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My Italian blood yearns for a mafia society.

You're right. I could see saying this almost as is to high school or college students. But I need to speak more on why it is important to wait, and really stress that the choices one makes early in life can greatly effect how one's later life turns out.
I think that legalizing cannabis is slowly gaining more and more public support (a new law to legalize just barely failed in, I think, New Mexico). But people just breaking the law isn't what is doing it. Which is why I am also very active (more active than for any other cause) in protesting, petitions, and writing to my Congress people about legalizing cannabis (though medical marijuana more so than recreational use, I'll admit).

I think that the shear amount of people who break this law shows that people have basically no respect for prohibitions of substances. I don't think that breaking this law does much to change it, but it does show that there is a reason it needs to be changed.

Drug testing for a job is an invasion of privacy, and often inaccurate anyway (especially urine tests). I think it's fine for people to get around these tests because they violate civil rights, but I don't think that it does much to change that they are done. It does amuse me that there simply isn't a test out there that can't be fooled (there is, in fact, mouthwash to get around the saliva test - though that test only works for a few hours after use, so not too many people really should need a false negative on that one).I think that it is possible that some day in the distant future people won't need laws anymore. But they probably would be far different than the people we live around today, so that really doesn't say much. *grin*

There are too many people on this planet to go back to a family clan sort of government, unfortunately.

Because the law in question that needs to change isn't copyright law, but the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (which has much stricter punishments for illegally redistributing digital media than analog media), and the price for digital media needs to come down closer to production cost (really, $20 for a CD that cost mere pennies to produce). When most people don't follow a law, I feel that it shows that something needs to change. Because, really, doesn't society have to abide by a law for it to really become part of the rules of that society?
I'm talking about drug tests to get a job. Though totally random drug tests while at work are also pretty bad.

If an employee isn't doing their work, for whatever reasons, they should be fired. If someone is on drugs (though responsible people NEVER go to work on drugs or use drugs at work) but gets their work done well and on time, why should an employer care?

A clan system, looking at the many different past clans that existed, actually has a lot of rules and only works for a certain sized group (though larger identity is possible, like the Iroquois Nation). However, like I said, I don't think it is possible for humans as they exist now to exist without some rules. I do think it is possible for humans to evolve into something that wouldn't need laws, however.

No, actually, it doesn't. sweatdrop

And as for CDs, it cost mere pennies to print that specific CD, it cost -millions- to produce it. While the price should definitely be less than it is, something like $10 is not unreasonable.

But regardless, while I'm sure there are some who illegally download music etc. because of things like that, most kids and college students do it simply because they can't afford to buy the CDs. :shrug: And while that does mean that the record companies lose nothing by their downloading the products instead of, well, not purchasing them, I'm pretty sure most of those downloads will never be paid back. Honestly, I'll probably never buy half of the things I've downloaded. wink

And the DMC -is- a copyright law. It's right there in the name.

Oh no, I totally agree that there's no reason to do drug tests if a person's performance is still within the levels that would be demanded of a non-druggy. However, I do feel that drug tests to -get- a job are entirely understandable. If an employer feels that doing drugs will affect the applicant's work, than it's the employer's prerogative to test before hand. As it is, it is illegal. If it were legal, than of course it would be discrimination to check. But that's not the case, and any workplace that wishes to check has that right, and even if you feel that the law is unjust, it's my opinion that it's just not fair of you to act like they shouldn't test for it as long as the laws are in place.

I disagree. :shrug: It's a lovely thought that it might happen, but I don't think it ever will, because, as I said, humans are driven by conflicts. If everything were peaceful, if there were no crime nor wars, there would be very few things left to do; I'd think that all disease will have been conquered by that time, and so humanity is basically down to... Nothing. With no conflict, including disease, crime, and war, art would become empty and meaningless, and there'd really not be much else to do except survive.

And I'm not talking about one large clan system that works in harmony or some crap like that; I'm talking about multiple allied or opposed clans, where families look out for each other and anyone outside of the family is not to be trusted. Basically, it's a large

Of course one large clan wouldn't work. xd

That's better, but I really don't see why you can't just cut it down to, "Every choice you make affects what sort of life you will have. More and more children your age are choosing to use drugs. But your brain is still growing and developing. Adding drugs into this can be very dangerous," because, to me, the line about "When they first use drugs" makes it sound like everyone tries drugs.

Gah. The idea of more and more grade school children doing drugs is traumatizing. crying

I somewhat disagree that the sheer amount of people who break a law says something significant about showing it needs to be changed, though in this case, I think that the number can be used to your advantage given the stereotypes. I mean, I disagree with the point in all cases, is what I should say, because that argument could be used to say, "See? A large percent of people break drinking and driving laws anyway, it shows we need to change the law." Because it's scary how much damage drunk driving does, and how many people break that law. But in this case, I can see it because the reason it's illegal in the first place is that it's seen as an easily abused and dangerous drug, and the number of people breaking the law and using compared to the number of dangerous or criminal things resulting from using would show one way or another whether it's an outdated stereotype or a valid concern.

Your faith in humanity amazes me xd I'm pretty jaded I guess. I look around at this world. Right now, someone's being killed. Someone's being raped. Some child is being beaten. Actually, by the time I've finished this sentence, that's all happened again. Multiple times probably. Maybe not the child beating in this country, because it's pretty late at night and hopefully abusive parents need sleep too. And I'm lucky because in this country all of that is illegal; there are places where that's fine and there's no protection for those victims. Someone in this world is killing over race, or sexual preference, right now. Someone is selling children as slaves. And you know, when I think about it, as far as we've come, we haven't come very far at all. Sure, there are places now where it's illegal to do things that violate what we now say are human rights, but so what? That's been the case in the past too, then it went back to being legal again. I can see the good in this world, I guess the bad just makes me lose hope that times will ever be so good we can rely on a form of anarchy.

I still don't understand how anyone can choose to drive while drunk. Though there are some aspects of the drunk driving laws that I do feel need to be reformed, you are right that the number of people who choose not to follow this law doesn't mean that it should be changed.

I do feel that there are too many laws that people don't follow that do need to be changed, however.
But right now, someone is proposing, and some couple is overjoyed to find out they are pregnant, and someone just found out they got a new job, and someone is reuniting with their adult child, and someone who deserves it is being arrested. There are also good things happening all the time.

Also, I'm on drugs (Imipramine) that force my brain to feel happy. So it's way easier to see that there are also good things in life than it used to be. It's almost like cheating. *wink*