Treat Drugs like Cigarettes!

An old friend and I were discussing the never-ending debate on our government and its stance on intoxicants, mainly “drugs”. We came up with an interesting theory about comparing drugs to cigarettes and how our society has naturally made the practise of smoking tobacco taboo. Society in general is relatively smart and it is not hard to see that a practise where the cons outweigh the pros is usually met with a following of the few and not the many. In other words, society seems to naturally weed out its own negative practises for the betterment of humanity; this can be related to all life and the basic premise that survival of the species and its prosperity are always priority.

The consumption of drugs has undoubtedly become a health issue and not a criminal one. Substance abuse has become the backbone of the drug industry making the criminal fight of their prohibition basically impossible; how can any governing body prevent access to any substance with such a high demand? There in itself we see a major problem to the traditional approach to the fight against substance abuse. As the demand for illicit drugs stays high, basic economics reaffirms that there will exist a supply to match, and if we as a justice-seeking society are unwilling to provide these substances deemed illegal by the powers at be, crime will, as it always has been, be the supreme benefactor.

Our current approach of dealing with drugs and substance abuse has become totally illogical. We as a people have to understand that substance abuse will always be a universal part of humanity as it has for thousands of years; intoxicants have been around since the dawn of civilization and we were just as venerable to their affects as we are now. We may not like it, but to accept the issue instead of simply pushing it to the background with a negative label, will be our first step in finding a lasting resolution.

So let us take this theory hypothetically and say that we decide substance abuse is something we as a society want to confront head on. I think the closest example we can see this happening is the modern stance on tobacco, particularly cigarettes. The practise of consuming tobacco products has been accepted as a norm and even a positive throughout our history. However, in only a fraction of that time, we –at least in Canada or even BC- have pushed the overwhelmingly unhealthy practise of smoking tobacco to the nethermost region of social practises. HOWEVER (this is a big one) they are still legal to consume and are readily available at a multitude of retail outlets. So what was the key to such a drastic change in attitude? Education.

Since I was a kid, which was not too long ago for you older folk who may be reading, smoking was instilled into my peers and I as a harmful habit. From schooling came the media campaign depicting the almost certain affects smoking would have on an individual and subsequently, the regulation placed upon the tobacco industry in regards to the media outlets they are permitted to use to promote their products. After regulating how the tobacco conglomerates could represent their products through the media, further rulings were passed with regard to how tobacco products were labelled, which resulted in a direct line of communication that informed purchasers of the risks they took while consuming the products. Finally, smoking started and continues to be more restricted in places of public gathering. It is pretty easy to see that smoking and cigarettes were not taken from the public as a choice, but our particular society understood the pros and cons of their use and the practise became less popular. Accordingly, why can we not treat our currently negligent approach to drugs the same way?

One of the main reasons our society is weary about legalizing hard drugs has to be the fear of the “imminent” image of chaos in streets fuelled by a hallucinogen-influenced population. Crime rates will go through the roof and no one will be safe… DUN-DUN-DUUUNNN… Realistically, with the current availability of street drugs, not to mention the potency of drugs available behind the counter, that premonition should have happened years ago. Moreover, I am willing to bet that although the majority of you reading this right now are not hardcore drug users, your personal network within society will easily point you in the direction of where to find even the most intoxicating of substances for consumption. Therefore, a change of the outlet where people obtain these substances can not be expected to drastically alter our way of life. Legalization and regulation with a foundation of education could see the issue be completely managed by the lawful side of society which assumingly means you, dear reader, are included.

Now, there is no way one could expect a change like this to happen overnight. The amount of due diligence required to implement an approach like this will take an incredible amount of effort by many but is nonetheless within our capabilities. My personal idea of how this may work might come in the form of something like a dispensary -not unlike the medical marijuana outlets of today- and as the drugs purchased go up in the scale of possible harm to ones body, so would the regulation; say in amounts allotted and/or how much identification is to be rendered to the dispenser. Particulars aside, a legalization of drugs will take power from criminal heads and those they influence because one cannot rule out that criminals are more than likely trying to aid in continuing prohibition as they are the main profiteer. Legalization would also create a competition for the black market which would further drive criminal profits down. Additionally, regulation would most likely mean the taxation of these substances and with a society that demands the most out of their government in the form of social welfare, the more money the better.

Fortunately, I believe that this overall premise will become the popular stance our society will take within our generation; at least the most public ideology if it is not our attitude already. It can only be a matter of time before the old school are replaced by the new school, and so to the old school philosophies on illicit drugs. What has become blatantly obvious is that the current system is totally ineffective and more people are beginning to understand that. The fundamental idea here is that we as a society do not have to like the practise of consuming harmful drugs, ranging from those that are available on the shelf to those bought in the bowels of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side; but we do have to accept their consumption as being a real significant part of our society in order to begin to reduce the toll it takes on us. Either that is the case or we more or less leave things the way they are, and if that is our decision, all of us might as well be on drugs anyway.



Looking out for a Big Dave's Discount Drug Emporium, coming to a town near you,

Matias M. Barchman