I feel and understand the pain of the young man whose letter-to-the-editor was posted in today’s (Saturday Feb. 21st) paper. I had a long-term problem with drinking after my divorce in 1983 but eventually got it together emotionally and re-learned how to enjoy a few drinks with friends or in the afternoon listening to music, without the necessity of getting stinking, staggering, falling-down drunk.

I am equally glad he got over his problem and if it took quitting dope altogether, well, whatever works best for you.

The point is that if we outlawed everything that people can become addicted to we will end up outlawing every manner of human activity that you can possibly imagine. Some people become addicted to sex – ask Wade Boggs, former All-Star 3rd baseman. Some people become addicted to gambling – go to any casino in the country and look around. Some people become addicted to power and try to force others to vote the way they tell them to – ask our former archbishop. People also become addicted to collecting newspapers, collecting animals, eating; you name it and somebody somewhere has become addicted to it or abused it in some manner. But their inability to control themselves in some activity should not be used as an excuse to deny that activity to others.

When some person or group tries to assume the authority to run our lives in all its details, that’s called either control or dictatorship, but by either term violates our basic constitutional rights. Now we as a society still have the right to punish those who abuse their rights and injure others, either physically or fiscally, but that does not give us the right to outlaw behavior that we find repugnant. So rape and sex involving minors is illegal but all forms of consensual sex between adults is legal. We may not like what the couple next door is doing, but it is ultimately none of our damned business.

The same argument can be applied to alcohol use or drug use. As long as they don’t harm others or infringe on their rights, it is essentially none of our damned business.

John A. Joseph
St. Louis