I suppose you're right. The most addictive drug is money, and we
will never outlaw that. But money does impact the ban on other drugs.
Many a crooked polotician or police official, or for that matter any
person in a power position who can be corrupted. The tobacco industry
is a prime example. Huge payoffs to doctors and public officials, as
well as celebrities. Even Jolly old Saint Nick exchanged his pipe for
a Camel cigarette. Most every popular star of "Stage, Screen and
Radio" puffed one brand or another. And then the liars trotted out,
telling us how safe sucking raw smoke into our lungs, was. If tobacco
had not been addictive we would never have bought it.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/9/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
But outlawing addictive substances isn't really a good solution either
because think of what has been done to punish people who are addicted to
drugs. And when the substance is outlawed, then there's a black market in
it. Remember the stories about prohibition? Prohibiting the sale of alcohol
seemed like a good idea, given how many alcoholics there were, and are. So
what happened? There were Speak Easies and the Mob made lots of money
smuggling alcoholic beverages into the country and selling them.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 1:22 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Where there's smoke there's fire!
That reminds me of the many times I "quit" smoking, only to be out with my
buddies and tell myself that "just one cigarette couldn't
hurt". Nicotine is so addictive and so deadly that it's hard to
believe that the product hasn't been outlawed and the CEO's thrown in
prison. For the last ten years that I smoked, I bought a pack each day, so
if I decided to quit, I wouldn't have the rest of a carton sitting at home.
I knew that if I had any loose packs, I'd convince myself that I'd quit just
as soon as the last pack was gone. I'd gone down that road several times.
Oh, the horror stories all of us former smokers could tell. I remember when
Cathy's dad died at 57 years of age...from heavy smoking and heavy drinking.
We had not smoked for over three months, but as soon as the service was
over we rushed outside and cornered our sister-in-law and bummed cigarettes
from her.
Quitting was hard, but staying quit was even harder.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/9/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I stopped smoking with great difficulty and then after several years,
after I returned from my first Evergreen trip which was to Spain, I
began drinking a glass of sherry before dinner each night, and I had
this great urge to have a cigarette with that glass of sherry. Just
one cigarette with one glass of sherry, how could it do any harm?
Before long, I was back to smoking a pack a day. Incredible, after all
of that suffering and sacrifice to give up smoking years before. So
then about 6 years later, Fred was in the hospital, dying of brain
cancer, and he asked me to promise him that I'd stop smoking. He
wanted to save me from possibly dying from lung cancer, a fate that
had befallen one of his brothers. I promised, and stopped. It was the
only gift I could give to him at that point.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 11:53 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Where there's smoke there's fire!
From the news you'd think all the West Coast was going up in flames.
It sure smells like it, but Cathy reports that all she sees is smoke
haze.
I can smell it, and considering how I've damaged my sense of smell
with too many years of cigarettes, it has to be fairly strong for me to
get a whiff.
And just for any who might be taking up the primitive art of sucking
smoke into the lungs, the sense of smell never returns to its full
power. This Labor Day weekend marked the 29th anniversary since Cathy
and I smoked our last cigarette. We drove to our cabin on Friday
night, with three cigarettes each. When I smoked my last cigarette
sometime mid Saturday, Cathy refused to drive me into town. She never
did weaken, but I kept the car keys in my pocket, anyway.
We came out of that weekend still married and still speaking to one
another.
But years of smoking had taken its toll on my nose and my taster.
A 29 gun salute to our Great American Tobacco Industry, a standout
example of Capitalism and the Free Enterprise System that has kept
that mighty American Standard in business spreading death to millions
around the world and spreading millions of lies as it waddles to the
bank.
But I digress.
. So far the Olympic Peninsula has reported no fires. In other news,
reported cases of COVID-19 in Jefferson County stand at a grand total
of 70, with no deaths. This proves that distancing does work, since
most of us live hundreds of feet apart. Port Townsend is the County
seat, and the county's only incorporated town, having fewer than
10,000 residents.
So today I will do my best to obey Governor Jay Inslee's request that
we stay indoors and avoid strenuous work...I just love that governor.
Carl Jarvis
