Tokin’ up in La La Land
I have previously written about legislators I fear are in La La land, trying to control every nuance of what humans do in effort to fit some legislative picture of the perfect world: Limiting a woman’s right to control her own body, a transgender teen’s right to seek a physician’s help, a physician’s right to help patients based on the AMA’s rules for scope of practice—rather than a legislature’s handbook. And, of course, there is the Texas debacle of deputizing all its citizens to guard against anyone providing aid to an act of abortion in the Lone Star State.
But the state of Missouri brings us a new level of fun in La La land. State Representative Mary Elizabeth Coleman is keen on letting private citizens sue anyone they suspect of helping a Missouri resident get an abortion in another state. Yup, it’s not enough for Ms. Coleman to control all Missourians, all the time, in their home state. She wants people in all states to act according to her will. Yikes! She who would be queen!
Now, I know the issue of abortion rights is a contentious one. So let me put this in perspective by looking at a less controversial issue through the Mary Elizabeth Coleman lens.
I am not a hunter. I can’t imagine shooting an animal for sport. But I know plenty of people who love to hunt. Let’s suppose you are such a person. And you are keen to do battle with a grizzly bear. You live in Idaho, a state where grizzly bears dwell, but alas, it is unlawful to shoot one.
But you learn that Alaska will grant a hunting permit that will let you legally bag a big bear. So. you talk to friends about a hunting trip. You google the best places to stay and to hunt in Alaska. You buy supplies in the same hometown store you go to when you hunt deer—legally. But alas, because of the Coleman rule, you quickly find yourself in a quagmire because some local anti-hunting vigilantes are suing the gun-shop owner, the guy who helped you plan the hunt, and even the folks at Google for aiding and abetting a person to cross a state line to commit what is considered a crime in Idaho.
And you thought you were a law-abiding citizen.
Or maybe your partner here in Arkansas has legal access to marijuana due to PTSD. You see your partner toke up frequently, and are curious as to what it feels like, but law-abiding citizen that you are, you won’t take somebody else’s prescription medication.
However, you’re planning a trip to California, where recreational marijuana is legal. So, you vow to wait until you are on vacation to try this substance. In the meantime, you talk to your neighbors who came from California to learn how one goes about finding legal pot in the Golden State. And suddenly your friends are under citizens’ arrest for aiding and abetting you in crossing state lines to commit an Arkansas crime.
Do you see what a sticky wicket this is? Lady Coleman isn’t happy to merely control the actions of people in her state. She wants to control what happens in Illinois, as well. I don’t know what these legislators are smoking, but it seems to generate the sense that one is all-knowing and all powerful. As a consequence, our right to privacy is going down the drain.