My conscience compels. . .

. . .me to pick up on this story, as I've been somewhat vocal about the decriminalization of marijuana in the past. I'm still agnostic with regard to harder drugs, especially ones like heroin and methamphetamine, whose effects would be irredeemably nefarious regardless of legality. Whereas, marijuana has always struck me as drug that had far less a negative impact on its users than the system erected to protect them from it. But, the recent murder of four Canadian Mounties has me in a bit of a moral quandry.

My first inclination upon reading of the story was to blame the War on Drugs for the loss of four good men doing their jobs trying to protect the lives of their fellow countrymen. I was about to fire off a quick reply to that effect at Lucianne.com when I felt the twinge of conscience. I suddenly recalled all the times I'd excoriated left-leaning LDot posters for dancing on the graves of soldiers whenever new deaths are reported in the media. It seems to me that I ought to at least be consistent in that regard, even though I view the War on Drugs and the War on Terror as completely different in so many ways as to not warrant comparison. The Mounties were four honorable men with families and jobs to do, and their work was as often thankless as it was dangerous. They deserve better than to have their bloody shirts waved by activists or writers in a ghoulish attempt to make a point on a broader issue.