How far is the “let’s get high” society going to go in order to avoid reality and how much is the rest of society willing to allow in the pursuit of the legalization of mind altering drugs? California law makers are going out of their way to ensure the destruction of the human brain using the pretense of curing anxiety / PTSD and other mental maladies. It’s a given that there are some benefits at the clinical level for psychedelics but the legalization of the drugs for casual and recreational use is absurd. In general, the human brain doesn’t need fixing. It needs nourishment, exercise and to be used but beyond that there is no reason to see how much dopamine, serotonin and other chems the brain can squeeze out. Coming out of Nam, I smoked weed, dropped acid, ate some brown buds and did so much “go faster” my brain couldn’t do any more and nearly shut down. The only thing I didn’t do was to tie off and stick a needle in my arm. In short, doing all of that did absolutely no good because when I found myself broke and had to get somewhat coherent, the memories were still there and moreover, my life was in shambles due to the use of drugs. I’ve mentioned before that my chief duty when I entered into the rescue mission ministry was to counsel with homeless veterans who fell into the trap thinking that drugs were their one and only way to cope with real life. For the most part, with counseling from myself and many others, I saw people picking themselves up and start living their lives in a manner that was totally independent of mind altering drug use. The trip may not be as much fun as using drugs but it’s far more rewarding. Again, there is a time and place for mind altering drugs but an across the board legalization of those drugs is perhaps the most asinine thing I have ever heard. https://merryjane.com/news/californ...ychedelics-has-50-chance-of-passing-this-year
Cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018. Adults 18 and over are allowed to indulge and people who do not use them are given free inhales when in their backyard or even in apartments. This is so unfortunate and unacceptable for those who are not interested in getting highs or lows with cannabis at anothers cost. I still and do believe it could have detrimental health effects in the long run unless used for medical purposes. This was done to control the sale and consumption of cannabis, establish product safety and quality requirements and deter black market trafficking. Wonder if it has worked?? One could obtain it at cheaper prices in the black market, i suppose! The work undertaken by your ministry and yourself is great, BC, but we need more out there to support our youth, especially in jails and detention centres.
I have yet to reconcile my inner realist with my inner libertarian on this issue. My knee-jerk (perhaps cliché) reaction is to say "Then ban alcohol, too" knowing that it does lots of harm to both the user and to others (violence, accidents, emotional harm), and the only reason people push back on such a statement is because it's a drug that they like to use, or it's one that has become part of "normal" culture. Alcohol is the only drug that can kill you as you go through withdrawals...not even heroin is that bad. I hate to see people do bad things to themselves. I hate even more to see individual behaviour regulated, especially when it's inconsistently applied. ps: I don't use drugs, which includes alcohol.
Good point JB, but no answer to that. Yes, alcohol can be very dangerous and it has ruined many lives. But then, where is the fun when alcohol is not served at gatherings or parties.? People may not show up if it is off the table. Maybe the term " everything in moderation " should be preached.
It's a tough balancing point, and there are always examples of why things should be banned for public safety. There are those who cannot do "in moderation," myself included. So I abstain. Regarding kids in jail...it's heartbreaking. I don't know if the underlying nature of human beings can ever be changed, but there are some number who will gravitate towards whatever environment is set. I guess it's up to us to set as responsible an environment as we can. Kinda tough to do in the midst of uber-materialism (speaking of "moderation.")
They main and most significant difference between alcohol and drugs is in the word, “control”. Each drink one has will have an effect on the human body and brain but a person has to drink more over a period of time to increase the effects. In essence, in order to get legally drunk, a person has to consume more than one or two drinks. It’s a given that many do definitely abuse alcohol but I believe that vast majority of drinkers are pretty responsible with their choice. Unfortunately, I do not fit in that category so I don’t drink. The other plus side is that the amount of alcohol in one’s system can be measured easily and immediately after consumption. With pot or drugs, it only takes one. One drag, one pill, one shot, one snort and the user is high. Period. How high is different with each use and user. There’s no backing up, no drinking a couple of glasses of water to lower a drug level in the blood and if the drug of choice is psychedelics then hold on to your seat because the ride, good or bad, is inevitable and there’s nothing that will stop it. In other words, there’s no control by even the most casual user. Note: I have only met two druggies who didn’t drink alcohol. Alcohol plus drugs is a death sentence waiting for a place to happen albeit with drug use, one might as well figure that the end, one way or another, is close.
