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A new high and low


“In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country. The craving for ethyl alcohol and the opiates has been stronger, in these millions, than the love of God, of home, of children; even of life.” Aldous Huxley

According to the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD), several potentially dangerous substances were being sold as food products online.
The Irish Times informs us that, “Most of the psychoactive drugs formerly on sale in head shops were made illegal under legislation, enacted in May of last year.” Upon reading this reported fact it is difficult to wonder why it should be news at all and why an agency such as the NACD is wasting time and money compiling a report on the topic. All it is saying is that people are now buying their chemicals online rather than in head shops. If you want to buy teabags and one shop does not stock them then you will buy them somewhere else. This was once known as common sense.
What makes a great deal less sense is the attitude of successive Irish governments to legal and illegal narcotics. The substances cited in the above reference are sold as bath salts and food products and, in the opinion of many regular users of drugs classified as “illegal”, a dangerous business to be wrapped up in.
The compounds that were sold in headshops, until they were outlawed, were essentially what can be classified as experiments. In the immediate aftermath of consumption they produced effects that were similar enough to the classic illegal drugs so as to make them desirable to those who wished to get high without legal consequences. The long-term effects on the other hand are less clear-cut.
As new chemical compounds, these powders and pills evade legislation for a period of time but, unfortunately, they also evade our knowledge in terms of their potential for harm and damage.
The reality is that people will always take drugs of one kind or another. These new chemicals came on the market because there was a niche. Official policy designates certain substances to be illicit but this loophole can be avoided by altering one chemical in the chain. This renders a new compound legal but leaves the user at the mercy of the chemist and, more worryingly, good fortune.
It seems almost hackneyed to repeat the arguments in favour of a rethinking of drug laws but they are arguments that bear repeating.
Alcohol, while legal, is very, very bad for you in large quantities and more so in such quantities over a sustained period of time.
Nicotine, also legal, is not itself an overly dangerous substance but the means through which it is ingested in cigarette form, renders it an unmerciful thief in the life stakes.
There has, meanwhile, never been a recorded fatality from cannabis overdose. There have been many losses of mind while using the substance but these are usually tied to a pre-existing or underlying psychological condition in terms of negative permanent consequences. In 2009 the British government “drugs tsar”, Dr David Nutt, was fired for contravening policy and publishing a report stating that it was more dangerous to go horse riding than it was to take ecstasy.
The negative publicity generated by the “War on Drugs” campaign has far outweighed the proven negative effects of that compound on society. Similarly magic mushrooms were tackled from a legislative point of view by then Health Minister Mary Harney following one tragic incident involving a young man.
The pain and grief of individual families with such experience is heartbreaking, but legislators must not use it as a cheap political tool to gain headlines in the area of drug classification and legislation. They have not a leg to stand on in this regard given the pain, grief and anguish caused daily, all over the country by people’s abuse of alcohol and tobacco, our favourite legal highs.             
The natural response to the argument just made is, “Why not just ban them all?” While this may satisfy idealists with leanings in a certain direction most people will acknowledge that prohibition is not a very successful approach to substance control.
It takes what people want and places the distribution and sale of same in the hands of criminals. The reason Scotch whiskey is such a popular drink in the US is due to bad associations. Pre-prohibition, Irish had been the favourite. When the gangsters and hoodlums took control over the trade, while alcohol was officially banned, every type of poison was called “Irish” because it sold better. Hundreds of poisonings, and perhaps even deaths later, when the ban was lifted, those with sense drank scotch. 
On June 2 this year the following headline was published by the BBC: “Global war on drugs ‘has failed’ say former leaders”. The report cites “UN estimates that opiate use increased 35% worldwide from 1998 to 2008, cocaine by 27%, and cannabis by 8.5%.” The 19-member panel is an eyebrow raising who’s who of former world leaders and political veterans. 
Their experience of leading countries has taught them that far from turning their back to prescribed or illicit substances the people of the earth are turning to them in even greater numbers. Prohibition has not worked. It is time for a new and adult discussion of the facts.
As an advocate for a big state, it might seem ludicrous for me to be advocating a less hands-on approach in this regard but there is a wider point that needs to be addressed. Why do so many millions of people all over the globe feel that chemical escape is preferable to reality? A certain percentage will, and have historically, be slaves to the pipe or glass but what of the new refugees?
Is the life enfranchised by the current consensus so hideous that people are turning to narcotic alternatives in even greater numbers? Across the spectrum of drugs, legal and illegal, the effect on the user is similar. Whether it is used as a mild diversion or an all out escape.
This will not change no matter how quickly laws are altered to keep up with minor chemical tweaking. This issue is not going away and until it is addressed in a mature and reasonable way loopholes will be found and exploited by those who wish to supply this perpetual human craving.

 

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