MIND-ALTERING

'Managing' Illicit Drug Use Will Not Stop The Destructive Effects

An attack made by a respected U.S. think tank on the war against illicit
drugs should concern Canadians for its ideas are by no means parochial,
having surfaced in cities with major drug problems like Vancouver.

What is so alarming is that the National Association for Public Health
Policy advocates a surrender of sorts to the culture of illicit drugs. It
doesn't exactly take a `if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, ` position, but
rather a `if you can't beat 'em, manage 'em' plan for living with that
culture.

Aspects of the plan such as decriminalization of marijuana and the
supplying of clean needles to heroin addicts are contentious topics, if not
new ones, in metropolitan Canada. There are additional proposals, however,
contained in the association's report that if implemented would weaken a
bottom line in society which must be maintained for the health of that
society.

For example, the report suggests the promotion of the oxymoronic
`responsible drug use' in school education programs. Contending the
emphasis on prohibition is flawed and deleterious to children's health, the
report takes a safe-sex approach to the issue and urges schools to
encourage safe drug use.

The report also alleges the war on drugs is a racist one since a large
number of those caught in drug dragnets are black and that just as
Prohibition fostered organized crime and corruption, the illicit status of
drugs creates more crime.

When drug use is managed, it will still create crime, of course. The
difference is that crime will have been redefined out of existence so the
statisticians will be unable to document it as such. Those who argue that
tobacco and alcohol use has been successfully managed ignore the crucial
differences between those substances and illicit drugs. Tobacco is not
mind-altering and alcohol can be safely used in moderate quantities, with
sanctions in place regarding behaviours such as drunk driving. Illicit
drugs cannot be used moderately. They are always mind-altering. The effects
of one glass of wine with dinner in no way compare to those of one shot of
heroin.

The war on drugs should never be about giving in because then the message
to society - and particularly the impressionable children of that society -
is that government will back down if you can marshal and maintain a large
enough number of people to do the crime.

A healthy society must function on certain basic absolutes if it is to keep
from dissolving into chaos. One of those bedrock absolutes must define
what will and will not be tolerated for the common good. The pervasive use
of illicit drugs contributes nothing to the common good and in fact causes
it irreparable harm.

Drugs are destructive and the cost to society from their use is tremendous.
The epidemic of crack babies in the U.S. is a poignant and tragic case in
point. Giving official sanction to the ironic notion of managed, safe drug
use will not change that terrible, destructive influence one whit.