No pun intended. The horse and the mule live for 30 years, And know nothing of wines and beers; The goat and sheep at 20 die, And never get a taste of Scotch and rye. The cow drinks water by the tonne, And at 18 is mostly done, Without the aid of gin and rum. The cat in milk and water soaks, And then in 12 short years it croaks. The modest, sober, bone-dry hen, Lays eggs for others, then dies at 10. All animals are strictly dry, They sinless live and swiftly die. But sinful, ginful, rum-soaked men, Survive for three score years and ten, And some of them, though very few, Stay pickled till they’re 92! By KS
I disagree regarding pot. I know the cliché of stoners sitting on the couch, unable to get up, and that's likely true of most users other than the habitual ones. Everyone has their own tolerance level, just as with alcohol. But I had a friend who was always smoking a joint or doing bong hits. He was a self-employed carpenter, and did great work. He was always smoking, and always seemed as straight as anyone else. He was never out of control. There are lots of habitual users like that. I get what you're saying regarding hard drugs taking you from Zero to One Hundred with no in-between, but the question is still one of individual rights (assuming the system of "responsibility" does not get short-circuited.) I understand that I might be a little argumentative--even dogmatic--but the higher-level question is important. Just a random web search (for whatever value that has) shows that alcohol takes almost 100,000 lives per year. A consistent rational argument would start with that, because more innocent lives are lost to alcohol than to anything else.
I disagree on the heroin withdrawal not causing death, @John Brunner. When the system shuts down after removal of the opiate, people DO die, sometimes just from the constipation leading to impaction post withdrawal. Both alcohol and heroin generally take some time to become truly addicted, but cocaine can lead to psychological addiction from just one use. I have know people who used all three drugs and led a useful, productive life, however. One lady I knew was brilliant, but adjusted her mood with cocaine and heroin, and used alcohol for social purposes. She worked hard and earned a good living as long as she didn't have to submit to drug testing. Her coworkers and supervisors never even knew she was on drugs. She may have removed all of those from her life now, as she works in a field that usually requires mandatory drug testing. John, the usual real Libertarian viewpoint is to make all drugs legal, but remove the support systems so the users who cannot cope with life die out.
I was not aware that heroin withdrawal could be fatal. The stuff I read always [mistakenly] claimed "only alcohol." I drove one of my brothers to rehab, and they told him he could keep drinking until he arrived if he needed to. Yeh, I know that. Boy, it sounds heartless, and I guess it is, excepting that the Libertarian would gladly help with private resources...it's the government involvement that's at issue. The Libertarian would not want "the surplus population" to die out. The perpetual issue is that line between helping, enabling and what others should be forced to fund. It's an uncomfortable conversation to be had with no perfect answer. I have come down on both sides of it during my life, but never with absolute certainty. Safety nets can help people, but they can cause folks to take risks they might not have otherwise taken. I've always thought that making mental health care widely available is justifiable on both moral and financial grounds. But generally, only government has the resources, and government does not execute well...and it always seems to execute in ways that are solely to government's benefit.
It has always been my feeling that that is why churches were not taxed; they were supposed to do charitable work, as it was not the realm of government except in perhaps catastrophes. "Non-profits" have now become big business and the realm of those who cannot really do anything productive. They form a non-profit and live off grants and the incomes that some governments provide.
Strangely enough, 103,000 (and change) people died of drug overdose last year. Now, I’ve never said that alcohol use was or is good even when I drank and the facts still remain that the majority of the homeless veteran population i dealt with drank even in the absence of something stronger, But, when that stronger something showed up, it was the “drug” of choice that won the battle of the highs. Not to get too Biblical on folks for indeed, this isn’t the religion thread but there are some definitive effects on humanity that Pharmakeia brings in it’s tailwind. https://revelationscriptures.com/revelation-18-23-babylons-pahamakeia/ Note: Biblically, alcohol consumption is warned about but in some areas and in some instances it is encouraged whereas drug use is, of all things, considered sorcery.
The main difference with drug use deaths is that they rarely take innocents with them. But I would not wish any addiction on anyone. One thing I read about alcoholism is that it's rare to find in the Jewish community because it has been part of their culture for so long. Kids drink watered-down wine with the adults at mealtime. Conversely, native Americans never encountered it before, which is why it ravages them. It may have that genetic component to it. Perhaps Jewish children learn to manage it early on, and it does not have the allure of "I'm an adult now so watch me drink alcohol." Or so I read 30 years ago. edit to add: While this is not the religion thread, I think every addiction has a [lack of] spiritual component to it.
I would guess that the majority of non-profits do more harm than good, in that they were set up to advance harmful agendas, but what they are best at is raking in the profits in the form of salaries and benefits, which sometimes include private island resorts accessible only to the high echelon of the organization and their financial contributors. While there surely are some churches that are still doing the Lord's work, and there are some non-profits that benefit the public, the overall benefit of doing away with non-profit organizations altogether would far outweigh the negatives, in my opinion.
Which is why Sen. Scott Weiner is proposing the legalization of psychedelics. Apparently he and a few other vets found themselves at the mercy of government programs meant to alleviate the effects of combat related PTSD. The government has only 2 avenues and that is by prescription drugs and counseling which might sound good but in the end, the drugs do more harm than good. They wonder why so many vets commit suicide but yet also know that antidepressants such as Xanax can be deadly. I had 2 friends who committed suicide and they were on Xanax. I digress. What eventually happened was Weiner and the vets who are behind the bill at one time resorted to recreational (and ceremonial) psychedelics such as Peyote and found themselves in better shape than if they had depended on the government for help. All that said, if Timothy Leary’s scrip for PTSD works then so be it but those drugs need to be totally controlled and not allowed to be just another way to blow one’s mind.