Editor’s Note: In the third of our series on addiction, another reader tells us of their experiences of drugs. Let us know what you think in the comments section at the end of this feature.
Drugs? They have been with us since the dawn of time, mingled with our evolution and shaping our history. Used as analgesia; for visions and religious experience; for the enhancement of science and of human knowledge; to calm things down or to pep them up, drugs are part of who we are.
The main stream media always seem to bang on a lot about addiction and drug deaths and how people like Amy Winehouse are [were] bad role-models while the Daily mail and mumsnet keep the levels of fear on the simmer with ridiculous tales of drug crazed killers and drug induced insanity, 99% of which have no foundation in reality.
So why the fear, and why have so many people been forced into a life of crime by wanting, or needing to use some drugs? Is it about money, about control, or do the powers that be fear that people would all become as addicted to ‘drugs’ as easily as they have become addicted to 3rd rate TV and dumbed down news reporting? I have no answers but I suspect it is a combination of money and control.
So back to the drugs, I can only speak of personal experience. I have been using cannabis both recreationally and for medicinal purposes for many years, over 30 at least! I am a highly trained and qualified person in areas of mental health and in teaching and so this choice was very informed. During this time I have imbibed heavily in alcohol, tobacco and occasional amphetamines, ‘E’ and the recently banned meow meow. I have only ever had ill effects from alcohol and cigarettes.
Now I won’t go on about drug death comparisons as information on the lethal drugs alcohol and nicotine in comparison to non-lethal drugs such as LSD and Cannabis are well documented and easily found on line, but it does beg the question, why are some drugs legal and some illegal?
Anyway, regardless of legality, millions of people use drugs every day with no ill effect. From coffee and sugar to cocaine and crack, people indulge in their favourite stimulant or relaxant at will.
Now my own personal view is that drugs are not bad unless over indulged in, be that fat and sugar [which I believe are highly addictive from recent studies] or alcohol or Heroin, people will indulge in their pleasure. And so they should! Drugs while having their dangers also provide an escape from the mundane daily routines, they can lift you out of yourself or help you relax and drive away the stress and cares of the day.
As adults, we should be allowed to choose what we do with our lives and make informed choices on risk factors for our personal activities. It is up to the individual to assess how great or small the risk of drug taking is to be for themselves, or to ignore the risks and indulge nonetheless. No person should have the power to make restriction on another especially when their activity is one of personal choice.
No government should have the right to have knowledge of, or be privy to, or interfere or restrict whatever goes on in the privacy of a person’s home insofar as the activity or indulgence brings no harm upon anyone else other than the person who has chosen to undertake any activity [drug taking].
Drugs are a part of human history and in the past have been interwoven with British society; from the rum given to the men of the sea, amphetamines given to soldiers at war, to the opium sold in the name of Queen Victoria.
Drugs shape our modern world in that The city bankers are well known to use large amounts of cocaine which then effects their decision-making into taking bigger risks which has no-doubt contributed greatly to the worlds economic crash. We are also effected by the massive pharmaceutical input into our daily lives as we take a pill for this and a pill for that, we are all junkies now!
The world is a harsh and unforgiving place these days as the race is on for dwindling resources and land while the population continues to grow. Taking a drug to alleviate the worries, some real some created and maintained by mainstream media, should not be a government issue; taking a drug which in most cases causes no harm should not be a medical issue; taking a drug because one wants to, because one likes the feeling, because one WANTS TO should not be an issue for anyone at all.
And so as Amy Winehouse is exploited beyond the grave by Newspaper stories, TV tribute programs and inflated record sales, I raise my glass, light my spliff, snort my line and drop my pills in remembrance of someone who made her choice and died for it, now there’s dedication for you………
