Most students want to start a new school year on a positive note, but that wasn’t the case for some students who attended parties during the Week of Welcome, Cal Poly’s orientation program.

The University Police Department (UPD) gave 42 citations and arrested 43 people between move-in day Sept. 12 and Sept. 21. Stock Photo

UPD Chief Bill Watton said almost all of the arrests and citations were for alcohol-related incidences.

Watton also said that UPD increased patrols for the Week of Welcome and the first few weeks of school.

The San Luis Obispo Police Department also issued more than 80 citations from Sept. 10 to Sept. 21, including 49 citations for open containers, 16 for noise violations and 12 for urinating in public. The San Luis Obispo Police Department also arrested more than 25 people for a variety of offenses, including public intoxication, driving under the influence, one case of driving under the influence that resulted in an injury, battery and resisting arrest.

There were also two Cal Poly students arrested for trespassing early Sunday and Monday mornings, according to a press release from the San Luis Obispo Police Department. Both students did not know where they were; the disorientation was the result of alcohol intoxication.

San Luis Obispo police Capt. Ian Parkenson said, despite the tone of the university that the amount of patrolling was about the same as in previous years. He added that while this year’s activity was about the same as in past years it began earlier.

“We noticed problems starting on Saturday this year after the end of the football game,” he said.

The San Luis Obispo Police Department and UPD did not have the total number of arrests and citations for the Week of Welcome last year.
Area hospitals saw an increase in traffic during Week of Welcome festivities. Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center spokesperson Ron Yukelson said that the hospital had seen a “sharp spike” in alcohol-related incidents since Week of Welcome began. It treated one individual who had a blood alcohol content of .38, extremely close to the .39 to .45 percent of recently deceased Cal Poly student Carson Starkey.

Yukelson said the hospital wants to combat the fear and anxiety some students might feel about seeking medical help for friends or loved ones. “It’s very important to bring in friends and loved ones who are severely intoxicated—don’t let them sleep or put them to bed—bring them in,” he said.

Furthermore, Yukelson stressed the hospital’s ‘safe zone’ policy, which protects underage drinkers from police intervention.

“We’re a safe zone, so you don’t need to worry about us calling your parents or the police,” he said.

The office of university president Warren Baker sent a campus-wide e-mail Wednesday informing students of acceptable partying practices, encouraging them to keep gatherings under control by calling campus police if they see illegal behavior.

The e-mail urged students to make “wise and responsible choices” including checking IDs at the door of parties to ensure no underage individuals are drinking alcohol.

Student Affairs also sent out an e-mail on Friday about a student who was kicked out of his dorm just a few hours after moving in when he was caught smoking marijuana.

The total number of residents evicted from the dorms was not provided by the time of publication.

From left to right: Ryan Eaton, Deleon Robinson, Ty Silacci

Two marijuana-related crimes have struck San Luis Obispo County in the past three weeks, contributing to an increase in what authorities are calling “home invasion” robberies — robberies that  occur at a residence using force or violence, usually by gunpoint.

Both Rob Bryn, a spokesperson for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department, and Eric Vitale, a detective for the San Luis Obispo Police Department, confirmed that violence spurred by marijuana conflicts is on the rise in San Luis Obispo County.

During the past six months, San Luis Obispo police have investigated an estimated 10 home invasion cases related to marijuana. In prior years, there were only one to two cases annually, Vitale said.

As a result of the the most recent incident, one man is dead and another injured after a shooting in Los Osos Saturday, sheriff’s department officials said. Bryn confirmed the shooting was a result of a marijuana-related dispute.

Because the Los Osos shooting is still under investigation, the sheriff’s department has declined to release any details about the people involved, except the name of the man who was killed, 20-year-old Kelsea Grant Alvarez.

The shooting took place inside a house at 11911 12th Street. At this point, it’s unclear who was the suspect and who was the victim, Bryn said. Results from Alvarez’s autopsy will reveal whether different caliber bullets were shot, which might give insight into what took place during the shoot-out.

In a separate incident that hits closer to home for Cal Poly students, police arrested four suspects July 15 in connection with a marijuana-related robbery at gunpoint that occurred at Mustang Village apartments.

One victim — 18-year-old Ron Silva, who was the tenant of the allegedly robbed apartment — said he had a medicinal marijuana card.

He and the other occupant — an unidentified 15-year-old— answered the door June 30 around 9:30 p.m. and four men rushed in and wrapped them in duct tape, police said. One victim was allegedly struck in the face with a pistol.

