THE MINUS 21 PLAN

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The Minus 21 Plan

What Is The Minus 21 Plan?
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Basically, it is a determination between adults and juveniles. It sets the age of adulthood at 21. Adults have all the rights and privileges of adulthood while juveniles have not yet earned this status and have to be protected and controlled in their behavior. How can one determine when a person reaches adulthood?

Many juveniles are bigger and stronger than many adults. Does this make them adults simply because of their size? This is silly. Size cannot be a determination of adulthood or elephants would rule society.

Many juveniles are also more educated than many adults, after spending years in school financed by possibly less educated adults. This definitely is a point in their favor, but by itself doesn't make them adults.

To be an adult means to be mature and responsible. Many juveniles fit this description while many adult-aged do not. Some juveniles at the age of 16 already show signs of adulthood, but perhaps only in the range of 5-10% At 18 this percentage rises to 20-30 % and at age 21 we assume it probably passes the 50% mark, so at this point a majority has crossed over to the adult stage and thus this age is presumed to be the best determination of adulthood.

What about the juveniles who, for all purposes, have already showed sufficient maturity? It seems the mature juveniles are not the ones screaming and whining for their adulthood rights. The mature juveniles fully realise the immaturity their peers and recognise their own limited experiences in the world and are more content to take on adulthood one step at a time.

So what is the essence of the "Minus 21 Plan"? As stated above, an adult has all the rights and privileges of adulthood, unless and until, through breaking some law, they lose these rights. If they wish to smoke tobacco they may (as long as they don't indulge where it isn't allowed, thus infringing on the rights of non-smokers). If they wish to use drugs or drink themselves stupifiedly drunk, possess and wantonly use handguns or indulge in promiscous sexual behavior etc., stupid as all this may be, that is now their privilege as adults.

Juveniles, however, still under the age of 21, are denied all these things. Simply denying them these things by law is not enough, their very immaturity prompts them to ignore the law. Punishing them is of no real value if they refuse to entertain the very suggestion that they might be caught and furthermore are convinced that if caught they will be simply let off with a slap on the wrist. It must be remembered they are still not adults and thus don't really understand what's good or bad for them, their experiences in the world are limited, they are just not responsible enough. The responsible people are the ones providing them with all the forbidden items.

The Tobacco Problem
The Drug Problem
The Guns & Gangs Problem
The Alcohol Problem
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THE TOBACCO PROBLEM
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Raising the price of cigarettes by taxing them heavily or punishing the tobacco firms financially through the proposed so-called tobacco settlement, will have little or no effect on teenage smoking. Teenagers presently seem to have very little difficulty obtaining all the free money they need for whatever they desire, probably much easier than some working adult. Besides, if the price of cigarettes is forced too high, they simply would be sold on the black market. The main idea, however, is not to punish adults who wish to smoke. Now-a-days, people seem to have the right to end their own lives, even with a doctor's assistance, so why shouldn't they be allowed to do it with tobacco?

The thing we must keep uppermost in mind is to stop teenagers from smoking, teenagers who don't realise the horrible longterm effects of smoking and its insidious addiction. Here is another example of their lack of maturity, the wish to look 'cool' in front of their peers.

Even the tobacco companies profess (don't laugh) that they are not trying to hook kids on smoking. We're not trying to run the tobacco companies out of business and destroy all the farmers that are making a living raising tobacco. To each his own, I say. However, we do want to stop the teenagers from smoking. Not, as the congressional proposed tobacco settlement states, to reduce teenage smoking a certain percent in a certain number of years or a financial punishment be set upon the tobacco companies. Reduce? Some proposed percent? Three or five years? Get real! Teenage smoking is against the law right now! It should be completely eliminated completely, IMMEDIATELY!

How do we do propose to do this? This is the essence of the "Minus 21 Plan". You're not going to stop the tobacco companies without actually putting them out of business entirely. The idea is to go after the final distributors of tobacco products, the middlemen who actually are the ones to provide teenagers with tobacco products. Tobacco dispensing machines open to teenage access should be outlawed. The law against selling, giving or in any way allowing teenagers to obtain tobacco products, should be expanded and enforced. You often read of police operations where they have teenagers go from store to store trying to purchase cigarettes or liquor. The vendors who refuse to sell them are commended and those that do sell them are simply scolded and then the results are printed up in the newspapers. This is enforcing the law? This is a joke!

First of all the law should be made much, much stricter. Anyone selling, giving away or allowing anyone under the age of 21 to have any tobacco products should be thrown in jail for 6 months and fined $1000, no exceptions for first-timers, no parole, no warnings, no probation. Hey, these people are out there poisoning our children for their own personal gain. Let the vendors 'card' anyone under the age of 30 to protect themselves. Kids don't manufacture their own cigarettes, they have to get them from some adult. Parents who leave cigarettes lying around, in their drawers, cars, or purses, for easy access by their teenagers, are just as guilty as the vendors.

The tobacco companies, their distributors and the vendors themselves, all profess that they only wish to operate their business in accordance with the law and have no desire to sell to kids. Let them put their money where their mouths are!

In this way the tobacco companies would still be able to produce and sell their products legally, at a profit, to responsible adults. The tobacco farmers would still be able to grow and sell their produce and raise and support their families in the manner they are accustomed. And legal aged smokers would not be deprived of their god-given right to poison themselves. Only under 21 year old youths would be deprived of tobacco products and only the person or persons who provide the tobacco to them would be punished .... but they should be punished severely!

