"Of course," Michal said with a certain harsher tone. "But then you have it as an experience ride. As you said, you have a mask like some pilot now," the first paramedic tried again.

"Yeah," Michal began to tune in to the same wavelength. These guys certainly wanted to make the ride in this unfortunate machine more pleasant for every unfortunate person. Why spoil it for them when they're trying so hard.

"And while we're at it. I'll tell you that my favorite fighter jet was and will always be the F-35. My dad had the F-14. And what's your favorite fighter jet, gentlemen?"

"Well, I'm not into that, I don't know anything about that. I never followed fighter jets. I'm more into football. I even had a collection of cards and magnets," the first one began.

"But watch out, he's a Sparta fan," the second one added.

"So you see. That never appealed to me. Me and team sports in general... I was never good at that. I'm more of a solo everything. Then you're the only one you can disappoint."

"But that can't be fun, being alone in it."

"Sometimes it's not, but you disappoint fewer people when it doesn't work out."

"Yeah. But then even the joy isn't as great," the first one told him.

"Probably not."

"And have you disappointed someone?" the first one was immediately interested, but at that, his colleague from the side of the ambulance gave him a sharp look.

"Yeah. My son."

"It's none of my business, but if you want..." The second paramedic, meanwhile, gave him a second ugly look, but then he might have started to understand why his colleague was asking. He's not doing it for himself, for his own curiosity. He's letting the old man talk. If he talks himself, it will go by faster for him, and if he can confide in them, maybe he'll feel relieved. Because what's the probability that when someone is already 100 years old and rides in an ambulance to the hospital, that he'll come back?

"Yeah. He ended up as an incurable alcoholic. They're keeping him in a loony bin, and he'll probably never get out of there until he dies. He's actually waiting for death there. A tragedy..." At that moment, the first paramedic stepped in:

"So at least he'll have peace and quiet in heaven then." But Michal had to answer:

"Yeah, heaven. Heaven, in my opinion, is in the best case only for those who are afraid to look the truth in the face. Life begins and ends. This is the life that should be lived, and when a person should create and discover, and there's simply nothing before or after. One would have to upload one's consciousness somewhere into a computer."

"And that's pretty sci-fi," the paramedic finished and played it up a bit, and so that it wouldn't stay in this dark moment, he actively continued:

"And you said that's in the best case..."

"Well, in the worst case, it's a tool of ordinary manipulation. Like in some twisted cult, or... like the Vikings had it. They had that they absolutely had to fight and kill foreign people, because only if they die in battle will they get to Valhalla. Yeah, so that's it. I don't really mind religion as such in general, but the fact that it encourages irrational thinking and behavior. The problem is that religion is essentially about it being an unproven faith, and firmly believing in something unproven is irrational in itself. All in all, religion is irrational. Moreover, it's such a flexible concept that anyone can create their own. You know, when one person believes in fairy tales, he's a fool, but get a group of them, and it's a new religion."

To give it some form, he said to Michal:

"Aha. Yeah, well. Fortunately, you, sir, won't be seeing Valhalla anytime soon. We'll see what's wrong with you and get you fixed up."

"I agree, I would mainly have to die in battle and not in a hospital." and for a moment it seemed that he had buried all conversation with that. That was a success, he brought the old man to dark thoughts. But they shouldn't stop here, if he's silent, he'll think about it too much. Wait, what about trying this. So the paramedic asked seriously:

"And if you could die in battle, what would you fight for?"

And from that frail old man came something he didn't expect:

"For Earth and people. A lot of people, unfortunately, don't realize that we're all on the same team. It's us against the forces of nature, tornadoes, fires, drought, tsunamis, but also against viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa. Take your pick, there are plenty of them. And in space, you still have comets, asteroids, pulsars, supernovas, and evil aliens. I would fight for people, against all of them, it would depend on what kind of battle it was, but in any case, I would be team Terra. And if I had to fight with other people, I would fight for freedom.

For the principle that your body is your private property and therefore that every adult can do whatever they want with themselves, of course, provided that it doesn't harm anyone else. So, for example, abortions yes, but limited, for me it was up to 3 months of pregnancy, simply until the child can't survive outside anyway and is therefore an inseparable part of the mother's body, who has the right to decide about herself. Well, and in case of later complications, it would then be up to the doctor to assess.

Just like the legal option of euthanasia in the hospital for incurable cases who, to put it crudely, can't even kill themselves anymore. If a person is not directly dying, but has great, unending pain or can no longer control their body, I would allow it after some broad consultation with a psychologist, so that it's not out of affect. Plus, there should be a clear record of the patient's will, so that it doesn't cover up murders.

