The ever changing world...improvement or no?

Interesting.  As I began this post I noticed that at 9:18 PDT, we have had over 240 visitors to our little corner of the bloggosphere, but no comments.

So, I am on day two of my new job.  I have been home all of 3 nights since early February.  I hope Poots enjoyed the little gust from mother nature yesterday, It doesn't look like it is going to be a nice day up here in lovely Winslow.  But hey, the company is providing a brand new house for me and one other guy to use when we are here and I am Earning Money Sleeping. 

Now for the good part.....if you can call this good.....

I was in Denver a couple of weeks ago, staying at the perpetually under construction Red Lion Inn in Aurora.  I was given a luxurious 8th floor room overlooking the intersection of South Parker and 225.  It actually isn't bad, except that the heater was broken and only had two settings, off and sauna. The buffalo rib-eye wasn't bad, but still didn't compare to a good 16 oz at Outback.  But I digress....One of the nice things about the hotel is that there is a $250 per day charge for smoking in the rooms.  Being a chronic non-smoker, I appreciate that. 

After a semi-strenuous week of training (strenuous by way of not allowing sharp pointed objects in your hands after noon because you might stab yourself in the eye), my cohort had Saturday afternoon and Sunday off.  We rented a car and took a nice trip up to Vail and people watched the souls with more dollars than sense.  Sunday night met us with the anticipation of more of the same for the following 4 days.  At about 10 at night I was browsing Netflix for anything else that might have Gemma Arterton in it.  I thought she did a credible job in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, so thought I would see what else she had out.

Suddenly, my ears were assaulted by this horrendous noise, and I saw the alarm strobe above my door start to flash.  I thought to myself...great, some idiot construction dude tripped an alarm.  Then I thought, "well, I am on the 8th floor, maybe I should head out."  So I grabbed by tablet & hard drive, put my pants & shoes back on, grabbed a jacket, and headed for the stairwell and down to the 12 degree weather outside.

We passed the 7th and 6th floors.  At the 5th we could smell wiffs of some kind of burning material, but as yet unidentifiable.  On the 4th it started to take on a sickly sweet stentch, then somebody on the 3rd floor opened the door.  Immediately the burning material was identified as a green cloud of smoke rolled into the stair well.  At which point, we all held our breath because we knew that we would be "randomly" tested sometime in the following 4 days.  Since I am now in the transportation industry, that would be a bad thing.  Can you imagine how much dope someone has to smoke in order to set off a fire alarm?  Open forum:  Does anyone know the answer to that?

Thoughts...The war on drugs:  Like every other war that our government has waged since 1947; it is a war to be waged, but not to be won.  There is no money in winning. 

Should our government be involved in regulating drugs?  I don't have the answer for that.  I have an opinion. Prohibition did not work at the beginning of the 20th century, all it did was increase crime.  Does government regulation and restrictions on "entertainment" drugs have a place?  Is it useful?  Is it cost effective?  I am beyond beginning to wonder about some of those answers.

Conversely, there is a requirement to protect the public.  How far should the government go to protect a person from themselves?  A meth-head is going to get his fix.  He knows what it is going to do to him eventually, but he still has to get it.  The same goes for pretty much every other mind altering substance.  But the same can be said for pretty much anything that is abused, all the way down to the 128 oz Big Gulp at 7-11. 

In the interest of debate, what are our collective thoughts on this?  Me, the hardest substance I consume is the occasional Coke....Pepsi in a pinch, but I think it is too sweet. Drink of choice, A&W or Squirt.  Tobacco?  Really good for keeping the aphids out of my fruit trees.  Alcohol makes a good antiseptic.  But that is my choice.  It doesn't affect any other person that I choose not to imbibe.  For the most part, other peoples' use of these products do not affect me.  Until they do.

I do not like the smell of burning plants.  I like the smell of burning flesh even less.  But when you get in a crowded elevator after getting your "fix", maybe you should take the stairs instead.  It is true that you can't smell the stench, but now everyone else has to share it with you.  When you are getting your fix off of whacky tabaccy, it is just as bad.    I remember my days back in Uncle Sam's club for boys (male & female).  I hated Monday morning runs.  The smell from guys who had spent most of that months paycheck on liquid nourishment, made it really hard to find the remaining oxygen in the air.

Bottom line.  I am all for people having a choice in how they want to treat (abuse) their bodies.  But how about a little consideration for those of that don't want to, at least not in that way.  Freedom is a good thing, but freedom not to is a good thing too.