The suspects then proceeded to steal the marijuana, cash and other items around the apartment. Police are still trying to recover the items, valued at approximately $1,500.

Deleon Robinson and Ryan Eaton, both 18 and from San Luis Obispo, and 19-year-old Ty Silacci of Paso Robles were arrested in connection with the incident. They were booked into the county jail with bail set $70,000.

An unidentified 16-year-old was also arrested in connection with the crime and booked at the Juvenile County Services Center.

Mustang Village management said they asked Silva to leave the property after they learned the crime involved possession of drugs. He moved out July 10.

“We are seeing an increase in these kinds of crimes, and at this agency we have a high success rate (in catching the suspects),” Vitale said.

When the cases do occur, Vitale said the San Luis Obispo Police Department puts “all its resources” into the investigations.

Bryn said that in addition to an increase in marijuana-related crimes, the encounters are becoming increasingly more violent.

The ambiguity over the legality of marijuana in California is a contributing factor. In San Luis Obispo County, a Medical Marijuana Identification Card (MMIC) program was established in May 2006. The MMIC allows patients and caregivers state authorization to possess, grow and transport medicinal marijuana in California. But on a federal level, marijuana — even in medicinal cases — is illegal.

“Everyone wants to hide behind medicinal marijuana, but really these are drug deals,” Bryn said.

He cited the fact that Morro Bay, located just 15 miles northwest of San Luis Obispo, formerly had a medicinal marijuana dispensary, and said that is why the area is so prone to violence related to the drug.

The dispensary, Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers, was sanctioned by state and local governments but was raided by federal agents in 2007. The dispensary owner, Charles Lynch, is awaiting prosecution.

“We’re still dealing with residual fallout,” Bryn said. “It gives the impression, wrongly, that marijuana is legal.”

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced  Assembly Bill 390, which would legalize the cultivation and distribution of cannabis. A national organization called the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is pushing for the passage of the bill.

“If marijuana was legal and regulated, violence would disappear,” said Bruce Mirken, the California representative for the MPP.

He compared the legalization of the drug to that of alcohol. During the prohibition period in the early 1900s, violence over alcohol was at an all-time high, but has since subsided.

“How often do you see crime reports of shoot outs between beer distributors and wine vendors?” Mirken said.

Vitale said marijuana-related home invasion robberies are more common than robberies related to other narcotics because marijuana dealers aren’t broke like cocaine or meth dealers, for example, making marijuana thefts more profitable.

“Marijuana dealers, we find, always have a large amount of cash, and bad guys know that too,” Vitale said.

Vitale said there has only been one marijuana-related case involving college students in San Luis Obispo, when suspects accidentally entered the wrong housing unit in January and robbed the occupants.

“In some of these cases, they’ve entered the wrong house and innocent (people) are hurt,” Vitale said. He urges students to lock their doors with a deadbolt and avoid answering the doors for strangers.

“If they enter, give what they’re asking for,” Vitale said. “Property is replaceable, your life and well-being are not.”

By Katie Koschalk, Will Taylor, Elizabeth Poeschl, Leticia Rodriguez, Jessa Squellati, Nikol Schiller and Katie McIntyre

NOTE: This is part two in a two-part series. For part one, click here.

It was Friday night, a week before dead week. The flashing cursor on Kate Mesman’s blank Word document mocked her inability to begin her 10 to 15 page research paper. A friend with an Adderall prescription offered her a pill, and Mesman decided to try the ADD/ADHD drug for the first time in hopes of enhancing her productivity during the chaotic week.

Mesman felt effects similar to what her friend had described: high levels of concentration and the ability to stay awake easily, which she did, all night long.

“I would say my cutoff time is going to be 2 (a.m.), and then I said 3:30 (a.m.), but then all of a sudden it was 7 (a.m.) and the sun was coming up,” said Mesman, a journalism sophomore. “Time went by so fast.”

Mesman’s Adderall use is indicative of a trend not only at Cal Poly but on campuses across the United States. Non-prescription use of prescription amphetamines is rising dramatically. Studies show that between 4 and 35 percent of college students have used illegal stimulants as study aids, and the highest rates of use are at the most academically rigorous schools with highly competitive admissions.

Pressure to perform

With a freshmen acceptance rate of 36 percent in Fall 2009, getting admitted to Cal Poly takes hard work, determination and a competitive edge. Naturally, the workload at this school is not a walk in the park. An array of challenges, deadlines and scantrons to bubble in loom around every corner, pressuring students to enhance their study skills by any means.

