12-04-2012, 08:51 PM
Bryony,
When I entered my last post I wondered whether I should have further defined 'personal'. Yes, of course, your personal risk assessments should take account of your responsibilities to others and to society, and your own conscience, but they are still based on your own perceptions. These responsibilities include not abusing ones indulgences ("Moderation in most things!"). In the case of tobacco and hard drugs, most people once hooked have the greatest difficulty in exercising moderation. Without your background knowledge I am inclined to believe that moderate or occasional pot smoking is a low risk recreation (and possibly even beneficial at least for NBE and chronic pain relief, although its illegality may increase its social risks), and that many or most of the health and social risks may be laid at the door of abuse (as with alcohol). I am also not fully convinced by the economic assessment of the costs to government of smoking. We are all going to die of something, and I am not persuaded that smokers necessarily sicken and die more expensively than others, but they often cease sooner to be a drain on government health and pension resources, and certainly contribute additional taxes while they still smoke.
I personally distinguish between my perceived duties to society, and my duties to various levels of government administration. I don't react well to governments and bureaucracies which take the attitude that rather than being there to serve us, we are their indentured servants with a duty to them to maximize our ability to generate taxes and minimize demands on their services, nor to government departments and professionals who take the attitude that their services are good for us so more of their services will be better for us (my rant
)
AP
"Experience is what you have just after you needed it most"
When I entered my last post I wondered whether I should have further defined 'personal'. Yes, of course, your personal risk assessments should take account of your responsibilities to others and to society, and your own conscience, but they are still based on your own perceptions. These responsibilities include not abusing ones indulgences ("Moderation in most things!"). In the case of tobacco and hard drugs, most people once hooked have the greatest difficulty in exercising moderation. Without your background knowledge I am inclined to believe that moderate or occasional pot smoking is a low risk recreation (and possibly even beneficial at least for NBE and chronic pain relief, although its illegality may increase its social risks), and that many or most of the health and social risks may be laid at the door of abuse (as with alcohol). I am also not fully convinced by the economic assessment of the costs to government of smoking. We are all going to die of something, and I am not persuaded that smokers necessarily sicken and die more expensively than others, but they often cease sooner to be a drain on government health and pension resources, and certainly contribute additional taxes while they still smoke.
I personally distinguish between my perceived duties to society, and my duties to various levels of government administration. I don't react well to governments and bureaucracies which take the attitude that rather than being there to serve us, we are their indentured servants with a duty to them to maximize our ability to generate taxes and minimize demands on their services, nor to government departments and professionals who take the attitude that their services are good for us so more of their services will be better for us (my rant
)AP
"Experience is what you have just after you needed it most"