Why aren't people bitching about their right to use lead paint?

[originalpckelly]

If the government has no right to regulate harmful substances, doesn't that apply to all harmful substances, or just ones that don't make us feel really really good?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. I want sawdust in my hamburgers, dammit!

Who is the government to be telling restaurants they can't put sawdust in ground beef?

Oh, and another thing: employees MUST wash hands?

What is this? Naziland?

[originalpckelly]

5. Why not let someone use Vioxx?

Hey, if we want them to use cocaine, why not Vioxx?

Wouldn't a government have to recall these drugs?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Hey, if somebody wants to make their own bathtub vioxx, that's fine with me.

Doctors prescribing it is a whole different issue.

[baldguy]

2. Some people never stopped using it.

[originalpckelly]

4. So now it's OK to pick on someone for being a little ugly?

Plus, I think they've got something to compensate, you know what they say about big noses and ears, yep big floppy pancreas!

[cliffordu]

12. Bill O'reilly's parents??

[Zynx]

3. That's a pretty good point. Also, who says I can't use napalm to kill insects?

[baldguy]

6. That's a Monty Python sketch.

[Bonobo]

8. Marijuana is a harmful substance?

Put up or shut up.

[ihavenobias]

15. It doesn't seem like people are picking up that this thread is about pot.

Personally, I don't smoke it or care for it but I *do* care about the wasted money and lives in jail over something that should be legal or at least decriminalized.

At any rate, it's not a high priority issue for me (very low on the list actually).

PS---Oh well, at least the government doesn't have the right to stop people from making bad analogies, right?

;)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. I thought it was about trans fats.

:shrug:

[ihavenobias]

20. I'm pretty sure it's about pot because the same author just had a big thread on pot

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3701421&mesg_id=3701421

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Obviously.

But I hadn't noticed it was the same rube when I first posted.

[Bonobo]

9. Oh, and why start a new thread to continue another one?

Lame like McCain.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. He didn't get pwned badly enough in the other one.

He's a bit of a masochist.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. DDT used to get rid of my aphids really good

The new stuff isn't as good as DDT. What about that ?

[RB TexLa]

13. I think the complaints are regarding things people consider as only affecting themselves

It's how I feel about seat belts. If I choose to not wear one no one else is opened to any harm but myself. If I drive drunk then I open the possibility to affect others. Haven't heard of anyone being killed in an accident because the other driver didn't have their seat belt on.

[petronius]

30. The same case can be made for motorcycle helmets

Aside from the fact that it really is a good idea to use these things, the only rational argument in favor of belt/helmet laws from a societal standpoint is that using them reduces the stress on the people who have to clean up the mess. There's also the case that requiring people to behave safely reduces medical expenses (particularly relevant when the expenses are paid by the state), but that IMO opinion is a risky route to go since the same argument can be applied to tobacco, alcohol, red meat, transfats, mandatory exercise, etc...

[unpossibles]

14. I like the analogy, but for MJ the analogy falls apart

how many people have died, gotten birth defects, or been disabled due to smoking marijuana, compared to lead paint or even alcohol?

[aine p]

19. The others

What about those who have been indirectly influenced by harmful substances even though they may not be a user of the substance? What about the unborn child of a pot addict? Should we not be fighting to protect them at least?

[unpossibles]

29. "the unborn child of a pot addict"?

can you please provide links to the addiction rates of pot and its effects on the unborn?

[Happyhippychick]

16. I'm the chairman of the "bring asbestos back to our schools" association.

I'm with ya!

[aspergris]

17. who said the govt. doesn't have the right to regulate harmful substances?

Who?

note that being against the war on drugs (criminalizing ingestion of certain drugs) =/= being against harmful substance regulation

[ihavenobias]

22. Being against the 'War On Drugs'=Being Against INEFFECTIVE & Expensive Regulation Of Substances n/t

[aspergris]

28. correct. and most importantly

being againt CRIMINALIZATION of the use of those substances.

regulating is one thing.

throwing people in jail is another

[SOS]

21. "If the government has no right to regulate harmful substances"

False premise.
Next.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. The Feeling Good Part Is What The Hypermoralists Don't Like

If it makes you feel good, that's bad. So we must regulate just those things. Not my opinion. Just my read on those who think that way.
The Professor

[Zynx]

32. Not all things that make people feel good are good.

[ColbertWatcher]

25. Americans For Asbestos Freedom! n/t

[AlCzervik]

26. Lead paint was delicious, i mourns it.

[tuckessee]

27. It's not illegal to eat/consume lead paint. n/t

[librechik]

31. Can't get addicted to paint like you get to nicotine.

addicts will fight to keep their dope. They can't help it.