LETTER OF THE WEEK

SELF-INDULGENCE

By Pablo Teveni, III

Let's think about what's legal in the U.S. Tobacco and alcohol are
both legal despite causing dependency and serious health risks. Guns are legal.

The death penalty is legal. Abortion is legal. Pre-emptive war is legal.

Pesticides and other carcinogens in our food, water and air are legal.

What is illegal? Drugs and prostitution? These are crimes of self-indulgence.

As a lover of the eroded values of liberty and privacy, I believe
that whatever substances an adult knowingly puts into his or her own
body (be it glacier milk or rat poison) is his or her own business.

I believe whatever consenting adults do behind closed doors is their
own business. Does anyone else in this fearful and forceful republic
share these options?

Furthermore, I believe that an ounce of education is worth a pound of
enforcement. Students in high school should be taught the truth
about the effects of drugs and promiscuity: addiction, disease, and a
shortened life span. They shouldn't be fed propaganda full of
distortions and one-sidedness.

Must the government(s) act as a parent over its citizens?

Why should people be locked up for committing acts of
self-destruction? It's like adding insult to injury.

Pablo Teveni III

Las Cruces

Pubdate: Wed, 25 Nov 2009

Source: El Paso Times (TX)