The Opiate Of The Masses

I have no problem with prescription drugs. The fact that so many drug companies care more about profits than people is a subject for a future blog entry. What I am concerned with is drugs which, legal or not, serve no useful purpose. What is considered useful can be hotly debated. The drugs I am referring to are those that, over time, reduce our lives and the quality thereof. There is no debate that many drugs can be described as such.

Various groups, be they politically or community based, have their own particular ideologies concerning harmful drugs, their misuse and what should be done about it. My own personal view is that they exist and people are using, buying and selling them. Simply by acknowledging this fact I am far ahead of many of these groups that wish to pretend that this is not the truth.

Much has been written about the "drug war" and related harm that this euphemism has wrought. I will not rehash what most of you already know. What I find most vexing is the lack of willingness to simply accept what is and move on from there. People use drugs. They will always use drugs. Now that we have accepted this let us move on to what to do next.

I believe in a three-part process. The first is prevention. Education is the key. Let us winnow away the hype until a pure product is left - scientific fact. If you want to use drugs that is fine with me. First though why not tell those on the cusp of becoming addicts just what their drug of choice will do to them. Let us examine what affect it will have physically, physiologically and mentally. Let us also reasonably predict what these affects will be cumulatively as time goes on and your life span is reduced. What about the effects on their lives, loved-ones and society as a whole?

Part two should involve treatment. It is inevitable that part one will not make a difference for many drug users. Tax-payers will in one way or another bear the brunt of the cost of treatment. Why not be proactive and offer competent and caring medical counseling and treatment before the problem is out-of-hand? If we sincerely try to offer safe havens for those who wish to quit, places where they will not be looked down upon or preached to, there is a good chance many addicts will work toward the goal of becoming clean.

Part three is harm reduction. In some countries this involves handing out clean needles. Others offer clean and safe places to get high and properly dispose of any drug paraphernalia. This must be better than back alleys or drug houses littered with drug waste and wretched souls with nowhere else to go. Drug use may be ugly but, like most aspects of a society that we would rather not see, need to be exposed to the light of day. No problem can be effectively combated if we close our eyes or keep these people at the fringe of our periphery.

I do not use illegal drugs. The worst I consume is Nexium for my acid-reflux. What I also do not do is judge the ones that do use illegal substances. I wish that they did not do so but wishing is not the same as doing. You can fight a thing and treat a thing at the same time. You can be both disturbed and sympathetic. The most important thing to do is see what is, hope for what could be and work toward a better future. Maybe then we will all be cured of the worst affliction of all - apathy.