end the *!%!@! drug war
here's something i wrote in 2000....
My simplistic generalized rant about drugs:
In general, drugs that are illegal now should be decriminalized. Some drugs should be
legal but controlled to protect the public, such as heroin and many prescription drugs, but
no one should go to prison for 10 or 20 years or life just because they had a joint in their
pocket. Also, some things have many uses, such as marijuana being a good source of
fiber for paper and rope, and resources such as these shouldn't be wasted just because
one use is not currently condoned.
Human beings, and even animals, have always used drugs. Drugs, whether leaves and
roots and minerals or synthesized substances, have been part of cultures all through
history and all over the world. Besides medicinal uses, people have electively used drugs
to increase fertility or end pregnancies, to increase alertness and stamina and to numb
pain in sports and battle, to induce hallucinations for spiritual advancement or to stay awake
for all night prayer, to enhance ability to work, and for recreation (using drugs when one's
work is done, in spare time, similarly to the way telling jokes, a walk in the woods, knitting,
going to the movies, a day at the beach, gardening, having dinner with friends, dancing,
listening to music or playing a musical instrument, a casual game of softball, and so on are
used for recreation. Like drugs, these activities have dangers, such as possible sports injuries
or inordinate monetary expense, or even obsession, that can be dealt with responsibly).
Our culture worships drugs and sees drugs as the instant fix to problems. It doesn't make
any sense for parents to tell their children, "Say no to drugs," while the parents smoke
cigarettes, drink coffee or martinis, take viagra, diet pills, and tranquilizers, and then give the
kids caffeinated soda pop to wash down their ritalin, aspirin, vitamins, and so on. It's a drain
on our resources to make some drugs illegal, especially while other drugs equally or more
dangerous are freely available and even advertised. People will still take what they want or
think they need, and what they can get their hands on, no matter what is legal or illegal.
(Remember Prohibition?) And people who abuse substances or become addicted are not evil
persons plotting to break the law, they are people who can't metabolize the substance the
way most people can (as in alcoholics), or they are unhappy people without hope; people
unable to find jobs due to lack of skills or education, compounded by discrimination, or people
unable to work due to serious physical or psychological problems, or people who suffer deep
psychic pain due to abusive childhoods, traumatic incidents or tragedies in their lives, or
biochemical imbalances. For them, drugs become a means of escape, of easing the pain,
or in some cases, a slow means of suicide. Treatment and education are needed now, not
punishment, and
to truly fight drug abuse, we would have to make major changes in everything --
* There would need to be: An emphasis on wellness and prevention rather than pills once
one is sick,
* A toning down of the glorification of medicinal drugs and alcohol,
* Universal opportunities for education and jobs, and the end of discrimination and
harassment, so that no one would have to be hopeless and destitute just because of arbitrary
criteria (their race, gender, socioeconomic class, etc.), Instead of building more prisons, build
better schools, have after school programs, job training programs, scholarships, more parental
involvement;
* Enough education of the general public to remove the stigma and increase awareness,
and effective treatments for any kind of mental illness or biochemical imbalances, universal
access to health care and information so no one would have to go untreated,
* Enough education and family planning that all children could be born wanted and loved
and get the nurturing and guidance they need to become well adjusted responsible adults,
(able to deal with problems or seek help instead of turning to chemical substances),
* The development of new safe recreational drugs (for example, safe, healthy versions--
non addictive, non-flammable, chemically or medically innocuous--of social drugs like alcohol
or quaaludes, and of an introspective drug like marijuana),
* Changing values and priorities. For example, making winning and good sportsmanship
their own reward, instead of forcing athletes to cheat with steroids or run on broken bones
while numbed on novocaine because of the idea that winning at all costs is everything. Or,
instead of people drinking excessive amounts of coffee, taking speed, snorting cocaine to work
absurdly long hours or meet almost impossible goals, place more emphasis on health and
sanity and, where possible, plan ahead, schedule wisely, hire more help, distribute workload
more evenly, etc. Instead of having the idea that suffering is good (no matter how inefficient
or foolhardy), make health, efficiency, a job well done, doing one's best and doing the right
thing, be the priorities.
