Catholic commentary on culture, media, and politics.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Canada: taking great leaps backward so you don't have to.

Pharmacies used to be places to buy Robitussin DM, band-aids, maybe a new toothbrush. But in the Land In Which We Know We're Not Americans, my fellow Canadians will soon be able to stop by the local drug store to assuage their croaking for some good shit (hell, they call it a drug store don't they?); or, while waiting for that antibiotic prescription to be filled, maybe a French tickler.

Warming up in the bullpen: Canadian sex shops to sell antihistamines and Dr. Scholls crap.

(Hat tip to the reliably vigilant Dr. Terry Vanderheyden. All in the disinterested pursuit of scientific research.)

4 Comments:

Blogger Dr.Dawg said...

Are you aware, Patrick, of the circumstances under which marijuana is prescribed in Canada? It is largely to help cancer patients, sick and nauseated on their meds, develop an appetite so that they can keep food down and eat enough of it to stay alive. A step backwards? I don't think so.

As for sex toys, given their universal availability, I'd see this more as a step sideways. Does the Church proscribe them, btw?

2:37 PM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

Dr. D: I'm making a broader point about nmarijuana. I know you'll produce a mountain of counter-indicating evidence, but my humble opinion is that extending the public acceptance of marijuana use is not conducive to a healthier society and will, inch by tetrahydracannabinol-loving inch, erode societal resistance to drug use that was previously illegal.

Which I do not take as a good thing. You'll find that quaint, I have a feeling. But every honest weed smoker will tell you it's either a gateway to harder drugs, or a lubricant for the slippery slope.

I'm not including you here, but it cracks me up how advocates for wider MJ use always start with the medical premise, just as porn advocates start with the "free speech" one.

The medical reasons for its use may be valid in some cases (I don't buy blanket prohibition), but as I understand it, the real medicinal or curative/palliative effects of MJ use are not as efficacious as the CBC-types would have us believe.

As for sex toys, there are no papal documents proscribing or prescibing them, although it's a sad day when vibrating rubber (plastic?) appliances substitute for authentic human communion. I'm talking about them being sold within the sight of children, and of the general appropriateness of selling so-called adult products in frickin' Loblaws and Shopper's Drug Mart!

Since you ask me two question, let me ask you one: do you have any children?

3:50 PM

 
Blogger Dr.Dawg said...

Yes, Patrick, I have two step-children, 16 and 26.

Incidentally, I've been an occasional smoker of marijuana in the past: didn't stop me from getting a few degrees and so on, but hey, they were in the humanities. :) The only "harder stuff" that it made me look for was food, alas.

3:58 PM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

Harder stuff = food. lol. I guess all that weed use made you forget how to spell dog. (Just kidding.)

4:16 PM

 

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