EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
To bTV News
Today I accidentally came across your video material, where an unknown gentleman practiced on the topic of "Drugs" in an extremely clumsy manner and even took the liberty of proposing "testing all students for drugs" under the stormy ovations of the host. I noted several main statements and points from the conversation with your guests, for which I have a comment.
I do this from the position of a representative of one of the very few organizations currently providing adequate measures to reduce the harms of drug use. I think that the opinions of people who work in the field, meet with young people who use drugs constantly and have a much more adequate idea of what is happening are isolated from the debate at the expense of costumed representatives of that NGO sector that invests in the parade of morning blocks, talks, round tables (and other) tables, conferences, etc. activities that are far from people in need. I am writing to you because I know that the "other point of view" deserves and should be shared.
1) " The Herb"
The legal and extremely risky substitutes for cannabis in question are the result of its prohibition and nothing else. This pattern has been observed for about a century and is described in detail in scientific papers and books, which the guest was obviously too busy with his NGO work to read.
The most popular way to take opiates before most of them (heroin, morphine, etc.) were banned was... opium tea, containing about one-fiftieth of a medical dose of morphine. The most popular way to take opiates after their ban was by injecting street (read as mixed with rat poison, chalk, and lime) heroin.
The most popular ways to take cocaine before it was banned were wine, tea, and Coca-Cola. Yes, the "coca" in "Coca-Cola" is exactly what you think. By the way, coca leaf wine was a favorite drink of English queens and Catholic popes...
The most popular drink the day before Prohibition in the US was beer. The most popular alcoholic drink the day after Prohibition began in the US was a mix of pure alcohol and whatever else you had on hand.
We observe exactly the same pattern with cannabis. In the first quarter of the last century, no one bothered to select stronger varieties of cannabis. Immediately after its prohibition, the potency of the plants began to increase. Today, cannabis smokers take in dozens of times more THC in one cigarette than their grandparents (Yes, they also smoked...even in Bulgaria), and what is even more dangerous - today's children have begun to reach for synthetic imitations of cannabis.
There is no doubt that we are talking about substances whose short-term and long-term effects on the human body have not been studied and which pose much more serious risks than cannabis use (after all, we are talking about cannabis, which is famous for not killing a single person in the last 6,000 years). There is no doubt that the only motivation for such a substance to be synthesized at all is the fact that cannabis is illegal and its price per gram is chasing that of gold. It is much more convenient for a teenager to get a synthetic for 2-3 leva per dose, compared to 20-30 leva per gram of weed.
2) "And by the way, they're decent kids..."
It is a well-known fact that children who do better in school and those with higher IQs are more prone to drug use. The world media has been writing about this topic for years - see for example HERE
It's high time you updated your idea of the so-called "junkies". The "junkies" of 10-20 years ago are your doctors, architects, engineers, entrepreneurs of today. The "junkies" of today are tomorrow's doctors, architects, engineers, entrepreneurs. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, the discoverer of DNA Francis Crick, Professor Freud, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Morgan Friedman, Susan Sarandon are..."junkies".
3) "There is an international multi-level marketing system for distributing drugs that is killing our children. This is genocide," the guest on the show said with fake pathos.
I'll tell you what genocide is. Genocide is to stigmatize and persecute a sick, addicted person who now more than ever needs treatment, support from his loved ones and all the love in the world. Genocide is instead of giving him a hand, to throw him in prison, where there is no treatment, support from his loved ones and any love, but there is heroin... lots of heroin.
It is genocide to make a person who needs help to save their life afraid to do so because they will lose their job, they will lose their family, they will lose their freedom.
It is genocide when you hand over a billion-dollar business to organized crime. It is genocide to isolate everyone else from the drug market, leaving those without morals to sell to our children. Has the gentleman in the suit ever thought about why there are no dealers of brandy or rum in schools? Why does the "international multi-level marketing distribution system" for gin somehow fail to market it to minors? Maybe because it is still part of the overt economy and the risk is not justified?!
