There is no doubt that drugs are a major issue in America. Further, the drug cartel wars at the Mexican/American border have made it increasingly dangerous, on both sides of the border. America’s “War on Drugs” is moving towards a forty year mark, yet drug usage remains virtually the same.
What have we accomplished with the “War on Drugs?”
Well, we have locked up a bunch of users and spent billions of dollars, but we have produced little actual results in reducing drug usage.
Now, we have a new issue to address – semi-legal usage of prescription drugs. Prescription drugs have been abused for decades, but these days, the use of “legal” drugs has increased to alarming proportions. Not only are “legal” drugs available, but a highly potent drug, meth, can be made from legal substances, right at home.
There is much talk of “gateway” drugs that lead to dependency on more dangerous chemicals. The usual reason for opposing the legalization of marijuana is that it is one of those “gateway” drugs that lead to addictions to harder drugs. “Studies” claim that most hard drug users started with marijuana. They also probably “used” milk, before switching to narcotics.
The fact of the matter is that America is a “High Society.”
There are no easy answers. Drugs like cocaine and crack can kill with the first usage. Meth is virtually instantaneously addictive. Heroin, if overly pure, is a death sentence. Prescription drugs will kill, if used improperly.
Yet tobacco and alcohol are perfectly legal.
So, what are the answers?
Well, for one, legalize marijuana. Enough is enough; the use of marijuana will never be stomped out. It is harmless and non-addictive. It is less harmful to society than alcohol could ever be.
Second, treat the users of drugs such as cocaine, crack, meth and heroin. Incarceration has proven to be a ineffective tools in addressing the usage of hard drugs.
Three, shutdown the “pill mills” and incarcerate Doctors that feed users.
Four, stop messing around and truly go after the distributors and dealers of hard drugs. Break the cycle of cartel-distributor-dealer-user.
And stop pretending that we can “end drug usage.”
(The thread photo is of the cover of the album “Journey to the Center of the Mind” by the Amboy Dukes from 1967, led by Ted Nugent. Nugent claims to always have been drug and alcohol free, and rails against users. I knew Ted Nugent in the late Sixties. He was far from drug and alcohol free. The album cover is proof enough.)
William Stephenson Clark
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
The need to escape reality and the ways it can be accomplished has made living more complicated than it should be. No longer is the challenge of simply greeting the day, perhaps doing something that makes a difference enough — could be as simple as realizing every person you meet today deserves your attention and your care. When did we become so driven that reality isn’t significant enough? When did we forget that learning something new was an achievement to strive for? Why are we so selfish that we’ve forgotten the quickest way to feel better about ourselves is to help someone else?
Remember when most of us used to escape by reading a book? Took us places we dreamed of being, introduced us to interesting people, took us away from reality.
The anti-drug laws are just another way for a close-minded society, beset with irrational fears, to isolate and blame another group of people for all that ails us. I’ve written a whole series of posts about this kind of intolerance: Tolerance… Not!, the most pertinent of which is Tolerance… Not! Drugs. Thanks.
You make a very good point. But I think it is more than just that.
The War on Drugs has been very profitable on both sides of the issue.
The drug pushers are making money and the ones claiming to be fighting are also making money. Perhaps that is why for-profit prisons became so enticing?
It was when I was coming home every night, after a evening working at the jail and feeling I deserved the drink. That I finally quit drinking, that and out of five days one week four of them I had to deal with someone going through the D.T.s.
I foretelling of where I was heading, being drunk every night then going to bed was not a future I wanted.
We all have our own degree of reality we deal with, to someone else our reality may not be all that big.
But it is our reality and we live with it daily or in this case feel we need to escape it or go mad.
So we go for instant madness in the form of drugs.
Toosmart,
Congrats on being savvy enough to realize you might be heading for a problem before you got there.
Addiction is the most distressing illness I can think of! It’s the sick person who has to make themselves well. No help from anyone else can be effective until the sick person decides they are sick and want to get well.
I’ve watched as well-meaning family and friends try to help the addicted person to become well.