Furthermore, definitely equal rights for all kinds of families made up of adult people. Only children, animals, and pieces of furniture, please no, they are not legally competent, but otherwise, adults of legal age should sleep with and start a family with whoever they want by mutual consent. Better than if they were alone. Besides, who am I to judge them? One of them was Alan Turing. And maybe Shakespeare and Leonardo da Vinci are also a bit off. And if my Jakub was happy with a man instead of drinking, I would probably be happier. But that wasn't his problem...

Even despite that experience, I still hold the opinion that people should otherwise drink and smoke what they want, as long as they don't push it on anyone else, or force them to smell it. So legalization of production and consumption, but no promotion. Just like prescription drugs. We'll tax it, and use the extra money for things for clean people. It's about the principle. We must respect the free will of adult, legally competent people.

However, we must also brutally, in detail, and without wrapping it up, educate children about all the consequences and effects from a young age, to satisfy their curiosity and warn them in time. At the same time, we must also show them all the less harmful alternatives and their effects as well. And I don't just mean ice cream, I mean, for example, relaxation techniques, exercise, the effect of taking care of a pet, gardening, yoga, tai-chi, therapy, ASMR, and so on. And in the worst case, if it's really some disorder that needs to be manually repaired in the head, then some proven medication for the head with minimal risks and side effects from a doctor from a pharmacy, just not typical drugs, and especially not without quality and composition control.

That's probably not up for discussion. In the short-term effects, drugs will probably win, of course, healthy things probably won't bring such quick and strong relief, but in the long run, drugs will lose hands down.

And we must show that to children. Properly. On the one hand, that they suck life, intelligence, and cause deadly diseases out of the body, on the other hand, those alternative lifestyle activities will also help them maintain stable mental health in the long run and build resilience to crisis situations, so that when one arises, they don't immediately reach for chemicals. So a free and fully informed decision.

After all, only a fully informed decision is truly free. And then, in adulthood, they will be able to make free decisions.

Until then, however, we must of course keep all those things firmly away from children and their developing brains. Regarding hard drugs, sales would be limited, for the protection of people who did not choose them, only to special places with paid heavy-duty guards at the entrance, who would keep people under the influence in the building so they wouldn't stab anyone on the street. There would be entry and exit checks like at the airport, and those places could belong directly to the company that produces it, like cafes have their branches, or they would be paid for from the profits of local dealers. Such houses exist even now, it's just not monitored in any way. There's nothing to monitor, because it's a gray economy and illegal, so they would have to crack down on them immediately. At the moment, it's just quietly overlooked, because they would just find a place elsewhere.

We could even put a screen behind bulletproof glass in the entrance hall with inspirational videos, leaflets, and a system firmly built into the wall similar to an electronic doorbell to a crisis hotline for rehab. To remind everyone that they can always choose. And how they decide, that will be up to them.

I don't support people killing and drugging themselves, but I support their right to be able to make free, informed decisions about themselves without penalty. We must teach people to be responsible for themselves and their lives in all its aspects, only then will we, as a society, finally move somewhere from passive lethargy and drifting through life.

Rather, we need rehabilitation programs and an environment where people won't be afraid to ask for help, instead of locking them up in prison. As long as they're only harming themselves with those poisons, it's not so much a crime as a case for a psychiatrist with a psychologist in addictionology.

The Swiss got something remotely similar to work with heroin and their special program from 1994. They gave it to people in a controlled environment and helped people with other aspects of their lives as well, so they wouldn't even have a reason to take it for relief from their problems. They preferred to help them solve those problems. Result, fewer overdoses, crimes, and they managed to get around two-thirds of addicts back to work.

Portugal in 2001 decriminalized all drugs completely for personal use and also offered help to those caught. They viewed consumption as a chronic illness, which it probably is in a way, and not as a crime, and they approached it accordingly. Within 11 years, their long-term users after the first try dropped from 44% to 28%. Hard drugs themselves decreased, as did overdoses and street diseases like hepatitis and HIV. That's already a second case on a large enough sample of people.

Moreover, the American opioid crisis and fentanyl deaths were precisely because companies deliberately made people addicted to opioids, and when it was discovered, there was a policy of zero tolerance. They took away opioid drugs from them, and involuntarily addicted people betrayed by doctors and pharmaceutical companies had to go to the black market without regulation and without quality control. No one offered them help and a gradual reduction of doses. And so they started taking heroin and fentanyl and started dying. And because fentanyl became popular and it was also found to be extra addictive, the black market secretly put it in everything without regulation, quality control, and accountability. So people started dying from fentanyl overdoses even with other drugs where it shouldn't have been at all. They didn't prevent anything, and people died unnecessarily."

"It looks like you've read up on it quite a bit."

"Well, you're far from the first person I've told this to, it's just that most people don't listen to me."

"It occurs to me to start next time with Switzerland and Portugal and not right away with legalization."

"Yeah... well, there probably won't be a next time."

"And I actually interrupted you, continue. That probably wasn't everything you wanted to say," Radek quickly diverted the old man's gloomy thoughts.