THE PROBLEM WITH ANTI-DRUG FAIRY TALES

Carl Sagan, the late astronomer and prolific author, once wrote a
pseudonymous essay touting marijuana as a stimulus to his intellectual
work. In fact, according to an article by his biographer in the Aug.
22 San Francisco Examiner magazine, Sagan was an avid pot smoker for
most of his life.

Not surprisingly, news of the influential astronomer's smoking choice
had to hide under a pseudonym or wait until his death, lest he suffer
America's puritanical wrath.

It's the same wrath currently being ducked by George W. Bush, as he
refuses to answer questions about his "rebellious" youth. It's a
wrath--fed by ignorance, mythology and selective morality--that
condemns drug use as irredeemably evil.

But the Carl Sagan model of the drug user has been more my experience.
To be specific, some of the most creative and productive people I've
known also have used drugs.

I say that not as an advertisement; for I've also encountered those
drug abusers who have made their (and their families') lives
miserable. But as one who has witnessed the social carnage of the
imbecilic war on drugs, I find it increasingly difficult to tolerate
the simple-minded propaganda employed for that war.

Thus, Bush's current travail offers a rare opportunity to provide a
more realistic portrayal of the typical drug user. While on one hand I
support Bush's decision to end the inquisition into his wayward past,
I still urge him to fess up if he has used drugs.

Aside from the political benefits of candor, his admission would help
transform the perception of drug users from stereotypes of depraved
sociopaths to something closer to reality. But it's an uphill climb.

In order to justify our punitive treatment of those who use illicit
substances, our cultural media demonizes them and wildly exaggerates
the dangers of the drugs. This "bogeyman strategy" not only insults
the intelligence of adult Americans, it also does little to discourage
substance abuse.

The bogeyman strategy is the modus operandi of Drug Awareness
Resistance Education, which is popular in suburban America. According
to a recent University of Illinois study, however, DARE participants
are more likely to use drugs in the future than students who haven't
participated in the program.

It's clear that youth are more likely to pay heed to our anti-drug
lectures if our "facts" have some connection to reality.

The reality is that people use drugs for many reasons. For most of
humanity's history, drug use was connected to religious worship. It
still is in many cultures: certain Buddhist and Hindu sects,
Rastafarians and various Native American groups all use natural
sacraments designed to alter consciousness.

But even in secular cultures, drug use has been connected to a search
for the Divine. The irresponsible use of LSD, mescaline and other
"psychedelic" drugs popularized in the West during the 1960s was
fueled by these substances' reputed ability to facilitate mystical
states.

For others, drugs provide different routes of escape; their potential
for abuse is a function of our need for escape.

The drive to alter consciousness is as ancient as humanity itself.
Some anthropologists argue that psychoactive substances are so common
to so many cultures, their use may have some evolutionary benefit.

But to acknowledge this ancient relationship, to some, is tantamount
to sanctioning drug use. Thus we are presented with kindergarten
stories about the demonic evils of drugs and the despicable characters
who purvey them. In such a cardboard world, drug users can't grow up
to be presidents or influential astronomers.

True enough, drug addiction is not an effective route to success
(unless the drug is Prozac or caffeine) and getting caught with an
illegal substance can cause ruinous criminal sanctions. But those
consequences are more the result of social attitudes than the
intrinsic effects of the drugs.

We should have learned that substance abuse is not handled well
through prohibition; the last time drive-by shootings were common was
during the alcohol prohibition era of the 1920s.

The European strategy of "harm reduction"--which decriminalized drug
use and transforms the problem of drug abuse from one of criminal
justice into one of public health--seems to be the most logical.

But until folks like George "Dubya" comes clean, or someone with as
high a profile as Carl Sagan can candidly express his affections for
pot, we're stuck with anti-drug fairy tales and erroneous notions that
competence and drug use are mutually exclusive.