A long time ago, like in 2007 or earlier, the phrase “failed drug policy” was part of the concern. Drug use and anti-drug policies by governments, were and continue to be, a difficult subject, but an important subject that concerns quite a lot of our society. As a societal issue, drug policy melds with health and economics policies, but mostly it’s the politicians worry about how voters will vote, that determines things.
Lets be honest. Drug use leads to addictions, which leads to many health and crime problems, and tears at the fabric of society. But so does poor lawmaking and the resulting law enforcement. The phrase “Stop the Drug war” has a lot of traction these days.
Some Practical Lessons We Should Learn
I don’t mean to be all skeptical, but why are governments so particular about some drugs and even formulate repressive policies against their users? Yet there are more harmful drugs in our midst and they hardly get noticed. Funny enough, most governments offer diminutive scientific evidence to back their disapproval of these drugs, but want us to believe that they are harmful to our bodies. Even so, the idea of setting up an organization to question some of our drug policies, was a work of genius.
I am narrating my experience with a radical community that has been fighting for a sensible drug policy in Canada, for some years now. However, as most people would assume, I am not trying to support the use of Marijuana and other hard drugs. I mean, generally sensible drug Policy communities fight for the rights of Marijuana users, but in my Canadian case, things were a little bit different.
So, it all started as a simple chit chat with a friend, over a pint at a local bar. My friend has being staying in Canada for over a year and has being doing a research on some social subject in the country, (for his Master’s degree). Judging from this, you can tell that he knows pretty much about everything going on in the social circles, all over the country. He asked me a mindless question “Hey do you know that Canada will legalize Marijuana next year (2017)?” At first I thought he was joking, but later on, some hippies overheard our topic and joined us.
Of course this was one of their favorite topics…
“I think weed is the sure cure for all the problems in this world,” one retorted carelessly. Then after a few moments of contention, a group of five chaps, whom we later learnt were from the (Canadian Students for sensible Drug Policy community), joined us from the back of the dimly lit inn.
They had all the answers that we had been looking for, with them. In my life, I have never heard anyone talk so convincingly about something that is presumed by all means as evil. The organization, as these lads taught us, was fighting for a new focus at the drug abuse problem we have in the world.
Instead of having a war against drug abuse-approach, we should instead be looking at how we should accommodate those with addiction problems. In addition we should be modifying our social norms to create a friendlier environment for drug users and also invent scientific ways to suppress the effects of these drugs.
According to those of the organization’s opinions, most governments are exaggerating the effects of certain drugs as on users as a strategy for discouraging their use. Of course this is achieved through the government sponsored drug abuse awareness programs. Sadly, the innocent public doesn’t know that they are being played. A good instance is where people are being taught that smoking Marijuana or ingesting it, can predispose you to breast cancer. There is very little correlation between the two, yet you find that most people are still believing what is taught in these awareness programs.
Of course they can lie to the general public…
This would be a total waste of time, if the government was to try and teach the Canadian medical students, who are already in the Sensible drug policy program. Of course these students are constantly researching on the same issues and are even taught on graver conditions that would predispose a person to cancer. Rendering from the arguments of these young men, Marijuana would cause only less than 20% of the world’s cancer strains on the maximum, compared to other factors such as genetics and dietary factors.
In addition, one guy even added that drug abuse campaigns are being used by governments to destabilize the markets for certain drug brands. This is a total abuse of power. He gave an example of how people with overweight problems are being asked to avoid some weight loss drugs and instead stick to the tasty weight reduction fasting plan. In these campaigns, he added, such people are taught that using some weight loss medication, can cause tumors and hence they should avoid them.
Surprisingly, this misleading conclusion has not been sufficiently proved through scientific research, yet some officials are using it to torture the innocent public. The bigger question is, how do you expect to help a 200 pound fella, to lose a quarter of his weight without medication? Do you want to risk starving him to death, so that you can protect him from malignant cells?
It’s a mystery that can only be solved, if this organization continues to push for sanity in the World’s drug policy.