If a recent online survey conducted by the Mustang Daily is any indication, Cal Poly ranks near the top of the national range for stimulant abuse. More than one in three respondents said they have used Adderall, Ritalin or Concerta illegally.

Daniel DiZoglio, a electrical engineer junior and physics minor, said he feels the stress and competition to do as well as he can, and consequently the pressure to take study-enhancing drugs, though he hasn’t yet.

“I know a lot of people who cheat on labs, homework, quizzes and tests and they throw off the curve,” he said. “They get perfect scores and I’m over here trying to do it on my own and getting Cs. It hurts my GPA and my chances of getting a job. I figure it’s just time to even the playing field.”

The Rx factor

Another element influencing the trend may be the increased diagnoses of ADD and ADHD in the 1990s, which directly correlates with the recent spike in off-prescription Adderall use, according to Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, a professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Food and Drug Administration only allows a drug to be marketed for its intended purpose. Once the FDA approves a drug, however, doctors can prescribe it for whatever purpose they deem appropriate. This, along with patients who are legitimately prescribed Adderall and simply have extra, may be fueling the rise in stimulants on college campuses.

“It’s potentially a huge market if people without diseases start taking these medications,” Chatterjee said. “There’s a clear incentive for them to have people take it.”

Prescription protocol

Despite their increased availability through doctors, getting legal access to these drugs isn’t necessarily easy.

“Students at Cal Poly cannot just walk into the Health Center, give the symptoms for Adderall and get a prescription,” head of Cal Poly Health Center Medical Services Dr. David Harris said. “That’s just a fairytale.”

“We take strict measures with Adderall and other amphetamines because it’s our license that’s on the line,” Harris said.

In order to be prescribed Adderall or any other medication for ADHD or ADD from Cal Poly’s Health Center, students must go through a series of nationally established criteria. In-depth medical and psychological evaluations must be conducted by the Health Center to ensure that students are correctly diagnosed.

Although doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants at the Health Center can write prescriptions, students cannot fill them on campus since the Health Center’s pharmacy does not carry Adderall. After a prescription for Adderall is written, students must then get the drug filled at an outside pharmacy. Once an Adderall dosage is appropriately prescribed, the Health Center or a local psychiatrist must conduct mandatory evaluations every three years.

Cal Poly’s Health Center offers no automatic refills for Adderall prescriptions. Thus, students who receive a prescription from Cal Poly must pick up a new prescription from the Health Center every month and then have a nearby pharmacy fill it.

In fact, the Cal Poly Health Center pharmacy has never offered Adderall. Harris explained that the Health Center’s pharmacy has a very low number of controlled substances they are even allowed to carry.

Even though the use of Adderall for those with a diagnosed concentration problem can be beneficial, the recreational use of Adderall can have negative side effects, Harris said.

“Adderall is a classic two-edge sword drug,” Harris said. “It has wonderful benefits but misused, it can be lethal.”

Adderall, like all other ADHD and ADD prescription drugs, is a central nervous system stimulant. It allows users’ brains to concentrate more efficiently because it increases the levels of dopamine and norepinephrine.

“There is a place in the brain, the nucleus accumbens, that generates reward through a neurotransmitter, dopamine. The more dopamine you have, the better you feel. The baseline level is about 300 units, but when a person takes an amphetamine, the level goes to 1,200 units,” said Dr. Dane Howalt, an addiction specialist at the San Luis Obispo Addiction Recovery Center (SLOARC).

Although methamphetamines, commonly referred to as meth, glass and ice, are stronger than their parent drug, amphetamines, including Adderall. Many people underestimate the potential for Adderall addiction. When properly prescribed by a doctor and used at the recommended dosage, addiction to the drug isn’t generally an issue since patients use the drug in regulated quantities. However, when an individual begins to abuse Adderall, addiction can occur fairly quickly.

“The issue at hand is that people are not taking it as prescribed. If they took one pill in the morning and one at night like they should, we wouldn’t have a problem. But they are crushing it up and snorting it and selling it on the streets and that is a problem,” said Janie Stuart, a licensed family therapist at the SLO County Drugs and Alcohol Services.

Addiction

Use, abuse and addiction are three different things, according to Howalt. Not every college student who crushes and snorts Adderall to enhance study skills is an addict. The differentiation between a user, abuser and addict comes down to whether a given person does or does not have an addictive personality, or a predisposition to become addicted.

