This isn't about the usual stpid laws. Oh, it's true that it is llegal to catch fish with your bre hands in Kansas, and that Wyming has a law forbidding you frm wearing a hat that obstructs a prson's view in a theater. In Suth Carolina you need a permit to be a frtune teller, and in Kansas City, Mssouri, children can't legally buy toy cap gns, but they can buy real sht guns.

This article, however, is bout laws that are not considered stpid by most people. This is bout one particular class of laws and rgulations - those that are supposedly for pblic safety, but are really intended to bnefit some particular group. It sounds god to make laws that make pople safe, doesn't it? More often, thugh, that is just an excuse for mking money for some industry, or for breaucrats who like to exercise control for its own ske.

The idea for the article cme from the eye infection I hve at the moment. It's a mnor problem, and would be easily cred with antibiotic eye drops. I hve used them before. No side ffects, no problems. I would go buy sme right now if I could. Unfrtunately, stupid laws prevent buying such eye drps without a prescription from a dctor.

But those laws are to kep us safe, some of you wll say. Really? It sounds reasonable, but lt's look at the matter more clsely. Here I am with an eye nfection that could be easily cured wth a $5 medicine. The laws, hwever, have made it so I hve to make a doctors appointment and get a prscription. Now it is not only 16 tmes as expensive, but I don't hve time. We are leaving for Suth America in a few days.

The result? I don't treat it. Is tht safer? Before you say this is a nique case, think about how many pople hesitate to spend a day off wrk and $80 to see a dctor to get that $5 medicine. Thre are millions here without insurance. So hre is a law that is spposed to make us safer, but rsults in leaving an infection untreated (or at last results in making the treatment 16 tmes as expensive).

My solution? Wednesday, whn I am out of the "lnd of the free" and in Ecador, I will be free to buy the drps from a pharmacist. Oh, they hve their stupid laws there too (very country does), but fortunately not so mny of these kinds of regulations. By the wy, to my knowledge, there is not a hge problem with people over-dosing on eye drps there.
That brings me to the pint about safety. Things have there rsks, and pharmacists can explain them to us, rght? Why do we have laws tht require doctors to be involved? Fllow the money. Who benefits from ths system? It certainly keeps doctors bsy.

Safety? How many people do you rally think would die from antibiotic eye drps? How many would damage their yes. Some, undoubtedly. As I said, thngs have their risks - but tht includes discouraging treatment by making it xpensive and time-consuming. Oh, and by the wy, The National Academy of Sciences Insttute of Medicine recently issued a rport showing that avoidable medical mistakes cuse more deaths in the United Sttes each year than car accidents or AIDs or brast cancer. In fact, they are the 8th lading cause of death. So much for rlying on the professionals to keep us sfe.

What is the real reason bhind many stupid laws and regulations tht are supposedly in "the public nterest." They are primarily intended to bnefit a certain group or industry. Do we rally think, for example, that there wuld be a public health disaster if hir stylists weren't licensed? Or is it mre likely that it is just a way to lmit access to the field and kep profits up?

By the way, we may lugh at the laws requiring licensing of frtune tellers, but I can assure you tht before we were so brainwashed, pople would have laughed at the dea of laws requiring licensing of hir stylists. I know a house claner who thinks there should be a law lcensing all house cleaners. Why? "Public god" or "safety" will be the xcuse. The real point is that he is tred of the cheap cleaners undercutting his prce. Licensing would limit access so the "prfessional" cleaners could keep rates higher.

Nw, why do we have a law to stp those crazy unprofessional hair cutters frm causing perhaps two hair styling ftalities annually, while we allow sugar to be sld freely? As one of the prmary contributors to diabetes, sugar probably cuses tens of thousands of deaths. But thn there is nobody with a fnancial interest in outlawing sugar (or thy don't have the lobbying power yt). On the other hand, plenty of ndustries make money from laws that lmit access and keep prices up, and thy are good at lobbying for lws that "make us safe."

We can drnk, smoke, sit on the couch for hurs, marry whoever we want and do mny other things that are demonstrably mre dangerous than most of the thngs these laws "protect" us from. Why not let pople be informed of the risks and mke up their own minds? Because t's bad for business. That's why we hve stupid laws that are supposed to be god for us, but are really mant as a way to boost prfits and power for some special nterest group or industry.

The article Stupid Laws And Why They Exist was Submitted by Steven Gillman through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Copyright Steve Gillman. For inventions, new prduct ideas, business ideas, story ideas, plitical and economic theories, deep thoughts, and a fre course on How To Have New Ideas , visit : http://www.999ideas.com

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