EXPLOITING INEQUITIES IN DRUGS OF CHOICE

The recent and tragic sexual assault of a young Santa Barbara woman by
three men who apparently used the so-called date-rape drug, GHB (gamma
hydroxybutyrate) has exposed some of the most egregious hypocrisy by
law enforcement and local media in regard to licit and illicit drugs.

It is disappointing that the local media allow themselves to be
willing accessories to the hyperbole and dissemination of anti-drug
propaganda by those whose goal is to control illicit drug use by
creating mass hysteria among citizens.

According to the local media, authorities describe GHB sexual assaults
as a "disturbing local trend."

A deputy District Attorney says these types of assaults are reaching
"epidemic proportions."

Of course a handful of assaults on the Central Coast in the past year
seems alarming at first. The idea that such assaults are reaching
epidemic status is preposterous when one realizes that, at the current
rate of alleged GHB assaults reported by the media, GHB would have to
be around hundreds of years in order to even begin to scratch the
surface of the damage done by alcohol and tobacco.

What happened next was equally outlandish. The News-Press reported
that downtown-area bars were reported to be "on alert" for "men
spiking women's drinks with mind-altering substances," particularly
GHB. A more honest and realistic statement is that bars were on alert
for men spiking women's mind-altering substance with mind-altering
substances. The idea that one can drug another's drink is absurdly
redundant. Downtown bar owners have put up posters urging customers to
"party smart" -- purchase their party drugs -- and to not let anyone
spike their drinks -- another redundancy.

It was further reported that bar employees and owners desire
information in order to help to prevent the date-rape drug from
claiming another victim. Despite the best efforts of the media and
anti-drug coalitions to reduce GHB to a simple date-rape drug, I have
to believe that most everyone recognizes the true date-rape drug is,
was and always will be alcohol. These concerned bar owners and
employees are just one more type of drug dealer, albeit legal.

Every evening thousands of women across America become victims of
physical and sexual assault as a result of alcohol intoxication.
Individuals commit hundreds of crimes under the influence of alcohol,
yet nobody refers to alcohol as the date-rape drug.

Why is this? Why is it that GHB has been singled out? Why, according
to media reports, is the drug MDMA (Ecstasy) a terrible scourge on
society, second only to GHB, when the smallest percentage of users
ever get harmed?

To answer this question requires one to look back almost four decades.
Even as late as 1960, LSD -- another Schedule 1 substance defined by
the FDA as mind-altering with no good medical use -- was viewed as a
promising drug. Researchers believed LSD was a useful and valuable
tool in curing drug addiction, alcoholism, frigidity, psoriasis and
other ailments. Of course, it was also used recreationally by the
counter culture to enhance the senses, for recreation and to achieve
spiritual goals.

Slowly but surely, throughout the '60s, sensational media reports
painted a bleak picture of LSD. Supposedly people were jumping out of
windows thinking they could fly -- the only confirmed death from
window jumping was a CIA employee who was given the drug without his
knowledge or consent. Pseudo-scientists wrongly reported that LSD
damaged chromosomes. Worse yet, any alleged murderer could blame his
sociopathic behavior on LSD.

The result is that LSD-related offenses are today punished more
severely than some violent crimes. Drugs like LSD -- and soon to be
MDMA and GHB -- are the only substances seen as such a threat that
most states issue mandatory-minimum sentences to those found guilty of
such offenses. These types of sentences are responsible for a
three-fold increase in our prison population in the last decade. By
the time spin-doctors got finished with LSD in the '70s, use of the
drug was aligned more with evil and dark world of Charles Manson than
with the joy and color of the Beatles.

Absurdly long and harsh prison sentences related to use and dispensing
of such drugs is almost surely to blame for the recent suicide of a
Santa Barbara resident charged with possession of several vials of
GHB. She was to stand trial here on felony charges, crimes for which
there was no victim, and fearing a long prison sentence ironically
chose alcohol and prescription medication -- lethal, but legal drugs
- -- to end her life.

Any reasonable person should recognize there is something amiss in our
war on drugs when individuals choose death rather than serve absurdly
long prison sentences for victimless crimes. She understood that her
trial would be greatly influenced by the negative media reports of
recent months, and that she would most likely have received a lengthy
prison sentence to be made an example of.

Law enforcement insists on reducing such a problem to the simple
catch-phrase, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."

The problem is, again, that the punishments for such crimes as
possessing and using these substances are not proportionate to the
harm done to society, if any harm is done at all. Media and law
enforcement make the most out of propagandizing such rare cases where
individuals commit real crimes while under the influence of GHB and
other drugs but the people who pay the price in the end are those who
use these drugs responsibly but somehow get caught anyway.

What we find, then, is that authorities today are exploiting a tragic
and horrific crime to further their own ends, which is to stop all
illicit drug use while turning their backs on the dangers of socially
acceptable, addictive drugs like alcohol and cigarettes. Those who are
paying attention are able to witness the genesis of a propaganda
campaign that 10 years from now may result in real capital charges
against users of GHB and MDMA, valuable and enjoyable drugs that, with
the right education, can enhance the quality of people's lives, and at
the same time put alcohol companies right out of business.

The final chapter on GHB and similar substances will be similar to
that of LSD. You can bet that if the media, law enforcement and
moralists have their way, ridiculously high prison sentences for GHB
are sure to be on the horizon. While alcohol and cigarettes continue
to destroy families with liver disease, cancer, alcoholism and
drunk-driving accidents, potentially useful drugs such as GHB, LSD and
MDMA will be blamed for the minute damage caused by the actions of
very few people. It's a shame. With all the good that could come from
open and honest discussions about the nature and value of illicit
drugs in our society, the powers that be always choose the low road.