RE: "It's the Law:" The Mantra of the Brainwashed
I want to make it clear, first of all, that I do agree with what you've said in terms of the law however, I agree and disagree on a 50/50 basis in terms of drugs. This might also stem from my personal involvement however, and not because the law is the law, drugs are a problem which needs to be dealt with. The current way of dealing with drugs is an issue. Repeat offenders, and in this case I refer only to hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine etc, are perhaps people who 'choose' not to get back on track with their lives. If caught again and again, they will appear in court again and again - at least that's how things are in South Africa but then again, we have a rather grotesque system which allows even rapists to receive bail despite overwhelming evidence presented by the state. Case in point was a drug user who also distributes. He was caught with some 131 grams of heroin and allowed out on bail of R1000 - equatable to $79.76 - prior to this he had been charged with possession, intent to sell, dealing and so on and yet, he was again not sentenced. He had also not opted to receive state paid for treatment at a rehabilitation centre - I also belive this same person is dead now. Aside of the fact that my country's law system is superbly inferior and inadequate beyond measure, this person had the option of free treatment and could have gotten their life back on track, hence my point that most people just want to 'not try'. However, taking America's system into account, where you can go to prison for being in possession of a joint/slope that is seriously (pardon the language) fucked up - that is ruining someone's life beyond measure - this also seems to be highly the case when African-Americans are caught with weed. In South Africa, people get caught with weed and let out on an admission of guilt fine of around R200 - probably $13 - $15. As for indoctrination during school years, as real as that may be, I don't see how this influences someone's choice to experiment with drugs - that would be more likely the cause of social/peer pressure and a need to fit in. In terms of the war on drugs, that is a war which will never be won. I heard an interesting theory once that through the complete world-wide legalisation of all forms of drugs, the war would eventually be over due to drugs becoming so easy to get and that prices for drugs would drop tremendously, as well as hard drugs would eventually cause the death of most users - this however being a rather stomach turning theory put me off. What I personally believe is that better initiatives need to be enforced in terms of educating people about drugs, especially people who are interested in trying drugs for the first time - an informed bad decision is better than a bad decision. And then also, a study recently found that people who suffer from mental disease are more likely to experiment with drugs and perhaps become addicted in the process so technically, we're pretty much still (again, pardon the language) fucked irrespective of anyone's stance on drugs, even the law's stance on it. And besides, some drug users have no care in the world and would not be bothered committing an actual crime to get money and in so doing, their next fix. I hope you don't mind me sharing my thoughts, I in no way am aiming to pick a fight on the subject, just sharing thoughts as whatever anyone else is doing to actually fix what is severely broken is clearly not working and something new needs to be done. (PS. If drugs remain illegal, the same needs to be done with alcohol).
You are free to disagree and I won't take it personally. You don't seem unreasonable but I suspect we are working from two very different world views. I do not believe that the possession, use, sale, or manufacture / production of any drug should be illegal. It really comes down to what values more between society and the individual and from my prospective the individual's rights (even the right to self-harm) should be placed above social norms or a culture's view otherwise we are forced to live under the tyranny of the majority. I am certain that you know as well as I do that the majority is wrong as often as it is right.
I appreciate that you recognize that excessively harsh punishments are the wrong way to go and I agree that proper education is helpful.
I do take issue with the idea that drug use is a negative thing. In some cases it can be. I wouldn't recommend that a person use heroin for fun or snort cocaine at a party but there are well documented benefits to the use of cannabis and psychedelics but they are slandered and demonized because it serves a purpose for the systems of authority which we are subject to. Cannabis costs drug companies money because it treats some illnesses better than their products so they lobby governments to keep it illegal. Psychedelics lead people to ask troublesome questions so authorities ban them out of fear of the mode of thinking which they bring. Things aren't as simple as they seem and just because someone somewhere said that a thing is bad does not make it so.
To clarify, the indoctrination which I mention here is used to make people comfortable with the idea of destroying a person's life because they broke an unjust law. A person must believe a number of lies in order to justify locking someone in a cage for twenty years over a pan of weed brownies which is the system we have here in the United States.
This goes well beyond the drug war (that is just my pet issue). "It's the law" was used to oppress, women, gays, people of various races, and to justify countless other terrible things throughout history. That thought process is the real target of this post and the flaws in its logic are undeniable.
Now that, I could not agree with more than I already do. I think we are completely in the same boat although, one small concern would then again be how can a person with mental disease be allowed to make use of the drug of their choice? Weed has been proven to have multiple benefits which I dare not dispute as I have seen these first hand when I did a story on a local guy who suffered from stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma - pardon me for not saying this earlier, I am a journalist. Long story short, he ran out of canabis oil and luckily, through reporting on the matter, he was able to be put in touch through someone to another person who was able to aid him in obtaining canabis oil - I can't mention names of course but you get the point. Certain 'drugs' do have benefits. And yes, I do see from which point you were approaching indoctrination (it took me a while clearly). Super long story short, this man is now doing better from what I've heard and some of his cancer has regressed which is amazing. Keep up the great posting and thanks for entertaining my view.
PS. The modern-day views carried over from the past in terms of oppression, women, gays and lesbians, human beings etc is just as screwed up. Not referring to myself but, can you imagine being an african gay man in South Africa, you'd very likely be killed.
No problem, people get too upset over little things but I think being challenged on things is fine.
