EXPOSING COMMON DRUG USE MYTHS

WHEN EDUCATORS and legislators teach and talk in moral absolutes,
they've ceased to be educators and legislators. Instead they're
brain-washers and misguided people with a lot of power.

The reference is to the War on Drugs, fought in the classroom and
fought even at the University. Some effects are clear, such as the
1991 Operation Equinox that busted several fraternities for drug use,
and the most recent bust in early November with the arrest of three
University and six former University students.

My goal is not to prove that the War on Drugs is silly, that's a
non-sequitor. Setting this aside, drug use is not wrong, and
furthermore for some people the additional gains may exceed the extra
costs. In short, for some people, it's worth it. To show this, we'll
need to debunk a few incorrect thoughts some drug war apologists hold
regarding drug use and the drug war.

MYTH #1: Drug use has no benefits. This makes no sense at all. If drug
use had no benefits, then why do so many people try to recreationally
use drugs? Are these people just gluttons for punishment? Are they the
same people who, for the fun of it, like to smack their heads up
against stone walls or drive nails into their toes or eat horse manure
(other activities for which there are presumably no benefits)?

The typical apologist confronted with this obvious point then tries to
confuse the issue. He cites all the bad things that could happen to
you - sickness, loss of judgment, even the chance of death, which we
all assume every time we drive on the road. But this is what makes
such an apologist dead wrong. Yes, this is true, but these are some of
the costs of using drugs. The fact that they exist does not erase the
benefit side of the ledger.

The plain truth is that there are benefits. In fact, they are so
beneficial, they're often referred to sentimentally as "highs." There
are benefits to drug use, plain and simple.

MYTH #2: It's just not worth it. Just say "no." All the costs that are
incurred just don't add up. Loss of judgment is one that is often
cited. But, hey, this very cost is for many the benefit sought - a
high, a loss of judgment and one's rational faculties.

What about sickness? Sure, you could get sick. But you always could
have gotten sick playing in the snow as a child. If you didn't go
play, because you were afraid of getting sick, I suspect you had a
pretty empty childhood. The point is, accepting sickness is a cost
that is often easily outweighed by the benefits of the activity - be
it making a snowman or getting high.

As already mentioned, we all accept the chance of death every day for
silly reasons. If you drive faster to get to work, change the radio
while driving or cross the street while a car may be coming, you are
increasing your chance of death for a very small convenience. Surely,
then, doing drugs may be worth the added risk of death for some
people, especially if the benefits are highs as opposed to a two
minute early arrival.

Those who feed us this myth assume that everyone's preferences are the
same as their own. If, for them, the benefits do not exceed the cost,
and if it is so much the case that they spout lines like "Just say
no," they are forgetting that not everyone has the same
decision-making process. Getting high just isn't my thing, but if it
is for others, they have just as much a claim to the truth as I do. As
the Latin phrase goes, de gustibus non est disputandum - tastes are
not debatable.

MYTH #3: Drug use is morally wrong. This tends to stem from myths #1
and #2, holding that drug use is never worth it, therefore always
wrong. Even if, in the fantasy world of these apologists, myths #1 and
#2 were true, you still couldn't make this logical jump. But they do.
Then they brainwash children in elementary school. And when kids know
that they're being lied to, it's no big surprise these programs are
extremely ineffective.

At any rate, the coy moral objection often runs like this: Drug use
can hurt others, and by the harms principle, that's wrong. (Hopefully,
nobody is idotic enough to call an act of drug consumption that
doesn't hurt anyone, something entirely self-regarding, immoral.) But
this objection is to drug abuse, not to drug use. This same objection
applies to not staying up too many hours of the day, lest you
recklessly get on the road and hurt someone. Nobody is saying drug
abuse is good, but drug use isn't wrong.

MYTH #4: Drug use leads to drug abuse. In the classrooms I have been
in, no one has ever presented on this issue, just the assertion that
some drugs are gateways to other drugs. Good job, team apologists, way
to be intellectually honest.

People develop addictions. To food, to exercise, to you name it. These
aren't unique to drugs. So to claim that people move from marijuana to
cocaine as evidence of gateway drugs is about as honest as claiming
that eating leads to overeating - for some it does, but not for everyone.

Let me clarify. This is not an invitation to go out and be really
irresponsible. But it is an invitation for drug warmongers to rethink
their arguments.