Sometimes it is useful to have ways of communicating something. Bringing a new concept in line with something existing is one way to do it. I'm just never sure if I do it well.
So anyway, drugs are illegal. The good ones anyway. Why? I'll answer a deeply complicated question with a facile answer: they're percieved as dangerous by senior decision makers.
The only recreational drug which is legal is alcohol. This sits in between the rational arguments because it is legal and it has all the properties of the other drugs. In fact it is more dangerous in the long term than heroin are more physically addictive than cannabis. It wrecks lives and should have all the stigma of other drugs attached but it is legal and gives a lot of people a lot of pleasure.
The illegal drugs are also a lot of fun which is why people do them. Actually that's an oversimplification. People do them for many reasons but a commonality is they enjoy the experience of being high.
They're dangerous things and they're not regulated. The industry is estimated to be worth 5 billion pounds a year. Demand is signficant no matter what measures are taken and supply is hard to stop. Millions of people every weekend take drugs safely and as part of their lifestyle.
They are dangerous but then so are cars in the hands of inexperienced people. A young adult has to get a license to use a car, just like they have to get one to own a shotgun. In untrained hands a car is dangerous and can kill quicker than a spliff.
People might argue that we need cars so they have to be legal. We don't need cars. Many people never drive a car in their life just as many people never try any drugs. It is possible to rely on public transport and two legs for most things. We don't need personal transportation. It is a convenience.
Drugs are a convenience too. They enable amazing experiences not possible without them, or not without a lot of effort. From cannabis through to lsd and ecstacy to heroin and crack cocaine. Users use them because they create wonderful experiences, experiences which any addict will admit is one of the reasons they got into them.
Addiction is the problem. They're sooo good. Cannabis for example. It's not addictive in the true sense. There's no established biological addiction. It is very addictive in psychological terms, terms which used not to be held up as true addictions. It is a great drug.
In a sense it's like cars and speeding. Speeding is bad and can cause harm, far worse harms than drugs, but speed is okay. There is a framework which says going too fast is too risky for most people. A formula one driver is capable of driving at speeds higher than the speed limit but on public roads they're bound by this limit just as anyone else. This is all done to protect lives.
These systems of protection, license and regulation which we see for the car industry is only seen in the psychiatric pharmaceuticals industry in the wide market of drugs which people can buy.
If I want to get crack and know how to get it I can. It may be strange to say it but it is the most addictive drug I've ever tried and I've only tried it once...though I wouldn't mind doing it again. It is an amazing and unique experience. There is no regulation and suppliers are incentivised to get their customers hooked. This is one of the most addictive substances know to humankind and it is not regulated.
Regulation means safety. It means pure drugs not cut with other things or at unknown strengths. People die from drugs for many reasons and this is one of the factors. Users don't get pure drugs. They can be cut with harmful substances. Sometimes batches can be stronger than usual or a totally different drug with a different dose profile. Legalisation would keep people safe.
The modern world allows monitoring beyond what was possible years ago. Speed cameras for drugs aren't difficult when drug purchasing can be monitored. Of course a grey market exists but it's better than a black market. It is one step towards. A safer system which monitors for 'speeding' - excessive short term consumption or addictiong - where the speed cameras are sited.
There is also the benefit of taxation. Speed cameras bring in a lot of revenue as do the road and car taxes. A licensced system pays for itself and a license revokation system allows for people who can't handle drugs to be identified and retrained.
People make mistakes and people learn from them. This is why there are few lifetime bans of drivers who speed unless they kill. Most get temporary bans. They go back to driving eventually.
Yes, implicitly I don't see abstention as a solution. Addicts love their drug and treatement currently means they lose that love, be it sex or crack cocaine. An addiction can be the same as an all consuming love of a woman for some people.
Treatment should bring that love under control but not by never enjoying the high. The future of drugs is not only legalisation and acceptance. It is understanding that addiction treatment shouldn't stop the user using. It should teach them the control our society requires of all of us who love something.
Sent from my smartphone
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