"Bob Cain" wrote in message
...

I dunno. I think it's symantic hair splitting whether a
chemical is intrinsically "evil" or not. My belief,
supported by not only my own experience but that of many
others I know, is that methamphetamine, for example, is
evil. It is sufficiently benign, effective, and seductive
in its early, tonic, phase to utterly fool one into thinking
it is entirely beneficial and that thinking remains
undaunted as caution, responsibility, compassion and the
very sense of right and wrong are gradually extinguished
without any internal alarms going off that something might
be wrong.

To call any chemical "evil" is to anthropomorphize it in a way that
isn't justified. It displaces responsibility. I might call *that* "evil",
though (displacing responsibility). That people are too stupid to find out
what a chemical does before ingesting it may show the inherent "evil" in man
(laziness), but the chemical itself can't be evil. It's just a chemical. In
my opinion, "good" and "evil" describe intent, of which drugs are incapable.
Except for rum, which is the root of all evil. ; )

ryanm