Originally posted by Ferrous:
My argument is that any plan that makes drugs more readily available to anyone makes them more accessible to kids. Do you agree? Kids can’t buy cigarettes but an alarming number of them smoke. The question is would as many smoke if tobacco was illegal. I say no.
Shift key and the quote trick. Feel like a pro.
I agree that your assertion would intuitively seem correct. Sadly, it isn’t. Pot and Ecstasy at the very least are far more freely available to minors than alcohol or cigarettes, especially alcohol.
This question isn’t a matter of debate at all. The countable/measurable evidence is in.
scott,
They can’t be as easy to get as alcohol and cigs. just go the fridge and grab a beer… That is my argument.
::repeatedly bangs head against desk::
You’re still not getting it. If your kids are getting alcohol by stealing yours from the fridge, that means that you are not a responsible parent. It does not mean that the guy at 7-11 who sold you the beer should be beheaded.
Most kids realize you can count. (besides the point that Ferrous made). You are gonna notice 4 or 5 of your beers have dissappeared (I hope).
So, what is easier, risking the wrath of the parent, or getting pot?
Scotth,
No I don’t know how many beers I have in my fridge at this moment. Seriously, I would guess 12. And I wouldn’t miss 4 or 5 gone. Now if it happened overtime, maybe. But I dont drink that much (2 or 3 / week) and the occasional binge (6). And I don’t drink alone, so I have friends helping me. So its not that I am some big, fat,slobbering drunk that can’t count. I honestly go to the fridge, dig around in the leftovers, and pull out a beer. If I see that I only have a couple then I go get another 12pack.
I would challenge anyone with a fridge, stocked for a family, to think about home many beers are in there. Unless you keep beer in a certain place then how can you ever know.
Same for whiskey, I used to steal it , a cup at a time. My parents never found out. My father just drank on a bottle til it was getting low then bought another. Now if I was a killing a bottle at a time sure they would have noticed. But by then he was gone.
Ferrous,
Ok, so I become a responcible parent and count the beer in my fridge. Thats fine for my house but what about the neighbors? I say the more available a drug is the more likely the kid is going to get it. Is that what we are arguing about?
The point is, and research has born this out very well. For most kids, the easiest, safest thing for them to get is drugs not alcohol.
Another point is that alcohol is in fact more dangerous than many of the substances that are currently illegal.
If your kids are taking a substantial number of beers from you, or a significant amount of some other drink you have around, they could expect you to discover that fact. You went the other way, and appearently didn’t get caught. That doesn’t make it the rule. That is the point.
Another quote from the DRCNet Reponse to the DEA