* and I'm sure there's more I didn't think of as I write this off the top of my head....
some statistics and other web sites
In August 200, or thereabouts, on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition", there was an
excellent editorial about ending the war on drugs, by Matt Miller, but I couldn't get a hold of a
transcript. Some of the topics raised were the outrageous amounts of money being spent--tax
dollars wasted, prisons overflowing, crime rampant (similar to the rise of the Mafia during
Prohibition), more high ranking officals calling for the end on the war on drugs, mixed
messages being given to children, etc., and that drug use hasn't been ended, and illicit drug
abuse isn't even one of the most major causes of deaths in the US. (Tobacco, alcohol,
obesity-related health problems kills many more). I did find some similar statistics he quoted,
though:
in 1990 out of a total of 1,060,000 "preventable" deaths in the US,
* 400,000 people died from tobacco use (tobacco accounted for nearly 38% of preventable
deaths),
* 100,000 from alcohol (9% of preventable deaths),
* 20,000 from illicit use of drugs (includes the misuse of prescription and over-the-counter
drugs, as well as illegal drugs, and less than half of those deaths were actual drug overdoses.
The majority of deaths due to the illicit use of drugs are attributed to related causes such as
suicide, homicide, motor vehicle injury, HIV, pneumonia, hepatitis, endocarditis, and infant
deaths. Illicit use of drugs accounted for less than 1% of deaths)
for comparison,
* 300,000 people died from poor diet and/or inactive lifestyles,
* 60,000 from microbial agents,
* 35,000 from firearms
* 25,000 from motor vehicle accidents.
--stats from Factbook: Causes of Preventable Deaths in the United States
http://www.csdp.org/factbook/causes.htm
for more statistics, essays, official reports, see also:
* http://www.drcnet.org/ - Drug Reform Coordination Network
* http://www.criminaltrial.com/babydocsez.html - THE WAR ON DRUGS - A VIEW FROM THE FRONT
* http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm - War on Drugs Clock
* http://www.csdp.org/edcs/ - The Effective National Drug Control Strategy 1999
My simplistic generalized rant about drugs:
In general, drugs that are illegal now should be decriminalized. Some drugs should be
legal but controlled to protect the public, such as heroin and many prescription drugs, but
no one should go to prison for 10 or 20 years or life just because they had a joint in their
pocket. Also, some things have many uses, such as marijuana being a good source of
fiber for paper and rope, and resources such as these shouldn't be wasted just because
one use is not currently condoned.
Human beings, and even animals, have always used drugs. Drugs, whether leaves and
roots and minerals or synthesized substances, have been part of cultures all through
history and all over the world. Besides medicinal uses, people have electively used drugs
to increase fertility or end pregnancies, to increase alertness and stamina and to numb
pain in sports and battle, to induce hallucinations for spiritual advancement or to stay awake
for all night prayer, to enhance ability to work, and for recreation (using drugs when one's
work is done, in spare time, similarly to the way telling jokes, a walk in the woods, knitting,
going to the movies, a day at the beach, gardening, having dinner with friends, dancing,
listening to music or playing a musical instrument, a casual game of softball, and so on are
used for recreation. Like drugs, these activities have dangers, such as possible sports injuries
or inordinate monetary expense, or even obsession, that can be dealt with responsibly).
Our culture worships drugs and sees drugs as the instant fix to problems. It doesn't make
any sense for parents to tell their children, "Say no to drugs," while the parents smoke
cigarettes, drink coffee or martinis, take viagra, diet pills, and tranquilizers, and then give the
kids caffeinated soda pop to wash down their ritalin, aspirin, vitamins, and so on. It's a drain
on our resources to make some drugs illegal, especially while other drugs equally or more
dangerous are freely available and even advertised. People will still take what they want or
think they need, and what they can get their hands on, no matter what is legal or illegal.
