I got on my bike last week, rode downtown, took a train to work in Berkeley, then in the evening rode to Noe Valley for my therapy appointment, and then topped steep hills on my route back home. Exercise is amazing. It was better than drugs.
How much better? Much better. The high from exercise lasts all day. It relieves stress, is good for the skin, and makes you smile. It also has many benefits to your heart, lungs, and muscles which I doubt crack can deliver, although I'm sure no studies have been conducted.
San Francisco makes a big effort to support biking. We have a good network of bike lanes, drivers are pretty aware of us, and even local transportation (BART, Muni buses) allow bicycles. There's even free secured parking at the Embarcadero bikestation, which is extremely handy if you can pick it up before 7pm.
There are none of these amenities provided for crack, heroine, or any other hard drugs. Unless you count our new municipal potties, which I understand are often used as private places to take drugs, and to defecate everywhere but the toilet. City workers hose them out regularly with big hoses of hot water, and the spray smells of bleach.
In sum, I'd argue the greater merits of exercise for the following reasons:
* its salubrious effects to the physique
* relative lack of expense
* civic engagement and support for local transit
* non-polluting and emission-free
* encouragement of recycling of all empty soda containers
OK, time for a run. I fly to Las Vegas tonight for the IASummit conference. I dislike Las Vegas. I had a bad experience there once, and I don't like to gamble. Gambling, someone famous once said, is like flushing your money down the toilet and expecting it to come back.
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