Your responders impress me as university-trained philosophers. I who quit half way through the 6th form and am bottom of the top class. I can only remark that a great drag on progress is people who think they know what a particular course of action will lead to. The New York Times in the 1920s thought Robert Hutchins Goddard's rocket engine would not work in vacuum. Such draggers think that Repeal of Prohibition of mind altering substances will necessarily lead to a worsening of the situation. I think intelligent regulation would be better. They also think that theist beliefs are necessary for a population to behave themselves positively, constructively, creatively, with consideration for others etc. I trust that my comments deal with the implications of the issue raised? CyQuick