Idiocy & coffee

[narcasse]

Today’s LJ writer’s block question is particularly special or to be more accurate the answers are. The question asks if commenters agree with the legalisation of pot when it’s pretty clear from some of the answers that there are enough people who don’t know actually know what legalisation means. Legalising something doesn’t necessarily mean that you can get it everywhere freely without restriction. Legalising marijuana would be like legalising diazepam: your doctor can prescribe you both if they’re necessary to treat your condition. And that’s before you even get into the fact that you can buy addictive substances like cough syrup over the counter anyway.

Compounding this rather black and white understanding of the law where nothing can be legal but restricted: it has to be freely available to everyone or not at all, is the issue of ‘omg children will smoke weed’. So if you don’t make it legal medication they won’t be able to in the same way that banning gay marriage will stop you being gay or not having a medical prescription prevents you from buying MDMA. Cannabis may be illegal in this country but can you get it? Of course. Just not legally to treat a medical condition. You can also get hold of cocaine and diazepam, and those are just the ones I’m aware of personally.

Anything that affects the body can be misused so it’s a rather threadbare argument based on fear mongering to over inflate worry over ganja specifically. And more than that it’s a very cruel way to go about things as a society when the able-bodied get to tell those who require a medication that they can’t legally have it because the able-bodied prefer to use it for recreational purposes and thus prefer it to retain its illegal and ‘exciting’ status. I’m one of those lucky individuals whose long-term health condition can be treated by older drugs so I don’t have to get into fights over my right to lead a fairly healthy existence but if I wasn’t I’d be absolutely livid that there was a drug that could treat my condition, allowing me to live a full life, that my doctor couldn’t prescribe for me because someone else might misuse it. And to be perfectly honest the medication I do take on a daily basis could probably be misused too but someone else’s recreational irresponsibility doesn’t trump my right to live for longer than otherwise would be possible.


In other news, as if they knew how annoyed I’d be by the above, Starbucks sent me free coffee today. They’re introducing a new instant coffee range: Starbucks VIA Ready Brew. Thus they sent me a little sachet of Columbian coffee. The sachet seemed a little large for what it contained since there was the barest sliver of coffee powder in my mug when I tipped it out but the aroma really was suitably attention-grabbing. I really hadn’t expected that waft of fine coffee rising from the packet or the distinctly sharp taste with hint of mellowness that followed. There is something in my memory that this coffee reminds me off but I can’t for the life of me put my finger on it. I want to say that it’s that morning on the Turkish Riviera when I threatened to tip an entire plate of black olives into the swimming pool much to my companion’s dismay or that little Western style café in Cairo when I’d slipped out of the hotel not long after the dawn call to prayer but seeing as I’ve never actually been to either of those places I can probably say that there’s something about the taste of this coffee that is evocative.

It’s been a while since I’ve drunk plain Starbucks coffee since I tend to go for a double mocha when I do pick up some but this instant coffee is making me reconsider that. I’m not sure that I’d buy the little instant packets for myself since I have coffee enough at home and I don’t want to get back into the habit of drinking it on a too regular basis but I am tempted to get some for my father who often complains that the various instant coffees he’s tried are much too weak.


Also: ladyassassin27’s recipe for a rather appealing veg sandwich which I’ll be trying sooner rather than later.

Comments

[ladyassassin27.livejournal.com]

Its sad that people fail to understand the concept of legalizing a particular something, because to my knowledge there isn't a single legislation where gives free reign over anything.

The legalising marijuana discussion always reminds me of this Hill station in the north of the country where weed grows quite literally like weeds on the side of the road, and the locals aren't entirely aware that its illegal.

The coffee sounds lovely, and do tell me how the veg. sandwich turns out ^^

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

Burma has the same thing: it’s there and easily found and funnily enough there isn’t the huge drug problem that the scaremongering media seem to be predicting in the West. A lot of it has to do with attitude after all and from what I’ve seen of specific US policy with this sort of thing there seems to be a bizarre rationale that if you make something, anything, legal then everyone’s going to rush out to do it. They don’t seem to have figured out that by raving about its forbidden nature constantly that they’re actually advertising whatever it is e.g. if they didn’t demonise alcohol constantly to school children then that wouldn’t be first on the agenda of ‘dangerous’ and ‘exciting’ things to try whenever they get the chance and even if said children do go down that route after a handful of years of getting ridiculously drunk they’ll just grow out of it.

As for the sandwich, I’ll admit I’m a little apprehensive of the beetroot aspect but if I’m going to try it I ought to do it properly.

[ladyassassin27.livejournal.com]

It only natural for people to want to do what they are specifically told not to, so all the demonising and frightening seems utterly pointless, and indeed counterproductive.

If you are apprehenisve about the beetroot, you don't need to make too thick a layer, because even a layer of very thin slices will do. Actually you could omit it altogether, and add a layer of tomato instead, which is actually what the original veg. sandwich contains, but as quite a few people -myself inclded- have and aversion to tomatos, the sandwichwalas replace it with beetroot.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

I’ve actually picked up some pre-cooked beetroot now but it’s still sealed up in its packet because I’m worrying about staining things. I could probably have a go at it with clingfilm and surgical gloves considering how prissy I’m feeling about the idea but I’ve run out of cucumber and red onions now so that’s earned me a few more days grace. I’m not a great fan of tomatoes but I’ll have to try that version as well.