Messages from the fifth dimension

I feel strongly that everyone has the right to do whatever they wish as long as they are not harming others and as long as they accept full responsibility for their actions while doing whatever it is they want to do. That includes the right to take whatever drugs they wish to take, fry their brain however they wish, ruin their health however they like—SO LONG AS THEY DON'T HARM OTHERS.

Unfortunately, too many drug users don't give a rat's whisker about others. They work and drive while under the influence, for example, causing accidents, making mistakes at work, and so on, costing others a great deal in terms of time wasted re-doing badly done tasks, paying for medical bills, and other related costs. It may be a lost cause to try to appeal to drug users to be more responsible, but I keep trying.

My latest effort is to point out that the drugs you take—which includes the illicit drugs you are taking, yes, but also birth control pills, over the counter drugs, doctor-prescribed hormones and other drugs, even the caffiene from your coffee—all end up being excreted from your body and going into the environment. See Science News for one of many, many articles on this problem.

So before you pop that next pill, please take a moment to reflect on the fact that everything is related. You may think it is none of anybody's business what drugs you take, but unless you don't excrete, you are affecting the environment, and therefore it is everybody's business. We all thank you for refraining.

Some more links:

1. "Pharmaceutical drugs given to people and to domestic animals --including antibiotics, hormones, strong pain killers, tranquilizers, and chemotherapy chemicals given to cancer patients --are being measured in surface water, in groundwater, and in drinking water at the tap. Large quantities of drugs are excreted by humans and domestic animals, and are distributed into the environment by flushing toilets and by spreading manure and sewage sludge onto and into soil. German scientists report that anywhere from 30 to 60 drugs can be measured in a typical water sample..."
2. Pharmaceuticals In Our Water Supplies
3. "Drugs As Toxic Waste"