Drugs Resource

The Drug War: Legalize?

Something I find intriguing is the legalization debate; most may know that there are, at any given time, quite a few organizations out there attempting to legalize either medical marijuana use or personal use by consenting adults. But most probably don't know that there is now a building force attempting to change that fight to a full-on legal and political battle to legalize all drugs, from marijuana to methamphetamine. Namely, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, the largest group of police, DEA, judges and district attorneys who believe, from experience, that fighting fire with gasoline has had an opposite effect.

I can understand why this sounds like a horrible mistake and I myself am not 100% sure that this can be done without causing unforseen problems. It's not an end-all be-all solution to addiction but it is certainly a novel way to cut illegal drug traffickers legs out from under them. Recent reports indicate that it is easier for kids to get their hands on marijuana than it is alcohol because alcohol is legal, regulated, taxed and quality-checked by our government and economy. Plus, think about it; no teenager is going to build a distillery or farm a crop of tobacco plants. But they will certainly grow a few pot plants in their closet, especially when the profit motive is nearly $1000 per full plant.

You can bet their are traffickers with a full-on crop of 500 or 1000 plants, and there is a half a million to a million dollar crop right there. Even if they have five fields and four of them are destroyed by law enforcement, he still makes an extremely tidy profit off of the one left. So long as he isn't caught, it's a win-win situation, and the second he is caught, those beneath him erupt into gunfights to decide who steps up to succeed. And there's the catch; stop a murderer and they stop killing. Stop a dealer and someone steps up to replace him. It's the legal equivalent of running in place and it does no good.

Violent crime is not, believe it or not, associated with drug use itself. It is associated with the buying/selling of drugs and the violent crime that addicts resort to in order to finance their needs. The logic is that by legalizing drugs, they will be much cheaper to produce and therefore dealers wouldn't profit and wouldn't have a reason to sell. No one would want to buy from them because they could go to the store and pick up a baggie of the same stuff for a fifth of the cost and with the confidence that their drugs aren't laced with something. An end to the violence would be nice; but what would gangs and dealers resort to to support themselves then? The poor would become poorer. But at least we could take that $70 billion a year spending on the drug war and use it for education and rehabilitation. And many deaths related to overdose are accidental, obviously, and a result of the harder drugs being cut with additives that clearly are not advertised.

So long as Americans feel the drug issue is black and white, there will be no tolerance. According to regular polls in nearly every state and county, roughly 50% of citizens support legalization of small personal amounts of marijuana and the politicians are roughly the same, with the 60's and 70's generations now hitting office. If any time is ripe for legalization, this is it, and I think it may never happen if not now.

This is something I follow pretty closely and may end up being a very regular topic on here, but that is because it is a topic with new developments nearly every day. More on this at a later date.

posted by Jigsaw @ 10:52 AM 2 comments

Introduction

I am amazed to find no single example of a good, persuasive writer, drug-user or otherwise, who manages to put a face on the complexities of the most complicated lifestyle in history. No group of people are more persecuted, less understood and more in danger from themselves and others than users. There's no voice, no representation and no tolerance.

It's disgusting, to be honest. "Just say no" does not work. Humans by nature are a stubborn bunch, and being told not to do something is the most efficient way to make it desirable, or at the very least, intriguing, especially for children, and that is exactly who the message targeted. For adults, it meant something else entirely. It meant that it was not acceptable in any form, use equals abuse, black and white, right and wrong, no middle ground. The vast majority of users are not addicts of any substance, and even if they are, can escape suspicion, pay their bills, and integrate into society just fine with some effort. The American public unknowingly served as the catalyst that transformed this three word phrase into a somehow multi-faceted, unyielding example of how NOT to handle drug use. I bet Nancy Reagan didn't even realize it would be as effective as it has been. It's still a standard mantra for those who prefer not to think.

Herein lies the problem. The picture of an addict has remain unchanged over the past thousand years. Perhaps homeless, eyes gaunt, nose covered with white powder, and most definitely jobless. These are the rock bottom addicts and the only ones that are obvious, and as such, the only identiable example of a drug abuser with a problem. No one suspects the president of a telecommunications corporation or the manager of a Wal-Mart, but drug use can be easily hidden up to the point when it becomes impossible to hide; which is, like I said, rock bottom.

I suppose my point here is that things are all wrong. Just, all wrong. Our viewpoints on drug use are wrong, our views on addiction is wrong, education, rehabilitation, prevention. We are generalizing a problem which is awfully specific. Gambling, food and even videogame addiction in children are far more rampant and far less demonized than drug addiction.

Everyone is to blame for how things are. They didn't get this way on their own. Me, you, your cousin and your cousin's great great grandparents, whether involved or not involved, addicts, users or non-users, every word spoken and every action taken by everyone everywhere has had some kind of sway on our views as a whole. I want to open a dialogue. I want to bring attention, point out stupidity, I want to point and yell. I want to help people who need help without fear of judgement, without repercussion, without punishment.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm no expert, I'm no doctor, but I know a lot about a lot of things and I've been through much in my life, and actually in an extremely short period of time in the grand scheme of things. If you're a user considering stepping up to something more intense, come here. If you're a parent who thinks your son or daughter is using a drug, come here. If you want information on the drug legalization debates, come here. Unfortunately there are times when I will have to be vague. Perhaps one day, people will be able to talk openly without fear of persecution. Hell, it's likely that will be the day when we will no longer NEED to to make a difference. What a conundrum.

Just for the record. I don't do drugs. I hate drugs. I'll never do drugs. Okay?

posted by Jigsaw @ 10:58 AM 0 comments