Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children

[snow <snow@smoke.suba.com>]

On Tue, 9 Jul 1996, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> I'm sick of you, Tim and other people telling folks how to treat
> their problems. Tim is happy saying that he thinks people's lives are
> their own business, but opportunities to stick his nose into the ways
> that his neighbors raise children are just peachy to him.

     Maybe we're just a bit afraid of how society treats it's members,
and how parents treat our future employees/servants/neighbors. 

     We are not trying to pass laws that say people _can't_ give their 
kids drugs, just questioning the wisdom of passing the pills out like
they are candy to children. They same children we tell not to smoke a 
little pot because "we don't know how it affects young minds".

     Speed is a little more potent than Pot. Just a little.

> If someone out there has their life improved by Ritalin, its not any
> of your business to tell them not to take it.

     If someones life is being ruined because their parents are forcing 
them to take these pills. 


> There are kids out there, and adults, who have psychological problems
> that are well treated if not cured by medicines. Sure, its nice to do
> things "naturally" and "without drugs", but I'll point out that two
> thirds or more of the people reading this message would be dead now
> because of infections they forgot they had twenty years ago, or
> because of indoor plumbing assuring a clean water supply, or a million
> other artificial interventions into the natural course of life, which
> is, naturally, death at 20 or 25 without a tooth left in your head,
> cowering in a cave, surrounded by the other savages.

     No arguements here. I'd be the last to say "Do things Naturally", 
but chemical addictions suck really hard. 

> So, go right ahead. Discourage people from using their medicines. Make
> fun of the parents of the "poor little zombie" taking Ritalin because
> otherwise his life, from his own perspective, is a living hell. Heck,

     To a Heroin Addict, life without junk is living hell.

> TAKE AWAY HIS MEDICINE, the way Tim cheers on. Then please go home and
> throw away that aspirin. The natural way to deal with a headache is to
> suffer. When you break your arm, swear off medical attention and crawl
> around in pain for a while. Its the "Right Thing" to do.
> 
> In any case, even if all this stuff isn't real, I'm sure you are
> completely above taking drugs to help you get along in life. I'm sure
> you never drink coffee to get you up in the morning, for
> instance. Because if you have, you are a hypocrite. Not, of course,
> that anyone here would fit that description.

     Quit taking Caffine 2 years ago, and quit smoking 2 weeks ago. 
     Hell, since I quit working for one of the big 6 accounting firms, I 
rarely have headaches, so you could say that leaving the High Tech Hi-Rise
life Style _did_ cure me to an extent. (that was a joke boy). 
     I really don't think that anyone here is claiming that there are no 
mental problems, just that maybe it is best not to throw powerful drugs 
at people we don't even trust to drive a car. 


Petro, Christopher C.
petro@suba.com <prefered for any non-list stuff>
snow@crash.suba.com