Yes society was saved by the recent court ruling banning large sodas.  It was an obvious ruling that couldn't have surprised anyone, but I suppose it wasn't the type of thing people get too wound up over.  Take away their right to a gun or an abortioin and people lose their minds, but big sodas...seems a little silly to get upset over.

As I was sitting in front of the shopping center waiting for our take out dinner to be ready, I saw a number of people walking around who were, let's face it, a mess.  It occurred to me the sillyness, even borderline offensiveness that our society is allowing wars on health without starting with the most destructive force in our society.  Drugs.

I grew up in the Reagan years, when the "Just Say No" message permeated our schools.  Many have the indecency to say it didn't work, but I know it did...I was there.  I heard what it was like before that, lived through it and now have seen what it was like since.  We are completely comfortable attacking everything around it, tobacco, obesity, mental illness (what are the "code" words now, bi-polar), poverty, etc.

The truth is, there are so many people in our society that are just all banged up and it saddens me.  People like to blame "society" for that, which is fine, as long as we try to face it honestly.  Nobody seems to admit it anymore, but it is almost always a result of drugs.  For whatever reason, it has become uncool again to campaign against drugs.  You don't see athletes do it, celebrities or political leaders anymore.  Drugs are far more responsible for the detrimental impact on inner cities than racism.  They are far more responsible for poverty and broken families than any other cause. 

I don't expect that this discussion can change much, but sometimes it feels good to point out the obvious when nobody else seems to.