“There is a severe physic conflict over using a drug, like having two separate people inside of you. It’s as if (addicts) are possessed or inhabited by another person who doesn’t care about anything, their job, their family, their health, anything,” Howalt said.

Genetics also play a significant role in addiction, making it about 25 percent more likely for a user to become addicted to a substance if one of their parents is an addict. In addition, being previously addicted to a drug greatly increases the likelihood of becoming addicted to another drug.

Whereas a non-addict who experiments with Adderall will be able to stop at any given time through self-control, an addict who experiments with Adderall will develop an undying need to take the drug frequently in large quantities

“An addict has a compulsion to use, a loss of control and continues to use the drug despite adverse consequences. Addicts who use amphetamines have their reward system hijacked so that they are incapable of pushing the addict out of the way,” Howalt said.

Amphetamines are a very dangerous category of drug because of the high potential for addiction. According to Howalt, if somebody was on the “maybe path” of becoming a full-blown addict, using an amphetamine, which increases dopamine levels in the brain by about 300 percent, would be the drug that tips them over the edge.

The environment also has a large impact on whether a person uses, abuses or becomes addicted to a drug. According to Stuart, the use of Adderall in the San Luis Obispo community is a big problem, especially among college students.

“Students are juggling so many pressures every day — school, work, so many responsibilities and pressures. The people you hang around with on campus, your use of alcohol and other stimulants, definitely plays into your potential for addiction,” Stuart said.

Help for addicts

However, many college students who become addicted to Adderall will not receive help. Based on his experiences with treating drug-addicted patients, Howalt claims that addicts who take Adderall see their behavior as less evident of being addicted. Especially in the college environment, the use of Adderall is seen as socially acceptable, similar to binge drinking on the weekends. In Howalt’s opinion, snorting Adderall is about as accepted as smoking marijuana in a college environment.

“I think that we don’t see many college students in recovery because there are not as many legal consequences as there may be with other drugs. We usually see students coming in here to get help for drugs that got them in legal trouble,” Stuart said.

Cal Poly counseling services does not have students coming in to address Adderall abuse, said Mary Peracca, Cal Poly’s Drug and Alcohol specialist and counselor, adding that students may not report the amphetamine as a drug when counselors meet with them.

Although there may be a limited number of people who volunteer themselves for recovery, those who do are in for a difficult and often lengthy process. According to Howalt, there is no known treatment that has been successful in treating amphetamine addiction. While there have been records of several different medications that appear to help, nobody has scientifically been able to demonstrate this.

The most important first step in recovery from amphetamines is treating a person for their physical symptoms. Typically that involves tranquilizers, which makes it easier for the patients to sleep. Unlike the potentially life-threatening withdrawal symptoms associated with alcohol and opiates, Adderall withdrawal is not physically dangerous, mostly just unpleasant.

“To be using a substance such as Adderall, which brings your dopamine levels to 1,200 units, and then crashing down to 300, doesn’t feel good. I don’t tell people that things will be as good or better than when they were using the drugs because they won’t,” Howalt said.

According to SLOARC, the best chance for long-term recovery from substance abuse involves individual counseling and active participation in 12-Step Programs. The changes that have occurred in an addict’s brain are far to complex to overcome alone.

The SLO County Drug and Alcohol Services uses a process called MATRIX, which involves relapse prevention groups, education groups, individual counseling and random drug testing. The individual counseling is used for the first four months only, but the entire program lasts a year.

Cal Poly offers two forms of therapy for drug abuse problems: Peer counseling and professional counseling. The student peer counseling team, Thoughtful Lifestyle Choices, helps students apply healthy decisions to their lives. The professional counseling team assists students in eliminating drug use and tolerating high stress levels.

Leaving it behind

Many students who use illegal stimulants to study say they plan to quit before they enter the professional world. Among them is a graduating senior who asked to be referred to as “K.”

K started taking Adderall last spring to help him study for finals. From there his use progressed to when he needed to stay focused for long, tedious homework assignments and sometimes before tests.

“I had a really hard time sitting down when I had a six-hour project to get done. Thirty minutes in I’d start playing with my pencil,” he said. “(Adderall) helped me zone other things out. I don’t consider myself smarter from when I had it, but now I can go more in-depth on problems.”

K said he hasn’t used it since finals last quarter and “for the most part” he’s done taking Adderall. He said he doesn’t want to use Adderall in the professional field because he wants to be able to do his own work without an illegal advantage.

