Tuesday, February 07, 2006

I Am Underwhelmed

So President Bush last week announced that America is addicted to oil. Some are hopeful that this will be Bush's Nixon-to-China moment. Except that here's the thing - Bush didn't actually suggest that we break our addiction.

Cut oil imports from the mideast? Even if he was serious (he wasn't) all that means is the US is finding a nicer pusher. Maybe a guy who won't spray gunfire in to your house when you owe him money. Maybe a Canadian.

Switchgrass? Ethanol? Okay, so we're kicking smack and on methadone. Great for us, I suppose, but we're still not talking about actually breaking the addiction - we're talking about harm reduction.

This isn't to say that harm reduction isn't valid. I'm a big believer of harm reduction and mental health approaches to addiction. But if we're using metaphors, let's make sure we're using the right ones.

Meanwhile, this may be the only time that a Republican has proposed sensible solutions to addiction.

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