Here are those two sides, then. Drugs are evil. Drugs are great. Apparently, that's it. Or at least that's it in the eyes of the political Right and the government of most Western countries. That's to say all drugs are evil, and if you say otherwise you must think all drugs are great.

This is bollocks. Nothing is black and white in the real world. So we have the view of the slightly more liberally-inclined; namely that some drugs are evil, and other drugs are not evil. Alcohol is not evil, cannabis is not evil, but heroine and cocaine are most certainly evil, you see. These kind of people basically follow the line that Class A drugs (like heroine) are evil, and 'lower class' drugs like cannabis, or legal drugs like alcohol, tobacco and coffee are either not evil, or are less evil.

In principle, this argument seems to make sense. After all, no one gets addicted to alcohol, do they? And though people get addicted to smoking, they aren't forced into crime and prostitution to feed their habits, as these poor unfortunate heroine junkies are. Drugs like heroine become considered evil because they're more addictive and more life threatening than, say, alcohol.

But if you look at the facts, this argument collapses. The majority of heroine users are not the junkies of films like 'Trainspotting', but in fact many users of these kinds of drugs aren't addicted in the sense most people would understand it, and are actually able to 'get off' the drug. In other words, not all heroine users have heroine controlling their lives. The same goes for cocaine, another 'evil' drug.

So, heroine's really okay, then? Well, no. It is true that heroine is much more addictive than legal or Class B drugs, but the facts have to be put into proportion. There are many, many times more people addicted to alcohol than heroine or cocaine. Hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of people die each year directly as a result of alcohol. It is estimated that something like 80% of all violent crime committed in Britain is related to alcohol. The trade in illegal alcohol is bigger and more lucrative than the trade in illegal drugs has ever been.

Compare this to the supposedly 'evil' drugs. Although it's true that many crimes are committed to pay for an addiction, this figure is completely dwarfed by alcohol-related crimes. Equally, I'm sure more people commit crimes to buy cigarettes than commit crimes to buy cocaine or heroine. Essentially, the governments of the world don't want to admit to that fact that alcohol is a far bigger problem than the entire illegal drug trade put together.

Obviously, though, the drug trade itself is evil. No chemical is ever evil, but the people who exploit both vulnerable individuals in the West and the developing world (in other words, drug traffickers) are despicable. But it's only because drugs are illegal that this trade exists.

So as part of the problem with drugs is said to stem from their illegality, the argument goes that if drugs were legal, there would be no problem. People, the 'young' especially (which I guess means me, then), only gravitate towards drugs because they're illegal, and if they were legalized then the attraction would be removed.

This argument is valid when applied to cannabis. Cannabis isn't physically addictive, and it doesn't have any of the unpleasant side effects of alcohol, heroine, cocaine or whatever. There is only a problem with it because it is illegal, and if it were legal it would be a safer and less violent alternative to alcohol. Personally I'd much prefer it if all the lager louts were stoned rather than pissed, because in the whole of human history there has never been a case of anyone getting stoned and attacking someone for 'looking at me bird funny'.

But when considering Class A drugs, I think the legalization argument breaks down. I don't believe illegality makes something more attractive, and people don't decided to shoot up heroine because their school told them it was naughty. If coke and smack were legal, we'd have another problem the same as we have with alcohol.

The reason why people take drugs is because they're unhappy. Drugs make you happy. You take them to be happy because you are not happy. It's pretty simple. The reason why there's such a costly, futile and corrupt war on drugs is because very few governments want to tackle the real problem. The citizens are unhappy, and they take drugs because their governments are not doing their job, of making their people feel secure and, yes, happy.

It's not a conspiracy theory to say that drugs are a way of doping the masses, either. To be quite honest, most governments would prefer to have a people which are a bit stupefied, and not thinking beyond their next hit, whether it's heroine or Bacardi Breezer. That's why there isn't a real attempt to tackle the problems which are behind drug use.
 
 

Bookmark this page