Legalize drugs.. all of 'em

My husband and I were having a discussion regarding the number of murders that have been happening in the metro Vancouver area. It sounds like they're gang related. Most citizens are tired of the deaths and innocent casualties. The question becomes, how can we disable gangs? The answer: cut off their source of income, legalize drugs. All of them. Not just marijuana -- which most people believe should be legalized. I'm talking heroin, crack cocaine, meth.. all of them.

Who benefits from drugs being illegal? Gangs, other organized crime, and other people who selling or producing the drugs. Because it's so lucrative, organized crime is likely to get involved if Joe Average starts producing drugs in any significant amount.

Who hurts from drugs being illegal? Those who use the drugs. Who are they? There are the recreational users and then there are the addicts. Not much I can say about recreational users. If it's not affecting their lives, then what's the harm? On the other hand, there are the addicts. I've never been an addict, but I understand the desire to escape, especially when you're faced with something you don't know how to handle.

It seems like if people are looking for an escape, they should be allowed to have it. There's a legalization program in Switzerland and the Netherlands where they make heroin available to those who are need it. When this happened, the "addicts" were able to maintain their lives. They also offer psychiatry and social workers services. The needles and paraphernalia were kept in the clinic where the heroin was provided by nurses.

Initially, when we were discussing this, the foremost thought in my mind was, "What if my son experiments with it as a teen and gets addicted?" The answer is, "So what?" If he did get addicted, then he'd be able to access the drugs that his body needs and it would be up to my husband and I to address the reasons behind his addiction. If you think your life sucks, then you should change it. If everyone was striving to live the best lives they could, we wouldn't have drug addiction because there wouldn't be anything to escape.

When I took a lower level Criminology class in university, I was surprised to find that opiates were made illegal because of the gold rush in BC. Opiates was imported by the Chinese and it was felt that the Chinese had an unfair advantage.

Making drugs illegal only drives up the costs of policing the poor. It's silly. Make it legal, make it available at Safeway. Instead of trying to control the symptom of people living unhappy lives, we should address the root cause. That would be a much bigger challenge, but this world would be a better place if we were helping our fellow humans lead happier lives.

Sibling rivalry

My daughter has started crawling forward. She's mobile and a little explorer. It's wonderful.. except that she's getting into more toys and my son is not pleased with this development.

I've had to start punishing him (with 30 second time-outs in the corner) because he started pushing her over. The first day I started this, he must have pushed her 8 times before he stopped. Since then, he's stopped pushing her, for the most part. He still does it occasionally. He is snatching toys away from her, screaming, "Noooo!", and throwing the toy across the room.

A part of me thinks that I should intervene as little as possible because I want these two to develop a friendship, but it feels wrong because my daughter is so young. There are toys that are "his" and that I don't allow her to play with (when he's in the room). I'm also trying to instill in him the concept of toys that are exclusively hers and that he shouldn't be playing with. That's a difficult concept for a 2 year old to grasp.

Well.. the toys are in front of me, so I guess he needs some attention.