After taking it approximately 20 to 30 times over the course of a year, K said he no longer really feels the need for it to focus. “I didn’t really want to become dependent on it to do work. Now I can sit down and do work without being on it,” he said.

“A part of it is the placebo effect: I thought I needed it to do well so I did. It’s the mindset,” he said. “If you think taking a pill will make you sit down and study longer, you do. What the mind wants, it does.”

— Brittany McKinney contributed to this report.

Throughout martial history there have been many occasions where armies have fought against each other to gain supremacy of a certain advantageous hilltop. But, correct me if I am wrong, there is no single instance of which I am aware where a man has combated with a hill. Men may fight for hills, but men do not fight against hills. We, the hills and humans, have enjoyed an unbroken peace since our first encounter.

Don't Tread on Me: A libertarian column by Jeremy Hicks

Looking about me, I am delighted to see that man enjoys peaceful relations with a number of inanimate objects. Still, on some days I fear this peace may be in jeopardy. Each day, across every landmass, a cruel and bloodthirsty army of countless insolent rocks position themselves to stub the toes of hapless passersby.

But even such offenses as these do no not usually provoke more than a swear word or a wince. Certainly, it is a rare instance when the person with the bleeding toe seeks to even the score with the rock by scolding it, spanking it, or (most ill-advisedly) kicking it with his other toe.

Why does man display such sufferance and mercy towards the rock which stubs his toe? We all know that man is a passionate creature, prone to his emotions and quick to seek retaliation when he feels wronged. History, with its countless scores of bloody wars, testifies loudly to the fact that man has very little qualms about going to battle. So why the uncharacteristic forbearance towards rocks?

I submit that men prefer to settle scores with other creatures that actually have an appreciation for the concept of a scoring system, that is, other men. You can beat a tree all day with your fists and it probably will take very little offense and will, no matter how ferociously you beat, refuse to show remorse for any wrongdoing.

There is a very famous scene in literature in which the dauntless Don Quixote rushes the windmills. Miguel de Cervantes, the author of this classic, entertainingly illustrates the striking and comedic contrast between the windmills and their fiery assailant, Quixote. Quixote is an animate being, alive and invigorated, drenched in the perspiration that comes before battle, and hopelessly overwhelmed with emotions so grand only a human being could feel them. The windmills, by contrast, are utterly unfazed. They do not contemplate their attack, nor their retreat. They remain fixed to that spot where human hands constructed them. They are lifeless and unmoved.

Thus far, I have told you that man does not battle with inanimate objects except, perhaps, in rare circumstances when he is in a foul temper. Generally speaking, he does not seek revenge against the rock or retribution for the tree. And, with the exception of certain fools of fiction, he does not battle with windmills.

But I’m afraid that I would not be relating the whole truth if I told you that everyone is adult enough to realize the foolishness of fighting a battle with inanimate objects. It makes no sense, but a very large, violent, and expensive campaign is being fought, purportedly, with the object of vanquishing drugs.

Of course, the idea of engaging in mortal combat with cocaine is preposterous on its face. Men can’t battle with drugs anymore than they can joust with windmills. The “war against drugs” is not a war against drugs.

Like all wars, this one is a war against other humans, in this case drug users, drug vendors (allegedly including a Cal Poly freshman from the dorms recently), and producers.

For whatever reason, the government has decided that it does not like drugs. I don’t know why precisely. Perhaps the government simply does not like potheads (even when one sits in the Oval Office) or perhaps it doesn’t like for its citizens to use objects that could potentially endanger the user. If the latter is true, we should expect to see the government expand on this general principle and outlaw scissors in the very near future, or at least criminalize running with scissors and other potentially harmful behaviors.

But who really cares what reasoning the government employs to defend its violent behavior. Who really cares whether drugs are a good thing or a bad thing? Harmful or healthful? I certainly don’t.

You see, I defend the right of people to engage in peaceful exchange to acquire goods which they desire, regardless what those items might be. I even go so far as to defend the right of people to buy things (like kitchen knives) which could potentially be used to cause harm against themselves or others (willfully or accidentally). If a free society is our objective, how can it be otherwise?

A Cal Poly student was arrested May 13 on drug-related charges on campus.

Philosophy freshman James Fitzpatrick was arrested on suspicion of possessing, with the intent to sell, the hallucinatory drug dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT. He also allegedly possessed an unspecified amount of marijuana for sale in his dorm room at Yosemite Hall.

