Megan Goes to Leeds: Talk with a drug lord.

Haiku-a-day:

May 19^th

Change is a choice not

a time; it does not depend

on those around you.

Tonight I saw this man, Howard Marks, speak at his restaurant, Azucar, in Leeds. Howard is a convicted drug smuggler who served 7 years in an American prison. Please click on the wiki link and watch the video I have posted about him. You'll get an idea of who this man is.

The question still arises. Is he a changed man? Has he learned a lesson after spending 7 years of his life in prison? The answer I discovered tonight, no. Howard is a hardcore advocate for repealing the smoking ban as well as legalizing drugs. Todays talk at his restaurant, part of a series hosted by Diesel School of Island Life, featured a semi-intoxicated 65-year-old who gave a speech to about 100 of us about his life and his feelings towards tobacco. He encouraged people to rise up and fight for the "right" to smoke cigarettes indoors and smoke weed as much as they want. He said that when he gives talks, he usually likes to light up while on stage, but seeing as the government prohibits that in restaurants, he could not afford the risk.

I do not support his views on smoking. I find it sad that the man who lost 7 years of his life continues to promote his illegal trade. I am all for freedom of speech, and he did have several comedic moments during the hour-long talk, but I don't think it's a good idea to rally people to rise against the government's wise decision against tobacco and drugs. Marks claims that they do not kill, that it is only the drug companies who add ingredients to cigarettes that create carcinogens; it's not the tobacco itself. Facts speak for themselves, Mr Marks. People do die and the damage done to the smoker reaches farther than that individual. It reaches their family, their children, their friends. There are legitimate reasons for bans being enacted in the first place. It's good to stand for something, Mr Marks, but stand for something that counts, something that will help not hurt future generations.

On a lighter note, earlier today Sara and I finally went to the Leeds City Museum. Out of all the places I thought my Museum Studies class would go, this had been my number one guess. I was wrong. So I made sure to take advantage of it today. Until July 3rd they are featuring the Spice World Exhibit. I was never a fan of the Spice Girls, but the exhibit was pretty cool. My favorite part was dressing up! We had a blast with that.