4) "Why do children not find fulfillment in their desires and resort to drugs..."
... is an interesting question, the answer to which lies within itself. Our children find fulfillment in their desires by reaching for drugs. Think about whether, if the threat of expulsion from school, expulsion from the family, rejection from society, and imprisonment are not enough to make these children reconsider their choice, we need to oblige them to pee in a cup in order to test them and further repress them?
Why is it normal to take (proven harmful and even deadly) Paracetamol when we have a cold?
Why is it normal to take a dose of (lethal in overdose) caffeine when we haven't slept?
...and isn't it normal, when we want to relax from our hard everyday life for one night, to take one of the forbidden party substances?! Wanting to get "high" at certain times is built into you as an animal species, just as elephants, horses, deer, cats, bees and monkeys have proven to do it too. This is a natural evolutionary mechanism for dealing with unbearable emotional and other traumas, which billions of people around the world resort to daily, without having any problems. Isn't it too tendentious not to say a word about the hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians who today will pour themselves a brandy without becoming alcoholics, smoke a cigarette of cannabis without becoming addicted, take heroin and go to work afterwards, pour themselves a cup of narcotic coffee and not suffer?!
Do they also deserve to pee in a cup and then...prison?!
5) Why are you on the side of the bad guys in the "War on Drugs"?
The war on drugs has been raging for a century and has not even partially achieved the results it set for itself - societies with fewer or no drugs.
Today, street drugs are more widespread, accessible, potent and dangerous than ever before. Use among children worldwide is increasing. Governments spend trillions to prosecute people who have smoked a cigarette and done no harm. Prisons are filled with able-bodied, tax-paying, family-supporting people who drop out of the labor market and become tax-free, government-supported people who are unable to support their families. The human rights of all people around the world have been violated in an unprecedented way, without bringing us any closer to a more prosperous and just society.
By supporting proposals for more control over the human mind and body, you support the failed war on drugs and the successful erasure of millions of human lives. When you applaud mandatory drug testing, you will put these very "good kids" in the grinder of our justice system. And instead of getting a good secondary and higher education, you will force them to successfully graduate from the "university of crime and violence" called prison.
Do you still think that testing people is a good idea? If so, then don't be surprised that your children will continue to come to us for advice, they will come to us for analysis of the pill they bought for the party tonight, they will call us when they think they are in danger and are looking for help... and they will hide all of this from you.
Because, the War on Drugs is a war on your children, and you...you are the aggressors...
Amen! It's high time we sat down and talked intelligently about drugs, and not wave our hands in the air like crazy people (they probably are) and scream in panic "DRUGS ARE NOT DESCTATA!!1!1!!2!##!@31#!"
They sell shakes for clean drug tests, 1 hour before the test itself. All the cops use them.
- Vienna
Liberty420 BRAVO, BRAVO, ADMIRATION, I have no words to express my admiration for the written material, so true and credible, as well as the fictional 'war' against drugs! It is natural that the world government in the shadows wants to lie and play games on this issue! It is natural that if the world wants, it can catch all the distributors of substances in every country in 48 hours, but they do NOT want to play cat and mouse, because the money flows from this sale the most!!! There are very few geniuses and smart people, inventors and so on, who have not used drugs in different forms, yes there are very few!!!
For example, when I was graduating from clinical psychology and analysis in the 90s, I approached them from a research perspective. You can't talk about what this and that is, what makes it different, etc. If you don't have experience, you can't do that, so I tried everything on the market and it didn't work!
This did not prevent me from having higher degrees and then studying for a second degree, again with full honors and followed by several more degrees!!
Of course, our not truly educated politicians and ministries are like horses with caps and put everything smart, intelligent in prison, etc. instead of having prevention and high awareness on the issue!
Your article is very good, very true and peace-giving, I hope more lawmakers read it and understand it!!! Bravo!