Message 19/113
Date: 21-Jun-99 @ 08:26 PM -
RE: Drug Addicts...
This is a tough subject for several reasons:
1)public misconceptions and generalizations about drugs
2)government propoganda rationalizing the vast sums of money spent trying to keep substances out of countries
3)moral stance type issues are always tough for the public to swallow.
Now, it should be no surprise to anyone how easily people can be manipulated via the media and especially the so-called authorities, which in the States is mostly the US Government, the FBI, and the Christian Right. These people have waged an impressively effective campaign in the media which has resulted in Joe Blow off the street not knowing the differences in addictiveness, intensity, and physiological and psychological effects between something like heroin and something like pot.
If heroin were the only drug on earth (or crack, pick any hard drug you like) then I might be able to deal with public drug policy. Most of the things the "authorities" say will happen if you do drugs actually does happen to heroin users, including ODs, HIV, crime, weight loss, etc. Look at your average pothead and about the only symptoms you'll see are an appetite for junk food, a touch of laziness, and some reversable short term memory loss.
It's also hard to seperate social results of drug use from the economic results of drug use. If smackheads could get extremely cheap heroin and a regular supply of clean needles, I'd be willing to bet drug related crime would drop to zero. You might have may more OD's , though, which brings up my next point.
I like to think that I'm intelligent enough to make my own decisions about what is good and bad for me. I don't need/want my government/church/police department telling me what's good and bad. And I take responsability for the consequences of those decisions. If people would use their heads to make informed decisions, and then accept the consequences of those decisions, the world would be a much better place. What if, you say, people aren't smart enough to make those decisions? Then I say fuck 'em. I'm not trying to sound incompassionate, but maybe I need someone to charter a country where the laws are written in such a manner that intelligent people get to do what they feel is best for themselves.
OK thanks for listening to my political rant.
-Craig