Freedom Isn't Free (of Problems)

With all of the news lately about measles outbreaks and people who refuse to vaccinate their kids, I can't help thinking that freedom isn't free. When you live in a free society and people are given the choice to vaccinate their kids or legally smoke weed, then you have to live with the consequences of those decisions. If the government isn't forcing people to get shots for their kids (or is giving them loopholes to opt out of vaccinating their kids), then you get what you get: measles outbreaks.

The same goes for marijuana legalization. If the certain states allow people to smoke weed legally, then they will have to deal with an increase in the amount of drug users in those states. Marijuana is a gateway drug. First you start smoking weed and then you move on to heavier drugs. Not all people, I know, but enough to create a problem. I've seen it happen and the results are tragic. So if weed is legalized in a state, then what happens to jobs that require a drug test as an employment contingency? Do drug tests just go the way of the dinosaur? I assume some jobs will always require drug testing. No one wants their bus or subway driver coming to work high on weed, so I'm assuming those jobs would require that you are drug-free. But maybe not. What if someone decides to sue because marijuana is legal in their state and, if it's legal and the bus driver wants to smoke, can't he challenge his employer who fired him for testing positive for drugs? Can the rules of the employer trump the rules of the state? Can the employer be exempt from prosecution? I don't know.

Such are the perils of living in a free society rather than in a dictatorship where the government controls pretty much every aspect of your life. Not that I'm advocating for that, but people really need to understand that freedom isn't free. There are consequences and repercussions. If you want freedom to make your own choices about what drugs you put into your body, then you have to live with the consequences and repercussions of that decision.