A recent article concerning Arkansas' newly approved use of marijuana for medical purposes brought an interesting response from one reader. He sent an article written by another person concerning the use of drugs in general. The article suggests the legalization of all drugs not just marijuana. It was not necessarily the reader's input, but the article he sent me that prompted some thoughts that stretched my understanding on the social impact of "freedom."
When government, for the safety of social well-being intervenes in a situation, at what point does it take away our freedom to make our own decisions?
As I pondered this point, and I trust you will also, the multiple-faceted laws that restrict our own control of our bodies and take away many choices surprised me. Please understand when society is the payer of recovery expenses for a poor personal choice (consider long-term care, hospitalization, incarceration ,etc.), we all recognize a need for some controls. We grew up understanding the law and accept the fact that we drive our vehicles in the right-hand lane going down a highway, and we stop at the stop sign if we don't want to create an accident. We accept these as conditions of use from our driver's education training and observe them throughout our life-time. We accept a test to have a driver's license and pay a fee to be tested. The things we learn from birth seem to be easier to deal with than the questions that we are not exposed to, and therefore conditioned to deal with, during adolescent training. Apparently there was a time, prior to 1914, when heroin and cocaine were legal and could be bought over the counter. There seemed to be no national issue over addiction as we are now facing with our opioid problem. The writer of the article (sent to me) recommends doing away with restrictions that seem to enhance the use of the illegal activity through controlled availability, excessive publicity and excessive cost. And, sometimes the extraordinarily high cost of a product comes from government imposed regulations and taxes.
But, the purpose of this article is not to talk about restricting the medical use of marijuana or even the recreational use of it or any other drug. The purpose is to ask ourselves about our own freedom to choose -- and still avoid social chaos if we have "total freedom of choice."
If we take a minute and consider our own situation as it is now, many of us would not be directly affected by the majority of these restrictions. But, if we expand the discussion to areas outside drugs and consider the rights of a pregnant girl to have an abortion, the picture becomes more complex. Please believe me, I have not personally been faced with this question, but have listened to numerous women who were faced with it. In most cases, I personally could not support abortions and believe in sex education and birth control pills as an alternative. But, the right to have the choice should be the ladies', and as a society I have seen (and counseled) women whose life was endangered if they continued with a pregnancy by having a legal abortion. However in spite of the threat to their life, their church opposed their decision creating incredible stress in the situation. A large segment of society judges and opposes abortion based on religious conviction not on the law. Some people continue to use marijuana as a recreational drug which is illegal and is opposed by much of society as well. That is a form of freedom being exercised in spite of the law.
Society has a role to play in the life of each of us. When society, through government funded programs, (I am a benefactor of Medicare and Social Security) is a burden by bad choices on the part of individuals, they have a financial interest in the decision. If we take away all subsidies and allow decisions to provide total freedom where would society take itself? Would our nation end up like the town in the 1946 movie "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart as the :good guy" loan officer?
I believe we owe it to ourselves to give serious thought to the question of our own freedom to choose. Have we conceded our personal freedom of choice out of habit or complacency or fear of standing out in a crowd ?
Society frowns on what I feel is the ultimate choice, the freedom to die with grace, dignity and free of drugs for control of excessive pain. As expressed previously, we need to come to grips with why we need so many pain killing drugs (multiple forms of marijuana usage, morphine and other opioids) and allow people to choose self-induced euthanasia by legalizing and educating individuals about this alternative to a long, drawn out, painful exit from this world into eternity. Counting on Hospice as a means of bringing dignity and the family into the act of dying is being unrealistic and unfair. We need freedom to make our own choice and spare our family the burden of our suffering. It should be legalized in Arkansas and respected along with our other freedoms such as the Constitutional right or freedom to speak our views openly. It is a freedom that will not impose a financial burden on society in any form or fashion but provide peace of mind to the individual when needed.
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Editor's note: Leo Lynch, an award-winning columnist, is a native of Benton County and has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace.
Editorial on 09/20/2017