Fitzpatrick was charged with four counts relating to possession of drugs, including possession with intent to distribute for sale.
University police said the amount of drugs were not substantial and the operation did not appear to be sophisticated. The department is investigating the case to determine if any other people may be involved.

Check back at www.mustangdaily.net for an updated story.

Don't Tread on Me: A libertarian column by Jeremy Hicks

A recent article in The Economist pointed out the rather disturbing statistic that while the U.S. houses a mere 5 percent of the world’s population, it incarcerates roughly 25 percent of the world’s prison population.

Unfortunately, the fastest growing segment of the prison population, convicted drug users, is jailed not on the grounds of having committed acts of violence against their peers, but for being guilty of a “crime” committed against themselves, namely, using drugs.

Few would disagree that people must be punished (by the state or otherwise) for certain abuses against their neighbor. It is an obvious point, well-established by both time and experience, that there must be appropriate discouragements in place against such abuses or else the rewards of violence and predation might appear too sweet and tempting to the unscrupulous and the powerful. Even if it’s not a self-evident point, it’s a critical arrangement that must be realized before the possibility of any functioning, peaceable society has any enduring viability.

But just because people have commonly agreed amongst themselves that certain instruments of deterrence ought to be in place to reduce the occurrence of crimes like murder, theft, and rape, it is not also clear that people have reached such a consent when it comes to crimes that an individual commits against himself.

Yet this is the major and underlying justification for the “War on Drugs,” that colossal campaign exhausting billions upon billions from the taxpayers’ treasury, which is being waged with full and fearful martial aggression against drug users.

Our system of justice is one which purports to punish those for having done something wrong. Such a premise obviously presupposes a moralistic foundation which, whether it is popular or not to acknowledge the origins of such justification, is widely accepted nonetheless.

Since the U.S. government arrests far more people for drug offenses than for any other single crime in the U.S., it is safe to assume that the government considers drug use to be a very wrong act indeed (Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation). This viewpoint seems to be mainly justified by the potential harm that may result from certain drugs. There even exists a clinical term for the crime: “drug abuse.” Of course, not all drugs are in fact harmful to the human body. Many in the medical profession actually insist upon the health benefits of certain illegal drugs. And considering that tobacco happens to be more addictive than most of the other drugs currently in existence and can lead to some rather nasty and unhealthful side effects, the grounds for arguing that certain drugs ought to be prohibited based on their negative health effects is a bit specious and hollow.

But let us not quibble about the peripheral issue of whether certain drugs are healthy or unhealthy. Let us return to the idea, which underlies our justice system, that a criminal should be punished for doing something wrong. In this case, the “crime” (I have space only to speak of drug users themselves) involves simply the individual voluntarily ingesting, injecting, or otherwise consuming a substance. How, one must ask, can the government justify punishing individuals for such a deed?

Either a man has a right to himself or he does not. If he has such a right, how can it be argued that he does not have a right to also harm himself or, as in this case, commit an act which the government happens to define as harmful? If we truly allow that a person has a right to himself, let him chop off his limbs and reaffix them in more artistic arrangements if he finds it amusing to do so. Or, if his bravest and best plan for meeting Monday happens to be hanging himself by light of the morning sun, who is to demand that he does not have such a right? And if he does not have the right to his own life, answer this: who possess such a right on his behalf?

Surely, taking one’s own life is a tasteless act except under the rarest circumstances, but is it wrong? I do not intend to belabor this question in a philosophical sense which presumes a final reckoning with God, but rather in its purest pragmatic form, which is, appropriately, both the realm and the limit of the state.

If drug use is a sin, let God punish perpetuators however severely he wishes. But punishing sins is God’s business. It is not the state’s. The state must be concerned with the more lowly and practical responsibilities of punishing crimes. And how can an individual commit a crime against himself? Does an individual deserve to be punished when there is no accuser? Does it make sense to punish a man for stealing his own wallet?

Is drug use a selfish vice, is it unbecoming, is it craven and crude? So be it. Men are often guilty of committing self-indulgent and base acts. In fact, a brief look around you will confirm that the overwhelming miserable mass of humanity devotes the majority of their time to such behaviors. Personally, I neither approve nor allow drug use for myself. But given all the other shameful vices that my fallen nature all too readily succumbs to, I am not about to elevate myself to the lofty and undeserved station of condemning and judging the vices of my fellow men when such vices harm only themselves. Certainly, no legislator or judge this side of heaven deserves any higher station than I in this respect.