That is the issue. The laws vary from place to place but here, if a person is severely mentally impaired they lose their power of attorney which gives their right to make personal decisions to a care giver. I suppose if someone loses their right to manage their own affairs they would be considered unable to make the decision to use a drug but it would be difficult to enforce a law like that. Imagine for a moment that drugs are legal and you own a store that sells them. If someone walks in and seems normal enough, how would you know if he or she is crazy or not? Age restrictions would be easier and they seem to work fairly well to keep kids from getting alcohol and tobacco. When I was a teenager I (or any other teenager) could have found just about any illegal drug with much less effort than it would take to get a few beers.
Cannabis really needs to be legal for those reasons. Change is coming on that front because no one really believes those lies anymore. Canada is about to legalize this year, if I am not mistaken. About half of the U.S. has some form of legal weed. Mexico has been talking about making it legal for years and some European countries are toying with the idea. As it spreads it will be harder to justify the laws against it. Some places may never come around but most will at some point, I think.
Psychedelics have some potential benefits also. Psilocybin mushrooms can treat a certain sever type of headache and are being used to help people with the end of life anxiety. Others have even shown promises in treating opioid addiction (I just read an interesting article about earlier, in fact).
Oppression and prejudice are stubborn beasts but hopefully people can move past those ideas and practices. Division is what allows the corruption to continue and I think people are starting to realize that more and more.
Too true - I've seen some studies on shrooms as well but the prospect of tripping my face off has kind of got me thinking that it could be a bit daunting, however, I luckily don't suffer with such troubles. I think the headache article was a study done with people who suffer from chronic headaches of which oxycodone was even unable to relieve the pain. In that instance I think shrooms would be a better alternative as oxy has been known to be one of the worst abused painkillers in the States. The benefit of shrooms however is that they apparently do not cause a physical addiction which is super great. Also, I think treating people with shrooms who suffer with issues like end of life anxiety could be quite interesting - would also love to read the article you read if you still have the link.
This is what I read today:
https://steemit.com/opioid/@andrewjoseph/the-cure-for-opioid-addiction-is-illegal
I have seen a lot of information about this stuff going around lately.
Definitely a great read and also insightful - America really does have a big problem with opioids. Thanks for sending me the link and thanks for entertaining my views.
No problem. Thanks for reading and commenting.
For sure there is a highly dangerous and criminal element to drug use and distribution. But this wasn't always the case. What largely makes the industry so dangerous and prone to usurption by unsavor individuals, to put it lightly, is the fact that it is an illegal market and thus unregulated. This poses a twofold threat: 1) there is no oversight as to the quality and composition of the products being sold. People can be told they're getting one thing while buying something completely different and sometimes harmful or even deadly. 2) lack of any formal legal structure around manufacture and distribution means the only realistic fallback is violence. A further point worth mentioning is that the state, to a large degree, provides this service in other legal industries (police, military and the penal system) but it is so widely accepted and well funded that it goes almost unnoticed and seldom questioned.
I agree with you that there is most definitely a need for laws and the enforcement thereof. But, on the other side of the argument, there is also the fact that there is simply too much money and human desire for drug use to ever go away no matter how much state backing there is behind the effort. Maybe somehow the governments of the world will learn to strike a balance and begin to promote trends in legislation and education to let society approach the issue a little more realistically.
My two cents. Best of luck. :-)
Great points definitely and it is as you said, we need a larger more organised view around this. I'm guessing @artisticscreech is very happy at this point in time because I'm going to ask the big 'why' in a way. Why are drugs illegal - I know, way too large a topic to tackle because not all 'drugs' kill you. @artisticscreech had a great point earlier when he/she (I just realised I had no idea whether you are a man/woman - ironically, I'm wondering if that should even matter) mentioned that certain companies are only 'keeping' canabis illegal because they can make more money, as is evident especially in the fuel and cancer 'treatment' industries. Then again, some drugs can lead to the death of people however, as you @technoguy said, this is largely due to the fact that most 'street' drugs are impure and of poor quality. There's a brand of ecstasy in South Africa which is said to have no negative effects - apparently this batch is of the purest possible quality however, here's the draw back according to a rehab center (I know I know, rehabs make money off of 'addicts') this batch still causes similar negative effects during the come down phase supposedly due to the prior effect on serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine levels. That being said, and as @artisticscreech said, everyone should have a right to choose for themselves. Now I am highlighting what you (@technoguy) and I both have said, education in this regard is key. The topic on 'drugs' will seemingly remain a catch 22 situation until the mindset of people have changed - the fact however remains, and that is that some 'drugs' have benefits and some don't - at least in their purest forms supposedly. So, what can actually be done to change this mind set?
Good points all. Unfortunately, as for changing the mindset toward drugs, I think the change would probably a pretty laborious and slow; at least in the case of those substances that currently carry massive legal penalties. The big brother policies and insane amounts of capital that have gone into the drug war all the way from the Federal government on down to local law enforcement and Hollywood along the way have really done a number on people's perceptions. And that's not even touching on the vast and powerful vested interests who don't want to see anything change.
I think the states that have legalized recreational cannabis are setting an important precedent and generating valuable data to counterbalance the general baseless hysteria that opponents of legalization embrace.
I think the real change will come from the bottom up and not from the top down. Historically, that's generally how change has happened in the US and the rest of the world in in regard to all kinds of issues. What makes the US different is the transparency and structured openness to change. But it takes a critical mass of informed people taking action in a coordinated way to make things happen.
Despite many believing that we are increasingly more disempowered I actually think the opposite may be true. In today's world of online connectivity it has never been easier to coordinate minds and motivation across geographic space. I also like to believe that emerging blockchain platforms will help augment this even further.