Should Recreational Drugs Be Legalized?

There are many threats to our society today and one of the most socially destructive is the recreational use and abuse of an array of mind altering drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines, PCP, LSD, alcohol, etc. New designer drugs are added to the list every year. Even seemingly benign over-the-counter products such as glue, gasoline, household cleaning agents, cough medicines containing dexedrine, are abused to produce a temporary high. Occasionally the consequences of using these substances produce lasting brain damage or death.

Today’s widespread use of drugs is at a thirty year high, particularly among people in the 15 to 24 age group. Some users are as young as 12.

There are many negative impacts related to drug use. Ten to 22% of car accidents are drug related. Half of violent crimes are drug related. Addiction to tobacco results in 25% of deaths

Many addicted users become marginalised members of society who must steal, prostitute themselves, or engage in other criminal activity to support their habit. Their lives and the lives of their families are ruined.

The addict contributes nothing positive to society other than the industries created to support and counter addiction and its ramifications. Various spin-offs from the drug trade place a large financial burden on our communities.

The coffers of Social Services are tapped to provide support to the user and sometimes his/her family. Medical services are diverted to treatment of over-doses and diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, sexually transmitted pathogens, mental illness, that are concomitant with illegal drug use.

Resources of the Justice system are strained. It is estimated that 60% of the prison population in the U.S. is there for drug related offences. Policing, courts, penitentiaries, half-way houses, Rehabilitation Centres are all funded by the public purse.

Private citizens suffer loss due to home and car break and enters. When Insurance Companies have to pay for losses of property and property damage, our premiums rise.

How do we counter this scourge? Prohibition is not working. Should drugs be legalized?

Society’s use of mind and mood altering substances has a long history across many cultures. In ancient Egypt, the blue lotus, commonly illustrated in tomb inscriptions and on papyri, was used for its ability to enhance memory, sexual vigour and relieve pain.

In Chile’s Atacama Desert, mummies from the Tiwanaku culture (500 A.D.) were found to contain traces of harmine, a mind altering substance which is also the active ingredient in ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic concoction used by Amazonian tribes in their shamanic ceremonies.

Many primitive societies have used natural hallucinogens such as peyote, marijuana, mescalin, Jimson weed, etc. In these societies, the purpose was divination or spiritual pursuit. Usage was preceded by fasting and cleansing ceremonies.

Recreational drugs that are proscribed today were once sanctioned. Opiates such as laudanum were used to soothe teething babies and were part of many over-the-counter potions.

The Opium wars between China and a consortium of Western traders were sparked by the desire of China to exclude opium and its debilitating consequences from entering the Middle Kingdom via trade with Britain, the U.S., and France. Unfortunately, China lost and the drug traders won.

Today, in addition to some of the older natural substances such as opium and marijuana, there are available many more synthetic drugs created illegally in clandestine laboratories. Many of these drugs pose great danger both in their manufacture and use. There is no quality control in these makeshift labs resulting in a product of dubious strength and purity.

As in any issue, there are two sides regarding legalization of recreational drugs. When these drugs are illegal, they present a variety of problems. There is an opportunity for the criminal element to make vast profits which encourage pushers to actively recruit clientele. Turf wars between rival drug dealers can result in gang slayings as seen in the almost daily body count in the Greater Vancouver area.

The question is, will legalization of recreational drugs alleviate any of these problems.

Legalization would eliminate the profit and thereby participation by criminal organizations. Recruiting clientele would become pointless. Drugs would be prepared under quality controlled conditions and their strength would be standardized resulting in fewer overdoses and eliminating potential contamination by harmful substances. Affordability of the drug of choice would reduce the need to engage in crime as a means of securing the next fix. A burden would be lifted from the justice system and taxes on these drugs would help pay for anti-drug education, health and other support of the addict.

Establishing facilities similar to the experimental Insite centre in Vancouver which provides a clean, supervised injection environment plus counselling, would reduce some harm to the user by preventing overdoses and reducing the likelihood of disease transmission due to sharing of needles. The counselling received may lead the addict to a recovery program and eventual “kicking of the habit”.

In the past, many strategies have been tried to eliminate the drug problem. Most have failed. Criminalization does not work. It did not work for alcohol during prohibition in the 1920’s nor will it be effective against our diverse collection of natural and synthetic recreational drugs.

Some of these, such as marijuana, are less harmful than alcohol. Of all the recreational drugs, marijuana is the best candidate for decriminalization.

Declaring drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth as legal is more problematic. These can do serious harm to the addict and the behaviours elicited by their use can harm other members of society. Crystal meth in particular can induce out of control violence in the user. No one wants to encounter a drug addled driver on the road.

Legalization may eliminate the pushers by making drugs freely available. Eliminating the pushers will reduce the number of users because pushers try to increase the number of people using the drug. But the harm caused by the drugs is not eliminated.

Since there is always a segment of the population who will seek chemically mediated solace, enlightenment or thrills, there will always be drug addicts. However, we have to work to mitigate this plague by trying to reduce the numbers of those individuals and the impact of their behaviour on society.

Countermeasures must include education of the young about the danger of addiction and the damage it does to society. Trips to skid road to view the squalor and ruin that can result from addiction and trips to hospitals and morgues and mental institutions to show the potential severity of consequences is one approach.

However, it is said that Sigmund Freud, founder of psychiatry, was unable to give up smoking even though he developed oral cancer from his 20 cigars a day habit. Knowledge of consequences will not be a deterrent for all. The addict must want to quit.

The present generation of drug users may be lost but we can try to prevent the continuation of this self-destructive and socially debilitating scourge in the next.