshield washer/squeegy. After washing my windshield I put the squeegy away and got a bunch of paper towels. Some I dunked in the water. After wiping my windshield dry I walked over to the pump and gathered all the trash, peanuts and pills, put them into the wet papertowel, gave it a good squeeze, dunked it in the water for good measure then threw it away. I'm sure when the person arrived at the pump to pick up their pills I expect they were quite dissapointed that their purchase wasn't there. I hope it causes some trouble between the buyer and seller.
I really wouldn't care if people used drugs except for the toll it takes on those who don't. Whether it's children of drug users who get neglected because the drug is more important, or those who get burglarized by someone needing money to support their habit, the cost to the rest of society is where I see the problem. When we as parents were told to talk to our kids about drugs, my talk was short and sweet. Use drugs - die. Simple as that. I really don't know of hard core drug users that live past their thirties or forties. Not that I know any hard core drug users...
I know that two of my kids have used some form of illegal drugs. Oldest daughter and son-in-law quit when they moved in with me after living in the pot capital of the country for most of their adult life. I told them that I'd call the sheriff if I found a trace of anything on my property. They knew I would too. Since they wanted to start a new life, which they've done beautifully, they stopped cold turkey. I was very proud of their decision. Son, well I can't say that he doesn't use drugs. He doesn't have the money to buy any but there's always food stamps to trade.
One I know has never used anything and one I just don't know. I was asked by Army daughter, the one who hasn't used anything, why I never smoked or experimented with drugs. My answer was simple and not what she expected. I didn't want to spend my money on it. It's not that I thought smoking cigarettes was horrible, smelly, or bad for my lungs. No, I didn't want to spend my hard earned money on them and I didn't want to mooch off others so I never smoked. Same went with drug use. I'm sure it would have been fun or at least an interesting experience. I didn't stay away from drugs because it was illegal. I stayed away because it cost money. I guess I was always sensible in that respect.
Whoever's stash of pills I destroyed today is probably having a really bad night. Good. I know for the first couple months after TSHTF drug users are going to probably be the most dangerous of all people roaming around. Someone who is hooked is quite irrational when they are coming off of a cigarette addiction or worse, a drug addiction. Even those of us who drink coffee need to think about it. Caffeine is a drug. You will have horrible headaches and not be able to think clearly if you are addicted to caffeine. I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy your coffee now during the good times but realize that you better have enough stored in your supply of provisions to be able to wean yourself off when there's none left to be had.
I tend to agree with you on almost everything but your drug stance seems a bit hypocritical. A lot of anti-gun nuts use basically the same reasoning for why people shouldn't be allowed to own weapon. You can use that weapon then to harm others (your own children can grab it etc). You can't pick and choose the freedoms to give to people. If you believe in the second amendment, I don't see how you could argue for the illegality of drugs. People that want them are going to get them anyway, and people that don't want them aren't going to get them. If your best reasoning is that it "may" negatively affect other people, your reasoning is flawed. Just one mans opinion.
ReplyDeleteEndorphins are my drug of choice and they are free. I am in the same boat about drugs (and many other things), I don't want to spend the money on them.
ReplyDeleteI never understand people who work minimum wage jobs and spend half the paycheck on pot or booze. I suppose whatever makes you happy, but when you can't get the stuff and become a fiend breaking into peoples houses for prescription drugs... I hope getting killed is worth it.
Kudos for the good deed mate!
I don't think I wrote anywhere that I thought drugs should be illegal. I don't want them laying around in public. I wasn't too happy about the meth lab in the orchard next to our property. I'm much more open to people using plants to change their mindset rather than manufacturing items in a lab or using medication incorrectly. In our area Native American's used Jimson weed which grows everywhere! I could use the same comment that others do: make them legal and then tax them like cigarettes and alcohol. Sounds great if you believe in sucking money out of people...I mean higher taxes.
ReplyDeleteO.K....I am going to take you on a trip into an area that some will be uncomfortable with. I am going to pull the "Ostrich's" head out of the sand for a second. If you bury your head back, that is your choice, but I did my research.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major reasons we have a drug trade, one of the major reasons the border is not being secured, is that the CIA funds it's "black ops" with proceeds from illegal drugs being run into the U.S. I have pictures of U.S. troops GUARDING opium fields in Afghanistan, rather than destroying them. I have had soldiers, both former and serving walking into my store and when I ask they tell me it is true!! When they ask they are told it is a question above their pay scale and are not to ask again just do as they are ordered.
You make your decision whether this government is corrupt or not. That is your INDIVIDUAL Constitutional Right !! But I will leave you with a historical quote, as if we don't remember the past we are doomed to repeat it.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels, Head of Nazi Propaganda, WWII
Whatif
ReplyDeleteI re read the post and I did misinterpret some of what it said. I apologize for calling you out when you did not need to be called out. Keep up the good work, and I'll try to read more thoroughly before telling you your wrong!
severs28 Most people tell me I'm wrong! And I'm always open to others opinions.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can understand that you feel strongly about illicit drug use, I wanted to share a story with you about something that happened many years ago, in a place that now seems very far away.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, there was a group of people of very modest means. These people were young and old, married, single, and otherwise. They were from all different backgrounds and ethnicities, much like the people of modest means today. There were many of them, and they often congregated and comiserated over their conditions and shared a laugh or two. Some of the people in this group had grown elderly and were quite alone, as there was no family to look after them for various reasons.
So it was that when the elderly folks of even more modest means became hungry or ill, the younger, fitter members of the group would take from their modest supplies and make a lunch or whatever they could to be taken to the elders. At that time in history, medical care for the elderly was in very short supply, and the drugs needed to cure or alleviate some conditions couldn't be afforded by the elderly--and more often than not, the young and healthy as well. But the younger, fitter of the group had an easier time accessing prescriptions for themselves. Over time, a system developed to gather what was needed from the community to deliver what one desperate elderly person might need to stay alive, or to get through the pain of various conditions. The prescriptions would be delivered along with a meal. While it didn't necessarily save a life, it certainly made a difference.
Now, of course, this wasn't modern-day California. This was a different time and a different place, so maybe you can toss this baby out with the bathwater, should you be so inclined--but please think about what you did.
There is no way for you to have known what these pills were, nor whom they were for. Maybe you did ruin a drug deal, or maybe you made someones' life harder. There's a reason you should mind your own business. It wasn't as if there was some gun-toting Cartel member anywhere around. By all means, stick with your own beliefs, but leave your attitude out of everyone else's business.
Well said Anonymous. I do have a different take than most. I don't think it's a bad thing to share medication with the elderly or the poor. I doubt that was what was left on the gas pump.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine was killed by drug cartel. He had nothing to do with drugs but was out walking around in the woods and got too close to someone’s "farm". I too was shot at by someone while I was doing work; in fact I've been shot at twice. The first time I was up in Humboldt County and was hired by a landowner to do a job for him. I was meandering near the pond and someone shot over my head. Not to hit me but definitely to scare me and have me leave. I yelled out the reason I was there and was left alone after that.
The second time I was working on public land and came across a large greenhouse on the adjacent private land. Those shots were too close for comfort. We hightailed it out of there!
All my kids (have I mentioned that they are all adopted) were the products of drug families. Their parent’s drugs were more important than the children. One of the kids’ siblings got into some of the drugs died. The only reason the parent was pissed was because there was less to sell. Never mind that it killed his kid.
Just like alcohol, what you do is your business. Just don't drive or do anything to put others at risk. When someone leaves their drugs sitting out then others are put at risk. And yes, I do have a different take on it than most.