All too many times, those same family and friends are disappointed. Addiction is truly the saddest thing to watch.
And it really does not help to turn on the television and be bombarded with ads asking people if they feel blue or feel depressed.
Who hasn’t felt depressed or blue? That’s just a part of life. But then these ads promise a whole new life if you just call your doctor and ask for ______ (fill in the blank).
I remember a time when it is illegal for doctors and pharmaceutical companies to advertise. Maybe we should go back to that old standard?
Fnord,
Correct again! You are on a roll! Took me a long time to realize I needed help and even longer before I was willing to accept it. Acceptance of your condition and being willing to accept help are the 2 biggest hurdles to overcome.
I am for anything that will work to get the money angle out of the drug war. Drug pushers would not be doing what they are doing if it wasn’t for all that money (and tax free money to boot).
But we would still have the prescription pill pushing going on – and that is all tied up in politics. Good luck on changing that money game.
Those of you that know me know my story. Coming up on 2 years. Here is an acronym that I still use today,
Son
Of a
Bitch
Everything’s
Real
Fnord you are 100% correct ,I’m not a bad person trying to become good,I’m a sick person trying to get better
Gave me a good laugh! But oh so true! That acronym could have been the title of this thread!
Yep, addicts are just like any other group and is comprised of great and less than great people. Just people. Then there are the special ones like you who open themselves up to getting help!
Nothin’ special about me just a garden vairiety drunk who got sick and tired of being sick and tired.
You know why I think you and others like you are special? Because while you were suffering from an illness that made thinking clearly difficult, you had a clear thought. It wasn’t as easy to think clearly, yet you did it! Then, you did the hardest thing — you continued to pursue that clear thought. You didn’t take the easy way out. That, to me, is special!
Good for you. I don’t know your story but I know alot of people who share your story.
Yep there are several million of us.
Fnord here is another acronym to rememeber when someone tells you they are fine,
Fucked up
Insecure
Neurotic
and
Egotistical
Doesn’t that describe most people at least some of the time?
Pegged as true.
Please don’t get me wrong I’m by no means an expert on addiction but am an expert about where I’ve been and where I am now.
And I would like to add – anything can become an addiction – not just drugs and alcohol.
I’ve known people who are food addicts, sex addicts, political addicts and even church addicts.
Addiction is something that controls the person.
Some might argue with me about knowing church addicts – but I’ve known a few in my lifetime. These are the people who have shunned all their family and friends in order to be a big fish in some church.
And how sad is that to think that church should be a welcoming place and there are people who use their church to feed their addiction to feel superior to others.
I am a food addict, probably an internet addict, and I have a son who has been a drunk for nearly three decades. I love him more than I have words to tell, and I can’t help him. Sometimes it hurts more than I can bear and then I have to pull myself up by the bootstraps because THAT is something I can control.
The hardest time of being a mother is to know you have to step back and let your child go their own way – even knowing that way will bring nothing but grief. But remember – just because we have to sometimes let them go their own way does not mean that you chose that way for them.
We all have to find our own way in this world and that goes for our children, as well.
My heart and thoughts are with you fnord.
I know you care, Indy! And, that helps. Honestly, it does. 😉
I really feel for you. It is only now that I am coming to realize the hell I put my parents through. The only way I can make up for it is to coninue to do what I am doing.
I think you’re doing exactly what your parents want from you – your best. And I’m sure your parents only want the best for you.
People are human and we fail many times. We disappoint those people in our lives that mean the most to us and then we wonder how we can ever make it up to them.
There is no way to erase the past and why waste time trying to do that? But we can learn from the past and we can try to help others not to go down the dead end road we were just on.
And whatever works for any one person is what needs to be done. Some people use their religious faith. Some people use their family and friends. Some people use organized support goups. Some people just quit cold turkey (which is really hard to do).
But whatever works – I try to support that person without any judgment of what they did in the past.
BTW – I can be an internet addict, as well. It does not control my entire life – but I have been known to be on the internet way past my bedtime – LOL