EnMasse

[MaydayMagazine]

by Mayday Magazine's Rick Smith


“Prohibition makes a crime out of out things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded [Abraham Lincoln]," reads the back of a t-shirt distributed by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP).

The SSDP is, as the name suggests, dedicated to eradicating the War on Drugs. They believe that, while drugs are harmful, the best method to reducing the harm done by them is to educate and not prosecute. They look at drugs and compare the use of drugs to sex: during sex, we use condoms because it’s safe. We must treat drugs the same way: if you must use them, accept the dangers and commence at your own discretion.

Unapologetically against the War on Drugs, the SSDP says that they “neither encourage or condemn drug use. Rather, (they) seek to reduce the harms caused by drug use and drug policies”. They make it quite clear that they believe that current drug policy is counter-productive. They make use of examples from college and university campuses across North America to illustrate their point.

For example, students who are caught with drugs at a university are often expelled, which the SSDP argues dooms them to fall short of their potential, and likely turn to the drugs which got them kicked out of the university in the first place.

Another example is the intrusive presence of the university in the dorm room tenants’ lives that the "drug war" fosters. The SSDP believes that a university should have no more authority over what a dorm resident does in his or her room than a landlord would in an apartment building. Some universities actually invade the privacy of their students and search the rooms for drugs, often solely on a rumour. How would administrators like it, the SSDP asks, if students went rifling through their desk drawers and private possessions?

The War on Drugs has been a controversial talking point in Canada ever since it entered our mainstream political consciousness. Proponents say that it is the only way to keep our kids safe from drugs and help them live healthy, safe lives. Opponents argue that fighting drugs using strict laws and harsh penalties does nothing to deter those who are likely to use drugs in the first place, and such principles are authoritarian in nature.

Whatever the viewpoint, it is a fact that the War of Drugs is largely imported from our neighbour to the south, the United States. Following the death of the remnants of a hippie culture and the emergence of punk culture, the War was declared as a reaction to these two sub-cultures’ notorious use of drugs. The parents of the 80s (AKA the teens of the 60s) began a campaign to demand more cops on the beat and harsher legal punishments for using drugs.

The trouble with this is that it did not take into account that, after drugs became less mainstream, it was the poor who wound up retaining their liking for this magic happiness. Drugs became a symbol for poverty, and by extension “welfare deadbeats.” If they weren’t locked up in jail for peddling pot, they’d just be sapping money from Social Security.

Of course, not all drug users are poor. There are many people who turn to drugs and alcohol for recreation. A popular theory, one of which I strongly advocate, is that boredom is a large factor in this. Many argue that teens today have better access to movies, television, sports, and other forms of entertainment, and it is senseless to suggest that boredom is a cause for drug use. Au contraire: it makes perfect sense.

With the cost of living rising combined with standard inflation, parents are away nowadays much more often than they used to be, and this is true for middle class and upper class families as much as working class parents. The more affluent have mortgages, car loans, and very high property taxes. Combined, all of these things equal parents being home less.

When women (rightfully) won the right to work for equal pay, there was something that we as a society failed to account for with our newfound acquisition of justice: the void that many kids would find once both parents were out working. Instead of setting up entertaining, effective after-school programs, we bred the infamous “latch-key” kids of the 80s and 90s, who would search for less constructive things with which to occupy themselves.

The reasons why people do drugs are plentiful, as are the solutions to the epidemic. A strong economy with job security, well-equipped public schools, enjoyable activities for between 3 and 5 o’clock, and a comprehensive social safety net are all tried, tested and true methods of fighting drugs without a War.

Honest Abe was so-named for a reason. He had a knack for speaking his mind, a reputation for truthfulness, and now has a legacy that is championed by the Republican Party and honoured across the United States. If you’re not one of those folks who might not care for the advice of a 19th Century American political icon, though, take it from Tupac Shakur: “Instead of war on poverty, they got a War on Drugs so the police can bother me”.


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This article can be seen in the November issue of Mayday Magazine

[thwap]

I've got a few problems with this article, but I thought it mentioned some important topics, and would at least provoke discussion.

A couple of my problems:

1. That drug use is primarily a problem of poverty.

Alcohol and cocaine are actually drugs of the middle class.

http://www.zmag.org/ZSustainers/ZDaily/2000-06/18gonsalves.htm

[Senor Magoo]

[paxicab]

[radiorahim]

What's clear is that the so-called "war on drugs" has failed miserably. In fact, the CIA has played a major role in developing the various drug cartels around the world.

A "harm reduction" approach shows promise...we should be trying it for the next several decades instead of the phony "war on drugs".
_________________
Free software, Free society

[thwap]

Oh yeah,

That was another problem I had; there was little mention of how the "drug war" is more about social control than it is about society's health.
_________________
Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

[TogetherWeStand]

[shavluk]

[TS.]

[thwap]

Yeah.
_________________
Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

[shavluk]

sorry thwap,,

i read it better this time and i agree

[thwap]

tis cool.

btw: what's up with the mainstream news focus on crystal meth? Is there really a big upsurge in use? Or is that only the new drug of choice for fundamentalist preachers?
_________________
Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

[shavluk]

sadly it is going higher in consumption all the time
i have been warning about it for 5 years




http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-3687.html



give it a minute i am in there



point being we are witnessing a man-made plague and people and governments are walking around saying just say no


this stuff is very bad ,,very damaging
i have had friends that at 36 years old,, tried coke,then crack,,


got sold meth as crack( a way of making more dealer money etc)
and now this guy might as well be dead,,no teeth,, 90 lbs,,,bad news

legalize to allow clean, pure drugs
because these people are still someones baby's,,
they are citizens,,,,

its either that or legalize self administered euthanasia ,,
as they become so damaged

[TogetherWeStand]

[Rufus Polson]

Now that's very interesting.

[TogetherWeStand]