ANALYSIS: DRUG DEBATE MUST LOOK AT ALL ISSUES

For the last number of months the London-based Independent on Sunday
newspaper has been running a high-profile campaign for the legalisation of
cannabis. They have organised marches, a celebrity petition, public
debates, medical viewpoints and investigated the "drug war" to back up
their arguments. And what has been surprising is the lack of screaming
opposition to their campaign.

Here, even a mere broaching of the subject of cannabis legalisation often
provokes a severe rebuttal from many anti-drugs activists in the Dublin
area. "But that money goes to scumbags!...loyalists are profiteering from
the sale of hash...where did ya get an idea like that from?", are amongst
the comments that are often followed by a knee-jerk refusal to discuss the
subject. But, interestingly, the Independent on Sunday uses these very
reasons to argue in favour of legalisation.

Think of the money any government could make from the legalisation of the
drug, which according to many is less objectionable than alcohol, they
argue. If, for example, the liability of seizures and the massive wages
many dealers receive were eliminated from the hashish industry, and the
government were to take control of production and sale, then would this not
cut out the criminals who currently run the business and simultaneously
create well needed revenue to fight the real scourge of heroin? Certainly,
that is highly controversial but there is a need for debate on the subject.

Gardai have used the excuse of cannabis seizures to cloud their utter
incompetence with regard to the lucrative heroin trade. Massive hash
seizures have been used by the force as a propaganda coup -- proving their
success in the fight against drugs -- but is it a drug worth fighting
against when it is heroin that is the deadly killer in our communities?

There is also a class angle to this issue. The drugs crisis existed for a
long time, but had been ignored as it had only affected working class
areas. Then, with the arrival of ecstacy, a drug well used by the middle
classes, it was suddenly a 'real' problem, and so it and hash received
newfound attention.

Primarily, the real problem has always been heroin. According to
statistics, at least 15% of young people in Dublin's north inner city are
addicted to heroin -- a statistic higher than that in the notorious Bronx
in New York. Young people die regularly, often relatively unnoticed, from
the abuse of the drug in the area, yet if one middle class child dies of
ecstasy abuse it reaches the front page of daily newspapers, operating on a
clearly elitist agenda. Such is their irreverence for human life in the
lower scales of Dublin's well defined financial classes.

Some might say that cannabis is a 'gateway' to further drug abuse. However,
it has been argued that this is merely because the drug introduces young
people to illegal abuse of substances. It engenders in them that sense of
danger always associated with drug abuse and so the progression to other
narcotics is no longer so disturbing. This explanation merely re-inforces
the argument that cannabis should be legalised, thus eliminating the
'danger' element and making the use of the drug socially acceptable -- like
alcohol.

If we are to solve Ireland's ever growing drug abuse problem then
creativity, imagination and open-mindedness will be required. For many
young people the legalisation of cannabis would be a progression towards
more effective and innovative anti-drugs initiatives, to others the very
idea makes their blood boil. But one thing is certain, a thorough
examination of the possibilities surrounding the issue would harm no one
and as republicans it is our duty to be progressive and revolutionary in
all of our thinking. Confronting accepted ideas with a new analysis can
often be extremely beneficial.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)