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Just One Hit
While opium dens were commonly featured in Victorian fiction, the most common use of opiates was in the form of pharmaceuticals. The greatest problem with most drugs isn’t their addictiveness or even their potency, but rather their availability and acceptance. When users are confined to opium dens, drug consumption is portrayed as unglamorous and immoral. In Once Upon a Time in America, Robert De Niro portrays a criminal who frequents opium dens for his high. But opium wasn’t just available to the dissolute, and it wasn’t just confined to dens. Opium usage moved into doctors’ examination rooms, dissipating the stigma attached to the drug and opening up its availability to…
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Where’s The Respect?
Animals: We keep them as pets; use them for food, clothing, and transportation; we travel thousands of miles to see them on safari; gawk at them in zoos; revere them in certain religions; abhor them and call them vermin; experiment on them for medicine and for beauty; work alongside them in certain jobs; use them therapeutically; compete them; bet on them; cage them; free them; hurt them; heal them; study them; and learn from them. They truly are deeply ingrained into our way of life, and have been since the dawn of time. Our treatment of our (usually) four-legged friends, as a society, differs greatly from one country to the…
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Power of Love VS Love of Power
A mind free of ignorance, greed, and hatred – peaceful and drama-free sounds nearly too good to be true. However, this state of being is amongst the ideals of Buddhism and basing my opinion simply on those standards, I see no wrong. A fair portion of the world has its qualms with religion – the concept in general, religions and philosophies which are not our own, and especially concepts we know little or nothing about. If you’re religious, so be it. I simply ask that you keep which ever God or gods you follow to yourself and leave me out of it. It’s a sensitive matter which falls amongst other…









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