Everyone realises that if a person doesn't start smoking before they're 21 years old, the odds are overwhelming that they never will start. This is another one of the signs of maturity that separate youths from adults. If this plan were to be put in effect, smoking gradually but positively would, over the years, diminish to the point of no longer being a major national problem. There will always be immature adults who insist on smoking and there will always be shady characters with no respect for the law, who will continually supply kids with tobacco, (at huge profits to themselves) so, with this plan put in effect, 20 years from now the tobacco companies will still be in operation, but on a far smaller scale.

If those states where tobacco is grown or tobacco products are produced, have legislatures so controlled by the graft of the growers and producers, that they can't find the moral backbone to pass and enforce these laws, then unfortunately, the federal government would be forced to step in.

The Drug Problem
The Guns & Gangs Problem
The Alcohol Problem
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THE DRUG PROBLEM
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The above described "Minus 21 Plan" would work similarly with the drug problem. As I mentioned before, people now seem to have the right to kill themselves with or without doctors' assistance, so they actually should also have the right to destroy themselves with drugs if they so desire. However, they should not have the right to destroy the lives of our children by supplying them with drugs.

Drugs are a huge problem in our country and the problem seems to be on a steady incline. The problem will not go away by itself and yet, all efforts to eradicate or control it, seem to be useless. The drug users insist that it is harmless, at least no more harmful than tobacco, alcohol, or high cholesterol foods, and in a way they probably do have a point. They feel, therefore, that they should have the right to use it if they so choose. The countries exporting the drugs are simply supporting their own poor farmers. There doesn't seem to be a way to stop the smugglers or the street peddlers as there simply is too much profit in it for them. All the money the government throws at the problem is just taxpayers' money thrown down the toilet. For this reason, many people now support eliminating the anti-drug laws, hoping that the free supply of drugs would greatly reduce the cost of the drugs and thus cut down on gangster participation and the proliferation of robberies for drug expenses. At the same time it would result in huge reduction to the ever-expanding taxpayers' participation. These people are dreamers living in a fool's paradise. Eliminating prohibition did cut the hoodlums out of the alcohol business, however, it certainly didn't reduce alcohol comsumption or its cost to the consumer, it just turned it into a respectable occupation.

The "21 Plan" answers all these objections. Drug use by adults would no longer be against the law. Drug dealing would still be against the law, but be tacitly understood to be no longer enforced. In other words, the government, the sheriff, and police departments, etc. would no longer run their never-ending ever-expanding expensive and wasteful drug enforcement operations. The taxpayers' expense could thus be reduced immeasurably. The law would still be on the books to be used similarly to the way income tax laws are now used to prosecute hoodlums and gangsters that the government can't seem to get any other way.

The law enforcement departments would still be going after drug dealers, but only certain ones, the ones that supply drugs to juveniles (under the age of 21). The street peddlers would be allowed to openly sell as much as they want to their adult customers, but not to any juveniles. The law would have to be made much stricter for selling to juveniles, we'd throw the whole book at them. If the drug dealers could sell as much as they want to adults with complete immunity, but would get thrown in jail for 10 years for supplying to juveniles, what do you really think they would do? How many would risk the punishment by peddling to juveniles when there is no punishment for selling to adults? Think about it! Drug use, even openly no longer against the law, would gradually diminish if the juveniles weren't hooked as kids. Even drug pushers realise that hooking them as kids keeps them hooked for life.

The Tobacco Problem
The Guns & Gangs Problem
The Alcohol Problem
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THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM
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I think by now you should be getting the picture, what the "Minus 21 Plan" is all about. The same solution applies to the alcohol problem. Studies show that the younger a person starts on alcohol, the more likely alcohol problems occur. Bartenders, parents, older relatives, siblings, or friends, whoever supplies or allows alcohol to be obtained by juveniles (under 21) would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law... and the law must be e x t e n d e d and strictly enforced. If those states where alcohol is manufactured, have legislatures so controlled by the graft of the manufacturers, that they can't find the moral backbone to pass and enforce these laws, then unfortunately, the federal government would be forced to step in.

The Tobacco Problem
The Drug Problem
The Guns & Gangs Problem
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THE GUNS & GANGS PROBLEM
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Gangs have been a growing problem in our society. In recent years it's completely gotten out of hand. Years ago, street fighting, although sometimes viscious, wasn't always so prone to result in deaths. Only in recent years with the free and easy proliferation of deadly weapons such as handguns, has death resulting gang fights accelerated. Gangs seemingly will always be with us, the result of poverty, unemployment, racism, lack of parental guidance, and lack of punishment for lawbreakers. But removal of handguns from the streets would at least reduce the deadly consequences of street encounters.

And how does the "Minus 21 Plan" enter in this problem? Just don't allow juveniles to have, use, or get their hands on handguns or other weapons of destruction. Juveniles don't manufacture their own weapons, they get them from adults. Any adult supplying or in any way allowing a juvenile to possess such a weapon, again, would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and would be held fully responsible for any unlawful acts conducted by the juvenile while using the weapon. This would also apply to parents who leave their weapons lying around for any juvenile to pick up and use.

The Tobacco Problem
The Drug Problem
The Alcohol Problem
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Return to Hitz's Home Page