[lbo-talk] dregs and drugs

[Michael Dawson]

> Both failed to show any
> causality with opium use. Opium is non-toxic and therefore a benign
> substance. I never claimed its use in our society was benign, only the
> substance itself.
> The connection to the guns and bullets comparison has me stumped though. I
> don't see the analogy as holding water as it were.
> 
> John Thornton

Even if opium is nontoxic to tissue, what effect does it have on human
abilities and behaviors?  Water is nontoxic and has very little impact on
abilities and behaviors.  Is opium just like water?

What I'm trying to get you to admit is that there is one very specific
biological impact of opioids -- their very strong tendency to activite or
create dependency circuits in the brain, with a whole train of strong
consequences that cannot logically be separated from the substance itself
and the brain reactions it engenders.

How good are opium addicts at holding down jobs?  At conducting healthy
modern interpersonal relationships?  At contributing to their communities
and political systems?  At raising children?  Would you feel happy if your
kid became an opium addict?