Dear Editor
I was recently baffled by a newspaper column I recently read (not in the Whitewater News) about the drug crisis. Statements like “the so-called soft drug that softens the brain and is the real root cause of the present (street drug) crisis,” has me thinking the writer has been viewing too many re-runs of the 1930’s Drug War propaganda videos like “Reefer Madness”.
I appreciate the columnist is sharing his experiences as an addict and has a view of the world that only a recovered addict could see. In contrast, I think he is missing some key perspectives:
1. “the root cause of the present (street drug) crisis” has more to do with the absence of a satisfying life for many people, especially youth, who are not seeing the availability of fulfilling jobs that pay a living wage, who are seeing high debts both personally and nationally, who are seeing videos and ads that show a glamorous life that is out of their reach, etc. These stimulate people to want to step into alternative realities to the present one we all share.
2. Western Civilization is addicted mostly to caffeine, which began when the English Industrial Revolution needed a stimulant to enable their factory workers to keep working longer hours than humans naturally can. Black Tea from India was the stimulating drug of choice. Soon coffee, sugar and chocolate joined it. Talk about addictions, let’s start there, and how certain companies greatly profited from public addictions like these. Plus, the drugs that calmed them down while keeping them working, like tobacco and alcohol.
3. When the US Congress debated banning Cannabis Sativa (hemp & marijuana) from cultivation in the USA, the loudest voice (besides farmers) protesting it was the American Medical Association. “We know how to use it for many maladies.” The pharmaceutical industry countered with “We can replace it with our drugs.”
And therein lies the crux of marijuana prohibition: it is too easy for people to grow for industry to make a profit. As a former OPP Staff Sergeant said to me: “Prohibition of alcohol did not work and prohibition of marijuana doesn’t work either.” Legalizing it will cut into the profits of many police groups and the justice system. Plus, something prohibited often creates temptation for youth.
4. A key attribute of legalizing marijuana is that it will then be possible to do real education to children about its potential benefits and potential harms. Not propaganda. Schools can present true, factual information. When kids have heard the lies about marijuana that the government and schools were putting out, they believed it was similar for other “harder” drugs…. and then about “street drugs” which are now mostly made by pharmaceutical companies.
With legalization, you will be able to get former marijuana users to come forth and say why they didn’t like it, and why they quit after years of daily use. And those who do like it still and find it helpful for which reasons. And how often, and how much. A real conversation can happen, one that youth can listen to and learn from.
Prohibiting a “God-given plant” (Genesis 1:29) makes no sense to me. Punishing someone to make them stop doing something they enjoy doing which causes no one else any harm also makes no sense to me. I realize it makes sense to other people. Such is life on Earth, at this time.
Addictions of choice: fresh air and fresh clean water,
To your health,
Robbie Anderman,
Killaloe