(Remember Prohibition?) And people who abuse substances or become addicted are not evil
persons plotting to break the law, they are people who can't metabolize the substance the
way most people can (as in alcoholics), or they are unhappy people without hope; people
unable to find jobs due to lack of skills or education, compounded by discrimination, or people
unable to work due to serious physical or psychological problems, or people who suffer deep
psychic pain due to abusive childhoods, traumatic incidents or tragedies in their lives, or
biochemical imbalances. For them, drugs become a means of escape, of easing the pain,
or in some cases, a slow means of suicide. Treatment and education are needed now, not
punishment, and
to truly fight drug abuse, we would have to make major changes in everything --
* There would need to be: An emphasis on wellness and prevention rather than pills once
one is sick,
* A toning down of the glorification of medicinal drugs and alcohol,
* Universal opportunities for education and jobs, and the end of discrimination and
harassment, so that no one would have to be hopeless and destitute just because of arbitrary
criteria (their race, gender, socioeconomic class, etc.), Instead of building more prisons, build
better schools, have after school programs, job training programs, scholarships, more parental
involvement;
* Enough education of the general public to remove the stigma and increase awareness,
and effective treatments for any kind of mental illness or biochemical imbalances, universal
access to health care and information so no one would have to go untreated,
* Enough education and family planning that all children could be born wanted and loved
and get the nurturing and guidance they need to become well adjusted responsible adults,
(able to deal with problems or seek help instead of turning to chemical substances),
* The development of new safe recreational drugs (for example, safe, healthy versions--
non addictive, non-flammable, chemically or medically innocuous--of social drugs like alcohol
or quaaludes, and of an introspective drug like marijuana),
* Changing values and priorities. For example, making winning and good sportsmanship
their own reward, instead of forcing athletes to cheat with steroids or run on broken bones
while numbed on novocaine because of the idea that winning at all costs is everything. Or,
instead of people drinking excessive amounts of coffee, taking speed, snorting cocaine to work
absurdly long hours or meet almost impossible goals, place more emphasis on health and
sanity and, where possible, plan ahead, schedule wisely, hire more help, distribute workload
more evenly, etc. Instead of having the idea that suffering is good (no matter how inefficient
or foolhardy), make health, efficiency, a job well done, doing one's best and doing the right
thing, be the priorities.
* and I'm sure there's more I didn't think of as I write this off the top of my head....
some statistics and other web sites
In August 200, or thereabouts, on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition", there was an
excellent editorial about ending the war on drugs, by Matt Miller, but I couldn't get a hold of a
transcript. Some of the topics raised were the outrageous amounts of money being spent--tax
dollars wasted, prisons overflowing, crime rampant (similar to the rise of the Mafia during
Prohibition), more high ranking officals calling for the end on the war on drugs, mixed
messages being given to children, etc., and that drug use hasn't been ended, and illicit drug
abuse isn't even one of the most major causes of deaths in the US. (Tobacco, alcohol,
obesity-related health problems kills many more). I did find some similar statistics he quoted,
though:
in 1990 out of a total of 1,060,000 "preventable" deaths in the US,
* 400,000 people died from tobacco use (tobacco accounted for nearly 38% of preventable
deaths),
* 100,000 from alcohol (9% of preventable deaths),
* 20,000 from illicit use of drugs (includes the misuse of prescription and over-the-counter
drugs, as well as illegal drugs, and less than half of those deaths were actual drug overdoses.
The majority of deaths due to the illicit use of drugs are attributed to related causes such as
suicide, homicide, motor vehicle injury, HIV, pneumonia, hepatitis, endocarditis, and infant
deaths. Illicit use of drugs accounted for less than 1% of deaths)
for comparison,
* 300,000 people died from poor diet and/or inactive lifestyles,
* 60,000 from microbial agents,
* 35,000 from firearms
* 25,000 from motor vehicle accidents.
--stats from Factbook: Causes of Preventable Deaths in the United States
http://www.csdp.org/factbook/causes.htm
for more statistics, essays, official reports, see also:
* http://www.drcnet.org/ - Drug Reform Coordination Network
* http://www.criminaltrial.com/babydocsez.html - THE WAR ON DRUGS - A VIEW FROM THE FRONT
* http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm - War on Drugs Clock
* http://www.csdp.org/edcs/ - The Effective National Drug Control Strategy 1999